Most crypto friendly nations have their own primary fiat currency-to-crypto exchanges, where traders can buy and sell digital assets in their own currency. A firm in Singapore has taken this a step further with the launch of a new exchange that caters for several fiat currencies from multiple countries.
This week Singapore-based fiat-to-crypto exchange, EurekaPro, has reportedly entered the Southeast Asian market. EurekaPro say 8,000 users signed up for the service during its beta public launch which, says the company, highlights the continued demand for crypto trading despite the current bear market.
Fiat-to-crypto exchanges are nothing new, with Singapore’s CoinHako, South Korea’s Bithumb, Japan’s BitFlyer and Thailand’s BX exchange all already accepting fiat deposits in their own respective currencies.
However, the issues with these are that they can be subject to banking and government regulations and restrictions as well as taxes on trading or profits. What separates EurekaPro from those is that it plans to offer multiple currencies including Singapore Dollars, Malaysian Ringgit and Indonesian Rupiah in addition to other Asian currencies which it says will make crypto trading more accessible across the region.
Also like other exchanges, it has its own token, EKT, to facilitate trading between assets on the platform. Other facilities will include multi-step “Two Factor Authentication” security – known as “2FA” – and secure wallets and real time transactions.
Co-founder and CEO, Junus Eu, added; “Our platform represents a unique proposition for the blockchain space in Southeast Asia, by removing or reducing entry barriers to the crypto market that may otherwise prevent consumers from adopting blockchain technology. EurekaPro aims to empower consumers with two things: the knowledge to harness the potential of blockchain through our online education platform; and the means to break into the crypto market by making fiat-to-crypto transactions easier.”
Most major exchanges such as Binance, Huobi and OKEx only offer crypto-to-crypto trading using stablecoins such as the enigmatic Tether (USDT) as the go-between.
Binance has big plans, however, and is already eyeing Singapore for fiat-to-crypto trading. The world’s largest exchange by trade volume has already opened a crypto exchange in Uganda and currently allows exchanges into Swiss Francs and Euros via Liechtenstein.
An exchange using Singapore dollars is the next logical expansion step for Binance, as Chief Financial Officer Wei Zhou told Bloomberg. “Our goal right now is to continue to grow the ecosystem,” said Zhou. “Not just for cryptocurrency, but for the blockchain industry as well. The next area of growth, in addition to the crypto-exchange, is the move into fiat.”
Last month Binance started private beta testing its Singapore crypto-fiat exchange with CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeting at the time; “I just slipped that we will begin #Binance Singapore fiat exchange live money closed beta testing on Sept 18th, in 3 days. Invitation only first. Exciting!”
Singapore’s relaxed crypto governance – including a token classification framework that has been seen as one of the clearest in the world – is seeing the island state creating a regulatory model for the region.