As part of ongoing fiat-to-crypto expansion, major cryptocurrency Binance is adding support for the Nigerian Naira (NGN) on its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. Binance P2P, a consumer-to-consumer business arm of Binance exchange, is rolling out support for the first African fiat currency on its platform. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Binance P2P users can trade major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) using NGN with zero transaction fees starting from March 4. Users in Nigeria can now post trade ads via P2P Merchants The NGN integration also allows users in Nigeria to directly purchase and sell cryptos like Bitcoin, Ether …

South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb, has announced it will take another step towards global expansion by strengthening integration with its international arm. On Feb. 26, Bithumb launched a new digital asset transfer service between the South Korean exchange and Bithumb Global, an new international digital asset exchange released by Bithumb in October 2019. Meanwhile, South Korean authorities are considering imposing a 20% tax on income from cryptocurrency, evidently pushing the biggest local exchanges to reinforce their foreign operations. KYC tier 2 verification is required to use the new service In order to use the new asset transfer service, Bithumb …

People in the United States now have another zero-fee option to buy Bitcoin (BTC) with the U.S. dollar. On Jan. 30, Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer launched its commission-free campaign for BTC/USD trading pair to its U.S. customers. bitFlyer USA operates in 47 states in the U.S. and holds New York BitLicense The zero-fee feature is only available for the BTC/USD trading pair and has been implemented on bitFlyer’s pro trading tool, bitFlyer Lightning, the firm noted in a blog post. The campaign is automatically applied to all new and existing bitFlyer USA customers clients, while the end date of the …

Adult entertainment website Pornhub has added a new cryptocurrency payment option after PayPal had abruptly stopped servicing its models in late 2019. According to a Jan. 23 blog post, Pornhub now supports Tether (USDT) — a major United States dollar-pegged stablecoin — to allow instant and zero-fee payments via the crypto wallet and browser extension TronLink. Pornhub supports Tron-based USDT TronLink is a native wallet for Tron (TRX), the 12th largest cryptocurrency by market cap that is backed by the Tron Foundation. The USDT token became available on the Tron network after Tether and the Tron Foundation partnered and released …

British auditing giant EY has released a new iteration of its zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) blockchain, intending to cut transaction costs by 90%. A ZKP is a digital protocol that enables data to be distributed between the two participants without using a password or any associated information in the transaction. According to an announcement on Dec. 19, EY released its third-generation ZKP blockchain technology to the public domain on the Ethereum blockchain. The new ZKP blockchain aims to make private transactions on public blockchains more scalable by decreasing transaction costs by combining multiple private transfers in a single transaction. Specifically, the …

PayPal is suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for requiring the firm to make “misleading and confusing” disclosures about its fees. The digital payments giant filed a lawsuit against the CFPB on Dec. 11, arguing that the agency has ignored critical differences between digital wallets and prepaid products like prepaid debit cards (GPR). CFPB makes PayPal provide disclosures about fees that it doesn’t charge, the suit says According to a Dec. 11 court filing seen by Cointelegraph, the CFPB mandates that digital wallets and GPR cards should be regulated the same way, which allegedly resulted in a “fundamentally ill-suited” …

Crypto exchanges often face immense costs when offering their services — with regulatory compliance, marketing, staffing, security, legal issues and processing fees all contributing to their overheads. That’s even before they’ve made a single satoshi in profit. This resultantly means that purchasing cryptocurrency can be expensive for consumers — notably for those who might be seeking to convert their fiat by making a deposit using their credit card or bank account. Although the fees may seem relatively small, they do add up over time, especially for crypto enthusiasts who complete transactions on a regular basis. That said, there is some …

Switzerland-based crypto exchange ShapeShift has launched zero-fee trading and its loyalty token FOX. ShapeShift founder and CEO Erik Voorhees announced the news on Twitter Nov. 20, noting that zero-commission trading on the platform is enabled by the newly released FOX token. According to the executive, zero-fee trading solves two major problems of non-custodial exchanges — illiquidity and high price of services. In order to trade at a zero-fee rate, ShapeShift customers will have to hold the Ethereum-based ERC-20 FOX tokens, Voorhees explained, stating: “The model is simple: hold FOX & you trade at a 0% commission rate. If not, you …

Bitcoin (BTC) miners had made almost $15 billion securing the network as of the middle of this month. Bitcoin network pays out $15B Data from monitoring and statistics resource Coin Metrics released on Oct. 15 noted that since Bitcoin’s birth in 2009, miners had received combined revenue of just under $15 billion. Known as the thermocap, the figure includes both block rewards — “new” bitcoins paid to miners for validating a block of transactions — as well as transaction fees. The vast majority of the thermocap consists of the block reward. According to Yassine Elmandja, an analyst at crypto-focused advisory …

A United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing reveals that major cryptocurrency exchange Binance received a $250,000 “long-term payment” to keep Blockstack (STX) listed for one year. Blockstack’s SEC filing reveals that Binance received 833,333 STX, which at the $0.30 token valuation provided by the company is equivalent to $250,000. The document also shows that the company intends to pay Binance more: “[Blockstack] will pay three additional incremental payments of 833,333 each, on the first, second and third anniversaries of the Services Agreement’s effective date provided the Stacks Token is continuously listed on Binance prior to each such date. …

The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp has highlighted Bitcoin’s (BTC) utility after funds worth almost $1 billion changed hands for less than $4 in fees. Bitcoin fees too small to comprehend As blockchain monitoring resource BitInfoCharts confirmed on Oct. 14, the transaction at wallet and storage provider Xapo involved a total of 112,027.29 BTC. Previously, Bitstamp had transferred around 107,800 BTC of its funds to Xapo, paying a fee of 0.0234 BTC — or 0.0000217%. The subsequent transaction, handled by Xapo itself, saw an even more microscopic amount paid to miners to approve the funds’ transfer. At $3.89, the fee …

United Kingdom-based financial software firm Finastra has partnered with Ripple to join RippleNet, a global blockchain payments network with over 200 members. Faster integration with partners As officially announced by Ripple on Oct. 9, the new partnership will allow hundreds of Finastra’s customers to connect and transact with RippleNet to provide faster and cheaper cross-border payments. In turn, over 200 financial institutions on RippleNet will have access to Finastra’s network of banks, allowing mutual customers to access and partner with each other. Users will be able to send international payments with end-to-end tracking and monitoring of the fees, transaction time …