<p>Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has listed the first direct fiat-to-cryptocurrency trading pairs, starting with Nigerian naira (NGN).</p> <p>Announcing the news on Thursday, Binance <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/articles/360035511611">said</a> users can deposit NGNs and buy bitcoin (BTC), Binance coin (BNB) and Binance’s native dollar-pegged stablecoin BUSD.</p> <p>The NGN deposit feature is being offered via U.S.-based payments tech firm Flutterwave. The maximum deposit per transaction is 430,000 NGN (~1,185) and the minimum deposit per transaction is 150 NGN ($0.41), per the announcement. The NGN deposits fees are 1.4%.<br /> <br /> When asked why supporting NGN first, a Binance spokesperson told The Block: "Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa with nearly 200 million people - it is absolutely a promising market with great potential. In addition, Flutterwave offers very competitive rates for NGN, and the deposit processing fee is as low as 1.4%."</p> <p>Flutterwave is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, and Johannesburg. The firm is backed by notable investors, including Y Combinator. Its clients include Uber and Booking.com, among others, according to information on its <a href="https://flutterwave.com/us/company/">website</a>.</p> <p>The next supported fiat currency would likely be Russian rubles (RUB) as Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao “CZ” <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/43960/binance-com-to-add-fiat-pairs-starting-with-russian-rubles-in-about-two-weeks">announced</a> earlier this week that the functionality will be added, “in about two weeks or so.”<br /> <br /> The Block has reached out to Flutterwave for further comment and will update this story if they reply.<br /> <br /> </p> <hr /> <p><em>UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a response from Binance spokesperson. </em></p>