BitPay and Coinsecure of India partner to provide Bitcoin payment services to merchants, grabbing 1 billion middle-class consumers

Coinsecure, a bitcoin trading platform in Delhi, India, and BitPay, a US bitcoin payment processor, have established a partnership that will allow Indian merchants to accept bitcoin payments and receive Indian rupee settlement payments.

Bitcoin adoption in India and South Asia is driving a major push for the digital currency to become more mainstream globally, as opportunities to process payments in the world’s second-most populous country of more than 1 billion people present themselves for the first time.

Coinsecure CEO Mohit Kalra said:

“When we talk about the size of the Indian market, we say that India’s population is over 1.2 billion, second only to China. Imagine if the Indian Bitcoin market could reach 500 million people. The potential is huge. Indian merchants have been accepting Bitcoin payments for a while now, but not in Indian rupees. Now, merchants can accept Bitcoin as well as rupees. Bitcoin in India is no longer just an ‘investment’, but can also be used to purchase goods from merchants that accept Bitcoin.”

India – A Tech Safe Haven

Coinsecure will be the first company to offer Bitcoin payments to merchants in India and South Asia using the BitPay platform. In addition to demographic factors, India is a technology haven with many free software developers providing services to the world, which is conducive to the expansion of Bitcoin adoption from technology service providers to the general public.

Asked if India/South Asia has a good Bitcoin market, Kalra said:

“I repeat, India is the second most populous country in the world and traditional payment options are not satisfactory. It is difficult for Indians to obtain and use debit and credit cards, and many do not even have bank accounts. Now that they can obtain Bitcoin and use it for shopping, it opens the door to international e-commerce and enables people who do not have debit or credit cards to shop online. Another factor that can really shake up Bitcoin’s acceptance in India is remittances. Coinsecure is not a remittance company, but we are very interested in using Bitcoin for international funds transfers because India is the number one recipient of remittances.”

Bitcoin wins hearts of middle-class consumers

The merger of Coinsecure and BitPay is in line with a recent report from Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), which states that the vast South Asian region – not just India – will be the epicenter of future middle-class growth, paving the way for 1 billion new middle-class consumers who will ‘change the world’.

The report, titled The Velocity 12 report, identifies 12 'velocity' markets that will be key to the growth of middle-class consumers over the next 10 years, centered around India, but also including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, and expanding to China, and in another direction Egypt, Nigeria, Mexico and Brazil.

The report states:

“Over the next decade, these 12 markets will be the source of the next billion middle-class consumers, creating a critical tipping point as the middle class in these regions moves from a minority to a majority.”

Coinsecure noted in a blog post that a number of merchants already accept bitcoin payments for their services, including consulting firm First Principle Ventures, design firm Lazy Eight Design, e-commerce platform Kartmagic and personalized furniture store Zraya.

They also said that Coinsecure’s new service will not only enable merchants to expand their customer base by accepting Bitcoin, but will also eliminate their concerns about Bitcoin’s price fluctuations as merchants can receive Bitcoin payments and then convert the Bitcoins into Indian rupees in their bank accounts.

Kalra says:

“Bitcoin offers businesses a powerful way to find global customers online. Through our new merchant services and wallet offering, we hope to make Bitcoin the most popular payment method in India.”