When someone asks “how can I buy bitcoin with a credit card?” the first option to come to mind is usually Coinbase – until now. Binance now offers its customers the option of purchasing select cryptocurrencies with their Visa or Mastercard.

According to the announcement, which was published on their website earlier today, Binance customers can now purchase Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) with their Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card.

The new payment option comes as a result of Binance’s new partnership with Simplex, an Israel-based fintech company that offers 100% guaranteed fraudless payment processing solutions.

The process is simple and fast, with the purchased cryptocurrency appearing in the customer’s wallet in 10 – 30 minutes on average. The fees are also quite reasonable – just 3.5% or $10 – whichever is greater.

Binance notes that Simplex’s payment processing is subject to local banks’ policies and, for that reason, is not available in all locations.

Restricted countries:

Binance’s credit card payment option is not available in the following countries:

Afghanistan China Congo (Brazzaville) Congo (Kinshasa) Cuba North Korea Eritrea Iran Iraq Ivory Coast Kyrgyzstan Lebanon Libya South Sudan Sudan

While the service is available in the United States, residents in the following states are ineligible to use the service:

Connecticut (CT) Georgia (GA) Hawaii (HI) New Mexico (NM) New York (NY) Washington (WA)

Binance Doing Its Part to Boost Mainstream Adoption

Binance’s partnership with Simplex comes less than three weeks after the exchange expanded into the European market with the launch of Binance Jersey, a fiat-to-crypto exchange that enables customers to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) for British pounds and euros.

Increasing the adoption and mainstream accessibility of cryptocurrencies is part of Binance’s overall mission, something that CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao alluded to while discussing the Simplex partnership:

We want to provide Binance traders with fast and easy access to crypto, in the most secure way possible. […] Partnering with Simplex allows us to instantly bridge the gap between credit card payments and crypto for traders globally. On Binance.com, you can now buy crypto with credit cards and start trading in minutes.

Zhao went on to add:

The crypto industry is still in its early stages and most of the world’s money is still in fiat. Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users.

What do you think of Binance adding credit and debit card payment options? Will it make it easier for people – especially newcomers – to buy and sell cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Binance, DepositPhotos