Huobi Partners With Astropay to Facilitate Fiat Payments in Latam

Huobi Global, one of the biggest exchanges in volumes traded, has announced a partnership to make it easier for its Latam-based customers to acquire cryptocurrencies. The exchange has allied with Astropay, a payment services platform, to allow customers in Latam to purchase cryptocurrency with fiat currencies in several countries.

Huobi to Make Crypto Easier to Purchase in Latam

Huobi is aiming to be more appealing to Latam-based customers who want to enter the cryptocurrency market for the first time. The leading crypto exchange has recently announced a partnership with Astropay, a payment processing platform, to allow customers in Latam to purchase crypto using fiat currencies in selected countries.

Customers will have to use Astropay’s wallet in order to purchase the assets, having the opportunity to do so in countries like Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. The company informed that various payment methods would be supported, including credit and debit cards, and bank transfers. Region-specific options like Pix in Brazil, and SPEI in Mexico, will also be supported.

The company is aiming to offer a better experience for the growing number of customers based in the area. On this, Lily Zhang, chief financial officer of Huobi Global, stated:

Latin America lays claim to a young and vibrant population brimming with enthusiasm for the crypto industry, and we have observed a significant increase in the number of new Huobi Global users from this region.

Furthermore, Zhang explained that the goal of the company’s move is to make “the purchase and trading of digital assets a secure, convenient, and enjoyable experience for everyone.”

Jumping Through Hoops

This initiative puts Huobi in competition with local exchanges and P2P (peer-to-peer) offers in the region, that have an edge in acquiring users due to their acceptance of local payment options. In countries like Venezuela, access to international or dollar-based debit cards is difficult, powering the reach of markets like Binance P2P, which allows Venezuelans to acquire crypto with their fiat currency. Argentina also has had exchange controls that might affect the availability of foreign currency.

However, even with these problems, some Latam nations are in the top 20 list of the countries with the highest cryptocurrency adoption, according to a recent report issued by Chainalysis. Brazil is listed at number seven, and countries like Argentina are also present.

What do you think about Huobi’s alliance with Astropay to ease fiat-to-crypto transactions in Latam? Tell us in the comments section below.

Sergio Goschenko

Sergio is a cryptocurrency journalist based in Venezuela. He describes himself as late to the game, entering the cryptosphere when the price rise happened during December 2017. Having a computer engineering background, living in Venezuela, and being impacted by the cryptocurrency boom at a social level, he offers a different point of view about crypto success and how it helps the unbanked and underserved.

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