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Binance Users Can Now Pay for Cryptocurrency With Credit Cards (coindesk.com)

Posted by msmash on from the for-the-record dept.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange based on trading volume, now lets users spend money they don't have thanks to the additional support for credit cards from Visa and Mastercard. From a report: The exchange announced Thursday that it has partnered with Israel-based payments processing firm Simplex to enable purchases with Visa and MasterCard credit cards. At launch, the exchange is supporting credit card purchase for bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC) and XRP. These can then be traded against up to 151 other tokens offered by the exchange. "The crypto industry is still in its early stages and most of the world's money is still in fiat," said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. "Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users."

39 comments

  1. Gamble with Debt is a bad idea. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    As long as the price is growing faster then your credit card interest, you are good. You keep on buying more currency and just charge back enough to bring your balance down, then you buy more. Free money.

    However... If the price falls, you are in a lot of debt.

    This is why using debt devices to buy investments are often highly regulated and often illegal.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Gamble with Debt is a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or you can just pay your CC bill with cash and be done with it. Money for crypto.

      There are better leverage options available in the cryptoverse than credit cards.

    2. Re:Gamble with Debt is a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gamble with debt is definitely a bad idea, because you forgot the -ing. (Apologies if your first language wasn't English.)

    3. Re:Gamble with Debt is a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The trick, which I'm sure will soon be discovered here, is to gamble with someone else's debt.

    4. Re:Gamble with Debt is a bad idea. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      For that reason you should only be allowed to use debit cards.
      Credit Cards let you pay for things that you do not have money to pay for yet. People who are good with their money, would pay off their card in cash within 30 days to avoid interests. But people who try to egg the system, to get free cash, rarely are actually good with their money.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. crypto-recession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is coming

  3. FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users to get them hooked and trick them into dumping their savings into this soon revealed giant smirking hole."

    1. Re:FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      suspec u r turd burglar or rump ranger

  4. People keep money in cars? by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have money in banks, investment funds, my wallet, my dresser... I don't keep more than some loose change in my car. Hell I don't even own a Fiat.

    Definitely we need to get our money out of Fiats.

    1. Re:People keep money in cars? by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      USD is a Fiat currency. Bitcoin is a Ferrari currency.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    2. Re:People keep money in cars? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *sigh* of course you know, Fiat OWNS Ferrari - yeah. you do.

  5. most of the world's money is still in fiat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "most of the world's money is still in fiat"

    Really? If "money" is "fiat" why in the world would they trade their "valuable currency" for credit in fiat?

    CC's now accepted to buy crypto = stolen CC's used to buy untraceable crap.

    Nice going!

    1. Re: most of the world's money is still in fiat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're not trading it for "credit in fiat," they're trading it FOR fiat. The fiat debt is someone else's problem, the CC companies pay the exchange cash.

      But yes, this just makes it easier to launder money and stolen goods.

    2. Re: most of the world's money is still in fiat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They claim that it makes it harder to launder money and stolen goods... But is it really? Just don't deposit the money and use it for offline purchases and save your real income.. To launder money... Start a shop in a city and then bump up the revenue by making "fake" sales.
      For a "normal" person that earns money on the side.. Just never deposit that money but use it for your day to day life and then save a larger amount of your legal income in the bank..

      I think the main reason for this is for the government to keep track of everyone to try and maximize the amount of taxes they can collect.
      At least where i live there have been a number of articles about people loosing quite a bit of cash just because they where unable to prove that they money where gained legally.
      This can get really scary... Imagine you are short on cash and sell every expensive item, and replace with something cheaper, in your home and then try to deposit $10-20k at the bank and the government steps in and just grabs that money and tells you to prove it's not illegal money.. How could you prove, good enough, that you did that?

      The main feature of crypto, as i see it, is that it could replace physical cash and make counterfeit money impossible to produce.. It would also allow to store quite a bit of cash at home in a fairly safe manner.. No need for a big bulky safe, just a way to store some encrypted data. This is perfect to have when buying/selling a car, or other expensive items, where both parties can be protected and be able to verify that the transaction completed. (https://99bitcoins.com/smart-contracts-bitcoin/)

      Another useful thing with bitcoin is that you could show the transaction-history to them if required.
      Currently - when trying to deposit to bank:
      Me: "I saved $1000 per month in cash at home for 2 years"
      Gov: "Prove it"
      Me: "I earned $3000 per month, paid in cash, and stashed $1000 in my safe"
      Gov: "Not good enough, you could have earned that $1000 illegally. Your cash is now confiscated. If you want you can spend $50k to try and fight it and maybe get it back"

      With crypto - when trying to deposit to bank:
      Me: "I saved $1000 per month for 2 years"
      Gov: "Prove it"
      Me "I earned $3000 per month, paid in crypto X, and then let $1000 just sit in my wallet.. Here, look at my transaction history."

      I don't think the government should have these kind of powers to grab money without evidence, but that's the current climate.

  6. Title seems wrong. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Informative

    Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange based on trading volume...

    Seems like the title should read "Money Laundering Outfit Now Accepts Credit Cards".

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re: Title seems wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Serious question: has there ever been a money laundering service like SETI where you can download a program and get paid to have your computer used for money laundering?

    2. Re: Title seems wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Monero miner.

    3. Re:Title seems wrong. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Seems like the title should read "Money Laundering Outfit Now Accepts Credit Cards".

      How about "New Way to Steal Funds via Credit Card"?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Title seems wrong. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Seems like the title should read "Money Laundering Outfit Now Accepts Credit Cards".

      So how much do you know about Binance's KYC/AML requirements? Keep talking ...

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    5. Re:Title seems wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So how much do you know about Binance's KYC/AML requirements? Keep talking ...

      Wait, what?

      Aren't the proponents of Bitcoin etc always telling us how it's free from government regulation and oversight? How the magical unicorn poop exempts them from all of this?

      Now we're supposed to believe they're compliant with banking regulations?

      So this magical unregulated financial market is subject to regulation after all? And all of these people are claiming this shit on their taxes and the like?

      You can't have it both ways.

    6. Re: Title seems wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm amazed at how retarded socialists like you are. Some governments try to control it, but can't. Some governments have taken the hands off approach recognizing its economic value over the scare mongering of socialists like you who fear that they will lose some "free" government hand out or other. NH removed the authority of our banking department to regulate crypto currencies. We have the #1 and #2 cities in the country for crypto currency acceptance and really widespread usage across the state. I travel a lot and nowhere else have I been where there were lots of options in a small radius to actually spend it in the real world. Online is one thing and my business does see a lot of transaction, but its online, not average joes pulling out there phones to spend it at brick and mortar establishments like here NH.

  7. That is nice! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now I can convert stolen credit cards directly into cryptocurrency and ship it of somewhere out of reach of pesky authorities.

  8. TRANSLATION!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Attention Bitcoin gamblers!!! Good news!!! We found a way to by-pass credit companies, those trying to prevent you people, borrow credit money to invest in scams!!! Now you can, not just lose all the money you have, but also, all the money you can borrow from your banks!!!"

  9. Credit cards aren't just for poor people ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    Binance ... now lets users spend money they don't have thanks to the additional support for credit cards from Visa and Mastercard.

    Um... I pay off my CC in full *every* month and have done so since I got the things. They're used for convenience, safety and payment consolidation, not because I don't have the $$ at the time of purchase. They disconnect my bank account from the end-transactions - and I get a short float on my expenses.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:Credit cards aren't just for poor people ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn right. Plus, the cost of your rewards is baked into retail prices of everything, so you may as well get those back.

      If anything, credit cards are a way to make poor people pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. Poor people pay the credit card reward surcharge on everything they buy but never get it back.

    2. Re:Credit cards aren't just for poor people ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You sound like the kind of responsible person that wouldn't buy crypto currency.

      This isn't for you.

    3. Re:Credit cards aren't just for poor people ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eh... not exactly. While it's a bit more true for larger merchants and franchises, generally speaking because of price competition pressure it is the _merchant_ whom gets hit with that extra expense due to how interchange and tiered pricing works. Or they might be paying a flat percentage, in which case they are not paying more when charging a rewards or corporate card, but neither are they getting the lower rates when charging personal debit cards as they would on interchange pricing. If you've ever run across a business that takes debit only, that's almost certainly why. That and to avoid chargebacks. Speaking of chargebacks...

      I am pretty surprised that Visa and MC are going to allow this. As others have stated this seems like a vehicle for money laundering abuses and the underwriter is going to have to cover it if the merchant cannot. My guess is that funds will be held for quite a while to see if chargebacks come in prior to transfer among other risk reduction steps by the processor and underwriter.

  10. My first thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My fisrt thought after reading the headline was, what does Biance have to do with cryptocurrency.

  11. Remove CC Company Insight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It will end up costing more, but will mean the credit card companies get out of telling us Guns BAD! No spend on GUNS!

  12. creditcard to bitcoin, always a big fraud problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is very likely to shut down after two to four months when they realise that a 3.5% fee is nowhere near enough to cover their costs and the large amount of attempted and successful fraud that will happen.

    Once they have sent cryptocurrency to a fraudster they can't get it back. When someone phones their credit card company and says they have did not authorise the charge then Binance will take the loss.

    Dwolla tried processing payments for bitcoin exchanges around 2011 and it went very badly.

    Around here bitcoin machines that let you feed banknotes into a slot to buy bitcoin charge take a 10% fee.

  13. Re:It's a thing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, they invest in Funko Pop figurines and silver coin stacks.

  14. Wow ... fake money with borrowed money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So they're going to allow people to incur debt to buy fake money? Which may or may not have any value.

    Well, I'm sure it's a valuable offering to a specific brand of idiots, but damn if it don't sound like a dumb idea to me.

    Oh well, they let people buy Beanie Babies, so why the hell not?

    There's no law against stupid, so have at it.

    1. Re: Wow ... fake money with borrowed money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it had no value businesses wouldn't be accepting it as a form of payment you dumb ass scare mongering socialist.

  15. Oh thank god... by sajavete · · Score: 1

    ... it's a company. I would really have hated such a cheesy word to have started going around.

  16. Binance is a front for massive fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Beware. Fundus not safu.

  17. Not just 'money you dont have' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sometimes you do have the money, you just like using CCs to make the actual payments as a safety buffer ( fraud protection.) and oftentimes perks.

  18. Banks will block by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And why wouldn't banks block this just like they did last time people started gambling, err, investing in cryptocurrency, with their credit cards?

  19. Re: creditcard to bitcoin, always a big fraud prob by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Round here its 7%. You can get it for less including 0%. Just ask other people who have it who want dollars. If you are smart you will just accept it yourself for payment or get your boss to pay you in it. I've paid out employees in it. 100% at that.