Binance Launches Two New Crypto Testing Platforms
- Big prizes of up to $10,000 in BNB await users that get involved in the testing of the new platforms.
- Binance also launched crypto loans and the interest rates are now public.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. CoinDesk
Popular crypto exchange Binance introduced two brand-new platforms that will allow testing of its future crypto projects. The two new testnets are called “Futures A” and “Futures B” and are now available to users who want to test them via dummy assets. Binance included competitions that should eventually stimulate traders to participate.
The new “Futures” were announced on Monday via Binance’s official website and so were the competition’s conditions. During the period 2019/09/03 00:00 AM – 2019/09/08 00:00 AM (UTC) users will be able to vote for their favorite testnet here.
Binance announced prizes of overall 10,000 BNB (Binance coin) for each platform. At the moment of the press release this was worth approximately $215,700.
Now, this “Futures” initiative might be not such a surprise for people that follow the crypto news regularly as in July, CEO and Binance Founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao commented that such crypto Futures were coming. Back then he showcased a trading interface with shorts and longs on crypto assets.
Another initiative is the launch of crypto loans on August 28 which serves as a way to attract user deposits. At first, users will earn interest that is payable from August 29 to September 11 by lending the U.S. dollar-pegged USDT, Ethereum Classic (ETC) and BNB. The initial lending products’ annualized interest rate with a 14 day maturity term is set at 15% for BNB, 10% for USDT and 7% for ETC.
- The popular crypto exchange has decided to sell its business in Russia to CommEX, a crypto exchange business that was officially launched on Tuesday.
- Binance noted that it will fully exit the Russian market, and have no ongoing revenue split or any option to buy back shares in the business.
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- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.