Binance.US, MoonPay to offer USDT purchases to customers

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After facing several legal and financial challenges, Binance.US announced a partnership with crypto service provider MoonPay to help its customers convert their fiat money into digital currency.

Users can use their debit or credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay to buy Tether (USDT), a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. Tether can then be used to purchase other cryptocurrencies on the Binance.US platform.

It is unclear whether other cryptocurrencies will be supported for buying and selling in dollars via the partnership, but this new option is available immediately to all customers.

Users can convert their digital assets into the dollar with a minimum withdrawal order of $30. However, users must first trade their cryptocurrencies for USDT. The withdrawn money will be sent to the user’s bank account.

To facilitate Binance.US users, MoonPay will perform a know-your-customer compliance check.

“We obviously perform KYC; we follow all the regulatory rules across every single jurisdiction in which we operate, and so we can make it easy for them to top up their wallets,” MoonPay chief executive officer, Ivan Soto-Wright, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The partnership comes after regulatory scrutiny led banks to cut off the exchange, making it difficult for Binance.US customers to deposit and withdraw dollars. Binance.US is not the only exchange struggling with losses of banking partners. In March, several cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers lost their banking partners.

This condition results from a broader banking crisis triggered by the failure of several crypto-friendly banks, including Silicon Valley Investment Bank, Silvergate and Signature Bank.

Binance.US now only allows customers to buy and sell other crypto assets with crypto, following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit. To perform transactions, users must bring their assets over from other exchanges.

Binance.US faces regulatory challenges

The SEC sued Binance.US and its global affiliate Binance.com for allegedly violating several securities laws. Accusations from the commission include engaging in unregistered securities offerings, failing to register as securities exchanges and allowing market manipulation on their platforms.

The lawsuit against Binance.US has had a significant impact on the exchange. At the time, Binance.US had over 2 billion U.S. dollars in customer cryptocurrency assets under its custody.

Months later, liquidity on the platform has dried up and its market share has dwindled. As a result, Binance.US has become a marginal player compared to its U.S. rivals, Coinbase Global Inc. and Kraken. Its market share dropped to 0.7 percent from more than 22 percent in March and 20 percent in April.

The regulatory pressures caused Binance.US to warn its customer base in June that USD withdrawals might be discontinued soon.

BNB remains stuck

Despite the recent development, Binance’s native cryptocurrency, Binance Coin (BNB), has not shown any signs of a bullish trend. BNB is currently trading at $214.8.

According to F.X. Street, the coin is in a downtrend toward the June 2022 low of $196. Earlier this month, BNB lost the support level of $219. The broader market bearishness is contributing to the cryptocurrency’s freefall.

If BNB’s price can rebound from the support level of $196, it will have a chance to recover. By breaking the resistance level of $219, BNB may climb back to $231 and erase the losses it incurred in August.