Zebpay Bullish About India's Bitcoin Outlook, Experiences Strong Growth

Zebpay has achieved its goal of 500,000 Bitcoin-app downloads and has been adding more than 2,500 users daily. While the Indian government is drafting Bitcoin regulations, the bitcoin exchange is bullish about the outlook of the Indian bitcoin market.

Also read: India’s Government Forms Committee to Investigate Bitcoin, Report Due in 3 Months

Strong Growth and Growing Bitcoin Acceptance

Launched in July 2015, Zebpay is an Indian app-based bitcoin exchange. Its app, available for Android and iOS, enables users to buy and sell bitcoins, recharge their mobile phone airtime, and buy vouchers.

The company announced on Wednesday that it has reached the milestone of 500,000 downloads on the Android platform. In addition, more than 2,500 users are being added every day, indicating the “growing acceptance of bitcoin as one of the most popular emerging asset classes,” the company claims.

According to Sandeep Goenka, Zebpay co-founder and COO:

India is at the cusp of new financial revolution as Indian customers are opening up to non-traditional investment measures. While this is steady and a promising start, we expect the bitcoin trend to roar further. We aim to achieve 1 million downloads by the end of September 2017.

Finance Ministry Drafting Rules for Bitcoin

The Indian Finance Ministry is currently drafting rules for bitcoin and other digital currencies. This move is reportedly influenced by the rising market size of bitcoin and the number of its investors in India, coupled with reports of related fraud. In an effort to understand Bitcoin, the Indian government in April constituted a committee to investigate the digital currency, with a report due in July. According to India’s leading business daily publication Business Standard, a government official said:

The government feels the industry needs some government oversight and can’t be left unregulated. A panel of bureaucrats will soon submit their recommendations on the subject.

“Regulation will have a huge positive impact on this industry,” Goenka commented, citing Japan’s move to legalize bitcoin has propelled the country to become “the number-one country in the industry.”

He also noted that Indian bitcoin exchanges are already self-regulated. The country has an association called the Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (Dabfi). It was formed by four Bitcoin companies, Zebpay, Unocoin, Coinsecure and Searchtrade, in February following a warning by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about bitcoin and other digital currencies. Currently, a lawyer, Nishith Desai, is helping Dabfi draft self-regulatory rules. “Once that is complete, Dabfi will keep reviewing self-regulation processes of its members,” he detailed.

Demand for Bitcoin in India

Bitcoin.com recently reported on the rise of bitcoin demand as India’s cash reserves ran dry. While banks and ATMs were running out of physical notes throughout the country, bitcoin trading experienced dramatic growth.

“About a million investors are trading in bitcoin India, mainly through five-odd exchanges,” according to Business Standard. Saurabh Agarwal, Zebpay co-founder and CEO, said bitcoin is mostly considered an investment in India, adding that:

Like gold, Indians believe it to be an asset class and its actual use case is only 1% of the total transaction value. We believe that once Indian merchants get clarity on regulation of bitcoin, we will see them using it as a payment gateway.

What do you think about Zebpay’s growth and the outlook of the Indian bitcoin market? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Indian Ministry of Finance, Dabfi, and Zebpay

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