Binance Uganda Exchange’s Opening Week Sees Over 40,000 Crypto Users Register

African countries have a large population of unbanked people which makes it a perfect breeding ground for crypto ecosystems to flourish. has been demonstrated in Uganda through Binance.

On October 17, 10 am EAT (Uganda Time) Binance released their platform in the country. First available pairs were BTC/UGX and ETH/UGX with more trading pairs launching soon. It was part of a larger effort from Binance to open several localized exchanges around the world.

Get ready! We are excited to announce the launch of #Binance Uganda! Full sign-ups are now live at https://t.co/hzLBj9Dcrw, deposits and trading coming soon.https://t.co/kpqSVKulox pic.twitter.com/0jdE4cVspI

— BinanceUG (@BinanceUG) October 15, 2018

Now, there are reports that just in a week of operations, Binance Uganda has onboard 40,000 people on their platform. Close to 74% of Ugandan people are unbanked and are looking for alternatives. Binance wants to provide them with one. Another problem the country faces is liquidity which crypto assets can provide. Also, they are borderless and easy to move around the world.

Although Binance only offers crypto-to-crypto exchanges, they are partnering with local mobile service providers for fiat to crypto exchange and vice-versa. Before Binance made its debut in the country, Ugandans had to depend on P2P exchanges like LocalBitcoins.

Binance is taking their operations in Uganda seriously. In fact, their CEO Zhao has assured that they are looking to hire local talents for operations in the country. They even plan to expand to Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa by next year.

Another factor that is increasing the demand for bitcoin in Uganda is Remittance. In 2014, it was reported that close to 10% of people in the country got remittance from Kenya, while some got it from European countries. However, these processes are slow and expensive.

Unemployment outside the agricultural sector is also another factor driving crypto adoption. It has been reported that 15% of people under 30 are unemployed, while almost half the working population holds temporary jobs.

Even though the adoption of Binance has been swift, it still doesn’t all the financial problems of the country. The country has yet to adopt online tools and do not trust systems which don’t provide face-to-face interactions. Government and regulatory support also remain uncertain.