In a show of confidence in the Asian crypto market, Bybit is expanding its fiat crypto gateway to include a slew of new currency options including the South Korean won (KR₩) and the Japanese yen (JP¥). The Singapore-based exchange will expand its service offerings by an additional 20 currencies, bringing the total number which it currently supports to 43. Bybit has also announced that Vietnamese will join its list of language options, further cementing its position in the region.
Bybit, which allows traders to leverage derivatives at up to x100 without KYC requirements, has courted serious press attention lately with its World Series of Trading (WSOT). The tentpole event has captured the imagination of traders, influencers and poker players from around the globe thanks to its over $1 million prize pool. With the additional currency options just announced, users in Asia will have a greater opportunity to make trades of their own as the contest reaches its zenith.
A New Partnership
Bybit will add the new currencies to its roster thanks to its partnership with MoonPay, a financial technology company specializing in fiat-to-crypto payments with all major debit and credit cards, bank transfers, and mobile payment services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. MoonPay now forms a trio of onramping partners for Bybit, joining its existing providers, Banxa and Xanpool. The addition of MoonPay as a Bybit partner comes only two months after the launch of Bybit Fiat Gateway on June 22, demonstrating rapid progress for the exchange.
“We are pleased to bring on MoonPay as a service provider to the Bybit Fiat Gateway to make buying crypto easier for our users who use JP¥ and KR₩, while the newly launched in-language support allows us to better serve our Vietnamese-speaking users,” said Ben Zhou, Bybit CEO. “These efforts deepen our ties with Asia, and demonstrate our continued commitment to better serve our users in more and more localities.”
Asian Market Gathers Pace
Demand for derivatives has been growing rapidly in Asia, where traders typically have a higher appetite for risk. Regional exchanges have sprung up catering to the demand for high leverage and for exposure to a broad range of assets. In addition to cryptocurrency, a number of Asian platforms now offer markets for trading synthetic instruments correlated to commodities, forex, and indices.
Trading high leveraged products demands an infrastructure that only centralized exchanges can support. While there is work gathering pace within defi to deliver decentralized options, synths, and derivatives, it will be some time before these efforts are ready for a mass audience. This may account for why defi adoption within Asia has been relatively low so far; there is an absence of products that cater to regional tastes. That may change in time, but for now, Asia’s crypto trading scene is dominated by CEXs.