Binance launches African affiliate program after Uganda subsidiary closes

The world’s largest crypto exchange announced two subsidiary suspensions within one month.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is launching a new affiliate program in Africa after announcing the termination of its Uganda-based service.

On Nov. 3, Binance officially announced the launch of the Binance Africa Affiliate Program, which aims to promote Binance across the continent. According to the exchange, the new program is open to influencers, crypto enthusiasts and content creators across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

A spokesperson for Binance told Cointelegraph that Binance’s services in Africa include a fiat on-ramp for users from Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. The exchange also provides peer-to-peer services for users from Kenya. 

The move follows Binance’s Oct. 27 announcement that it was shutting down its Uganda subsidiary. Binance Uganda is expected to be entirely terminated as of Nov. 28, 2020, while the closure of trading services is scheduled for Nov. 11. The exchange has already closed deposits and new registrations on Oct. 28, the announcement reads.

Binance Uganda was a fiat-to-crypto platform launched by Binance in June 2018, allowing users in Uganda to access crypto with the Ugandan shilling, or UGX, and promote crypto adoption in Africa. Despite the platform’s suspension, local users will be still able to deposit UGX through Binance’s main platform, the exchange’s representative noted.

In September 2020, Binance delisted its native token Binance Coin (BNB) from Binance Uganda. Executives then explained that the BNB/UGX trading pair did not meet the exchange’s trading standards.

Binance Uganda is the second local exchange subsidiary to close in the last 30 days. On Oct. 19, Binance announced the upcoming termination of Binance Jersey. The exchange did not specify the reasons for shutting down operations in Jersey, instead stating that Binance.com “will continue to offer services to citizens of Jersey through compliant banking channels.”

According to Binance representative, the two suspensions are not connected, as “Binance Jersey and Binance Uganda are two independent entities.” The spokesperson noted that the exchange will continue to expand globally to provide more localized products and services for local users.