Bitcoin in India

17 April 2017 | 1546 Views | By Mint2Save

Bitcoin is a digital crypto currency and a payment system, invented by a group of anonymous programmers, under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Formed and held solely in electronic forms, Bitcoin can be used for peer to peer payments. There is no market regulator, or involvement of government authority/control in Bitcoin. Bitcoins are not printed, like Euros or dollars, but they’re created by people, and are increasingly improved by businesses.

Bitcoin can be used to buy a product or pay for a service electronically and the transaction is entered into a ledger. Computers are used for complex mathematical equations so as to complete to confirm the transaction. Bitcoins are electronically converted to long strings of code having financial value. Nevertheless, Bitcoin’s most significant characteristic, and the thing that differentiate with the conventional money, is that it is decentralized and unregulated. Not even single institution controls the Bitcoin network. This puts some people at effortlessness, because it means that the large bank is not in a position to control their money.

Bitcoin in India

In the times when internet dawned, India did lag behind in adapting to the new technology. In contrast to that, Bitcoin has been widely encouraged by entrepreneurs as well as government. As of now, 1 Bitcoin is valued heftily at around Rs. 70,000/-, and is still a lucrative investment for a lot of people.

From payment exchanges to payout methods, Bitcoins is steadily going to the uber in the currency chapter.

There are four main Bitcoin exchanges at present in India i.e.,

Zebpay: It is a Singapore based startup, which was founded in the year 2015. It currently has an IT office in Ahmedabad. Zebpay has over half a million users all over India and the number is on an increase. Good part about Zebpay is that it is also very aggressive in promoting information about Bitcoin, hence, has received a wide coverage by Indian as well as international media.

Unocoin: This is essentially India registered Bitcoin wallet, headquartered at Bengaluru, India. Having established a toll-free number for all sorts of cryptocurrency related theories, Unocoin seems to stay in the market for a long term.
BTCXIndia: BTCXIndia is a Bitcoin exchange that provides an API to their clients to access and control their accounts. A highly secure Bitcoin exchange, it is backed by some serious venture funding.
Coinsecure: Based out of New Delhi, Coinsecure is India’ first real time Bitcoin exchange.

Apart from the above mentioned wallets cum exchanges, there are several other Bitcoin based start-ups popping up with the help of online retail giants such as Flipkart and Snapdeal.

There are very clear signs of an increased interest in Bitcoin in India among Indian residents. The media in the India also elevated the digital money’s popularity by reporting on its high demand. Lot of Bitcoin wallets are created by Indians due to high interest in Bitcoin. Many of the Indians are looking for a financial shelter to escape from their government’s decision. Further, a huge number of people are buying Bitcoin as a form of protests as of the way the Indian government handles the country’s corruption problem. India’s demand for the crypto currency created an impact on Bitcoin prices around the globe.

Due to demonetisation, the demand of Bitcoins is created and shoots up and made prices of Bitcoins in India, as people want to park their black money or old currency in Bitcoins. Due to this, prices might decrease and sync with international prices, but a flash has been ignited in the Indian community.

More and more Indians residents are getting aware and well known about Bitcoins with its advantages and use. The government has also shown its apprehension over increase in Bitcoin prices in Indian market as they are aware why prices shoots up. In India people are now looking more closely in making new investments in Bitcoins. It is giving a positive impact and gaining popularity in Indian market.

Using Bitcoins may carry very low fees or no fee at all. Users of Bitcoins may include charges to process the transaction quicker or converting it to rupees. To attract on the network and to gain more priority and quicker processing time, it includes higher fee.

Conventional currency is based on gold or silver. In theory, you knew that if you handed a dollar at the bank, you could get some gold back (although this didn’t actually work in practice). But Bitcoin is not based on gold, but is based on mathematics. As of now, they’re very few avenues to use bitcoins in India. Most of the merchant outlets in India do not accept payment in digital currency.

E-commerce sites such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, and MakeMyTrip, have run voucher campaigns for those people using bitcoin exchanges like Zebpay, but as now, they don’t accept payment in bitcoins. After deducting its commission, the Bitcoin exchange converts the bitcoin into normal currency and pays off the e-commerce player.

Irrespective of how many times paper currency has been changed, India has been a prime victim of fake currencies. With the advent of debit and credit cards, cyber fraud has often cost this economy huge losses. Not to forget the ill effects of the double spending problem.

For a country which is home for various IT giants, establishing a safe monetary system is a prime responsibility. Thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are making it a reality.

Thus, this impact has forced people to become adapters of the new technology. This face is likely to continue, in combination with the new gold tax in India thus approaching investors and high profile traders to shift towards alternative secure haven assets such as bitcoin or silver.

By implementing their own system, India may want to try and prevent a mass departure to the Bitcoin. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which will work on a biometric basis, can be a boost to Bitcoin. This clear trend in India is pushing for demonetization and this will have a beneficial effect on the price of Bitcoin.

“Right now Bitcoin feels like the Internet before the browser.” – Wences Casares

This quote is spot on!! Bitcoin is not even a decade old, but our lessons from the internet’s story are making this global idea accelerate at double speed.

India is one of the brightest economies in the world and in order to integrate higher growth in its DNA, Bitcoin can be one of the critical keys.