Huobi launching fiat-to-crypto gateway in Turkey later this year

Exchanges • October 18, 2019, 5:45AM EDT

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global will soon allow residents of Turkey to buy cryptocurrencies with their local fiat currency, the Turkish lira.

Huobi announced Friday that it will open a fiat gateway in Turkey by the end of this year, starting with a lira/ (TRY) tether (USDT) pair. It means users will be able to deposit lira via wire transfer and exchange it for tether, and then trade it with other cryptocurrencies Huobi Global supports on its platform.

The exchange is offering Turkish users a 50% discount on transaction fees at 0.1%, and even lower transaction fees at 0.07% for those who hold its native token Huobi Token (HT), per the announcement.

“Turkey is an important region for us,” said Huobi Global CEO, Livio Weng. The exchange first announced its plans to expand to Turkey in June, saying that it will be moving “aggressively” into the country over the next 12 months.

In today’s announcement, Huobi said bitcoin is as popular as foreign exchange (forex) in Turkey, where 20% of the population owns some form of cryptocurrency and said lira is the fifth most popular fiat-crypto pair in the world.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance also intended to open a fiat-to-crypto gateway in Turkey earlier this year, among other countries. Huobi today said it has effectively beaten Binance "at the race to win over the Turkish crypto community," and also beaten it with Argentina launch.

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.