Binance made headlines this week with the announcement that they plan to launch their very own Stablecoin, Venus. The announcement, that was made on Monday, 19 August entailed that Venus is an “independent regional version of Libra” aka Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency. Sharpen your pitch forks as the battle for Stablecoins is on!

Introducing Binance’s Venus

Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges hence the excitement about the planned launch of Venus. When looking at astrology, Venus is actually the ruling planet of Libra. With Venus, Binance hopes to break the “financial hegemony” and change the way people look at the financial system. Binance already has a huge presence in the crypto community as well as its native blockchain, Binance Chain.

In an interview with The Block, Binance co-founder, Yi He said they strongly believe that Stablecoins will progressively replace traditional fiat currencies in the near and long term. “Stablecoins will bring a new and balanced standard of the digital economy,” he said.

So what will Venus do exactly? It is said that Venus will be a “localized” stablecoin that is pegged to fiat currencies. The project will be supported by Binance’s full-process technical support, multi-dimensional cooperation network and compliance risk control system. Binance has welcomed global companies, organizations and even government to collaborate on the Venus initiative.

What is a Stablecoin?

A Stablecoin is a term to describe cryptocurrencies that are meant to have a stable value by being pegged to the U.S. dollar. It assist in reducing the volatility in price fluctuations that the crypto industry is known for. Stablecoins are great for performing everyday transactions such as buying or accepting payment for products or services.

Read Bitmart’s blog “Rise of the Stablecoin”.

The battle for Stablecoins – Venus vs Libra

Facebook’s Libra will work on a similar basis to Binance’s Venus. One can buy goods or be paid for products/services with a stablecoin that has low fees and can be transferred globally within seconds. Unfortunately for Libra, the project has already faced scrutiny from politicians and central banks alike. Should Facebook not be able to get past this, the project may never get off the ground. However, let’s not jump the gun.

On the other hand, Binance believes that Libra will grow at an “exponential rate”. It will bring more changes than the Internet. They agreed that Libra should be developed under the regulatory framework of the SEC.

In a Tweet, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said Venus is not looking to dominate Libra but instead the two can happy co-exist.