Binance.US Set to Launch Algorand (ALGO) and Cosmos (ATOM) Staking

Binance.US, the United States arm of Binance cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will roll out Algorand (ALGO) and Cosmos (ATOM) staking services from February 2020. The firm says crypto traders on its platform will be able to access the staking service right from the Binance.U.S app, as well as on its official site, according to a blog post on January 29, 2020.

Binance.US Eyes Algorand and Cosmos Staking

Building upon the successful listing of Cosmos (ATOM) on its platform, in October 2019, Binance.U.S has announced plans to roll out staking support for ATOM and Algorand later in February.

As stated in its blog post, staking rewards for Algorand (ALGO) and Cosmos (ATOM) will go live on both the Bitcoin.US platform and mobile application next month, in all Binance.U.S. supported states.

The team says it firmly believes that the staking service will foster financial inclusion and further lower the barrier to entry across the cryptospace, as it will provide a secure on-ramp for participants to earn decent rewards for promoting network security.

Commenting on the initiative, Catherine Coley, CEO of Binance.U.S. reiterated that:

“Binance.U.S. strives to create opportunities for more people to get involved in the digital asset marketplace and provide an interactive platform for all users, both crypto-curious and expert traders, to explore, participate and benefit from being a crypto holder.”

A Pathway to Economic Freedom

For those who are unaware, staking enables holders of proof-of-stake (PoS) altcoins to contribute to securing a coin’s distributed ledger by locking up their funds in a supported wallet for a specific period, while also earning rewards on their coins in the form of daily interest.

In other words, staking allows crypto hodlers to earn passive income on their digital asset holdings.

According to Coley:

“One of the major components of America’s pathway to economic freedom is to reward users for being a part of a community that is better suited than traditional platforms in terms of the future of money and money management. Staking is just one of the many attractive ways we are bringing new people into the digital asset marketplace.”

Importantly, Binance.US has made it clear that is customers who already hold ALGO and ATOM will start automatically start earning rewards on their coins once the service goes live in February, however, “staking rewards will not occur until March 2020.”

Since its launch in September 2019, the Binance.U.S. exchange has continued to grow from strength to strength.

In November 2019, Binance.U.S. made it possible for traders to buy bitcoin (BTC) and other supported cryptocurrencies with a debit card.

At present, Binance.US supports only 28 cryptocurrencies, including VeChain (VET), however, it is expected that that number will increase as time goes on.

Binance coin (BNB), the native altcoin of the Binance ecosystem is currently the 9th-largest cryptocurrency in the world. The price of Binance coin (BNB), sits at $18.07, with a market cap of $2.81 billion, as seen on CoinMarketCap.