Binance Launches New Platform for Developers

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volumes, has rolled out yet another offering. This time, a platform for developers, called “Binance X,” with the ultimate goal of boosting the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Binance X helps developers learn and collaborate with blockchain ecosystem, as well as Binance’s own solutions such as its native public blockchain Binance Chain, Binance.com application program interfaces (APIs), Trust Wallet software development kits (SDKs) and more.

“The long-term goal of Binance X is to foster a thriving developer ecosystem that innovates on products and services that would advance the crypto ecosystem and contribute to crypto adoption,” Teck Chia, head of Binance X, told The Block.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao

Chia said now is the “right time” for this initiative because there is an increasing number of developer-facing products at Binance and an increasing number of third-party developers building products and services on its platform. “These developers deserve a team focused on helping them succeed through all stages of their development.”

Binance initially teased the announcement of Binance X last week on Twitter. Now that the initiative has been launched today, it also connects developers to various programs such as Binance X Fellowship, Binance Labs Incubation, Binance Launchpad, and other partnership programs.

Binance X Fellowship program, for instance, has attracted over 40 developers and projects, per the announcement. These include Hammad Tariq of GoBNB, JP Thorbjornsen of BEPTools, Nikita Kozlov and Alexandr Safonov of BrowserBNB and Austin Griffith of Burner Wallet, among others.

When asked how Binance X selects projects to include in its programs, Chia told The Block that talent comes “first and foremost.” Secondly, projects have to be open-source and available for the community to use. “We are generally very open-minded and supportive of ideas and projects that are out-of-the-box and creative,” he added.

To set its expectations straight, Binance X has also created a list of projects and ideas it would like to see from developers, especially in the Binance Chain ecosystem. These include “Robinhood-like UX for casual traders,” and “Bloomberg-like terminal for serious manual traders.”

“We are hoping that our platform will spawn creative and innovative projects from 3rd-party developers that will help crypto gain mass adoption,” Chia told The Block.

Binance is one of the few crypto exchanges that keeps launching new products and services at short intervals. Just last week, the exchange ventured into lending space, allowing holders of BNB token, Ethereum classic (ETC) and Tether (USDT) stablecoin earn interest on their funds.

Yesterday, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao “CZ”, said in a Twitter Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) chat that futures trading on the exchange is coming “very, very soon, probably/definitely sometime in September.”

Binance is also planning to launch “Venus,” similar to Facebook’s upcoming cryptocurrency Libra. The exchange hopes to break the “financial hegemony” and reshape the world’s financial system with the proposed cryptocurrency.

August 30, 2019