Binance rolls out 'Bundle' in Africa

The leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, recently launched its new social payments app, Bundle. The app is targeting the African market, and it allows users to receive or send cash.

More than that, the app can also buy, sell, or store cryptocurrencies. With an easy way to deal with crypto, African users can start making online payments, earn money, or receive help from family members working abroad.

What does Bundle have to offer?

While Binance is becoming known for the support of all kinds of fiat currencies, the only one available at launch is Nigeria naira (NGN). However, the exchange will also support a few cryptos, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin.

Of course, Binance is well-known for its exchange and support for countless altcoins. In other words, many more cryptos will likely come in due time, and Binance even predicts that it will happen in only a few weeks. Meanwhile, African users can use this time to check out the app and learn how to use it.

Depositing money is easy enough, and users can do it via cards, direct bank transfers, or even via mobile money. The app's founder, Yele Bademosi, commented on the app's user-friendliness. He said “We built Bundle with the digitally native African user in mind. They are social, online, and connected across geographical boundaries. They prefer their financial services delivered digitally via mobile apps as opposed to visiting brick and mortar bank branches.”

Bundle will support the entirety of Africa, not only Nigeria. In fact, the idea is to have it available in over 30 African countries before the year ends. Binance wants to help it grow and become a kind of super-app, and become Africa's and then the world's most widely-used social payments app.

Social payments sector on the rise

Of course, Bundle itself operates as an entity independent from the leading crypto exchange. However, it is still a project that went through an incubation process at Binance. The exchange helped it raise nearly half a million dollars ($450,000) in a pre-seed funding round last September.

Binance once again managed to recognize the leading future trend when it invested in the app. This is quite clear today, when social payments appear to be a new surging trend in the crypto sector.

The competition is still quite tight, however. Only yesterday, Ethereum-based lending platform Dharma made a similar move. Dharma launched new functionality, which allows its users to send USD to any Twitter handle.

The sender must have a Dharma account and the funds in it, but the recipient only needs a Twitter handle and nothing more. As soon as they receive the money, they also start earning interest on it.