Overview of Bitcoin Development in India - Growing Prosperity

Although it is too early to throw away your credit card, Bitcoin is gradually becoming a better alternative payment method, and this payment method is also becoming popular in India. There are currently about 50,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts in India, of which 30,000 own Bitcoin. As Bitcoin mobile applications become more and more abundant and using Bitcoin becomes more and more convenient, Bitcoin can soon change from a simple investment commodity to a medium of payment for shopping.

A year ago, in India, Bitcoin users had almost no way to spend Bitcoin. Spending Bitcoin requires a platform. After Unocoin was established, it launched a "business gateway" service to enable physical merchants to accept Bitcoin, such as Shapna Book House, ticket booking portal eTravelSmart, Dharwad International School, fashion portal Fashion Diva and other online platform service providers. Many of these service providers have signed contracts to accept customers to pay with Bitcoin.

Coinsecure, another Indian bitcoin exchange, will also launch a merchant gateway service in the coming months.

Zebpay, a mobile Bitcoin wallet application, earlier only provided transaction services. But from June this year, it entered the payment field and its users can now use Bitcoin to buy vouchers for websites such as Amazon, Flipkart, Freecharge, Bookmyshow and Makemytrip. In July this year, Zebpay launched a plan with telecom operators Vodafone, Tel, Tata Group, Docomo Operations, and multiple mobile operators such as BSNL and MTNL to recharge prepaid or deferred payments to users using Bitcoin applications. The plan also includes several DTH providers. According to the company, at least 500 new users will register for the Bitcoin application every week.

A few weeks ago, ePaisa mobile point of sale (POS) announced that it would allow brick-and-mortar stores to accept Bitcoin. “Since we launched the service, we have seen continued growth and expect to have around 100 merchants accepting Bitcoin by the end of the year,” said Siddharth Arora, co-founder and CEO of希德哈斯•阿罗拉.

“The payment process is simple. All the user has to do is select the Bitcoin checkout option. A QR code will pop up with the payment amount. The customer just needs to scan the QR code with their Bitcoin wallet and the merchant will receive the payment from their Bitcoin wallet or bank account.”

Although Bitcoin payments are still a new concept, some retailers have already realized the advantages of accepting this currency.桑尼•拉伊, chairman of the Unocoin exchange, said:

“Merchants will benefit from Bitcoin payments, which are lower transaction fees, no deductions, fraud prevention and fast payments. Merchants can convert the received Bitcoins into Indian Rupees.”

The developments worth noting are not limited to e-commerce sites. Dharwad International School in Karnataka, India, allows students to pay tuition fees online using Bitcoin. eTravelSmart also recently announced that users can use Bitcoin to buy bus tickets, and provided more than 80,000 bus routes that can accept Bitcoin. After implementation, eTravelSmart found that there were an average of 5 Bitcoin transactions per month. , Bhav哈夫•辛格•布基亚, owner of eTravelSmart, said:

The number of Bitcoin users in India is growing and cannot be ignored. Customers now pay their fares in Bitcoins. For example, if the fare is Rs 1,000, the equivalent amount of Bitcoin in the customer's Bitcoin wallet (approximately 0.06269592 Bitcoins) is deducted. In August this year, the price of Bitcoin was roughly between Rs 14,000 and Rs 15,000.

The most popular way to spend money is by buying vouchers using bitcoin, said萨拉布•阿格拉沃尔, co-founder of Zebpay. "We buy these vouchers from e-commerce companies and sell them online using bitcoin. We are seeing a 100% growth in sales every month." However, the legality of bitcoin is often disputed. Bitcoin advocate瓦伯汉夫•帕里克said bitcoin is legal in the country.

“The question of legality of Bitcoin is just a fear of the unknown. The only thing people need to be careful about is accepting Bitcoin from outside India because India’s foreign exchange control laws also apply to Bitcoin.”

Parikh favors a self-regulatory mechanism like the one in the UK to oversee bitcoin trading in India.