Bitcoin is a digital asset and payment system with approximately $9.1 billion in global circulation as of August 2016. It is considered by many to be the most successful and game-changing crypto currency ever created.
Last week, Bitcoin Value crossed all time high $1,500 mark on May 4, 2017 and it has remained above this mark till Sunday. The latest hike in the Bitcoin Value has attracted a lot of traders and investors buying and selling Bitcoin in India. But, if you are looking out to invest in this currency, you need to consider the best options available in India.
Here are the top 4 Bitcoin exchanges in India where you can buy, sell, transfer and invest.
Unocoin:
Started in 2013, Unocoin is a Bangalore based technology startup which operates India’s largest BTC-INR trading platform which enables Indians to buy, sell, store, use and accept bitcoin. Every month, Unocoin processes transactions worth more than INR 250M for its 210,000+ customers.
In FAQs mentioned in their website, Unocoin states that - As all transactions occur between bank accounts, it is a self-regulatory requirement for us to know the sender/ recipient within a transaction. To comply with KYC/ AML regulation and to protect users from illegal activities we are required to collect a copy of your PAN card. It uniquely identifies you as an individual or institution performing a particular transaction. When filling out your profile, please ensure your name should match the one on your PAN card.
In just 3 years since inception, the company has drawn more than 30 top investors from 5 countries. Unocoin is responsible for industry leading innovations such as the Bitcoin Systematic Buying Plan(SBP), Bitcoin Point of Sale (POS) App and Bitcoin Over-The- Counter trading (OTC). In April 2017, Unocoin announced its partnership with PayUbiz, a leading payment gateway, to facilitate Unocoin users in buying Bitcoin using the net banking feature. Set to simplify the entire process of buying Bitcoin, the feature is live on Unocoin.
Zebpay:
Zebpay has been involved in bitcoins since its early days in 2011. Claiming to have started India’s first bitcoin exchange in 2012, Zebpay guarantees fast transaction processing and the best bitcoin rates.
The company states in its website, - Your KYC details are essentials for us to maintain your Zebpay account. This is to secure your bitcoins in you Zebpay account. After 7 May '17, only KYC verified accounts will be able to use Zebpay, even to send, receive or store bitcoins, recharge airtime or buy vouchers. Please verify account now.
SearchTrade:
SearchTrade is a search engine company which uses bitcoins to pay users every time they search on the platform. They also allow users to 'own ' keywords which earn income for them every time the words are used as part of a search query by any person worldwide.
The Singapore-based startup, SearchTrade, has introduced a system to allow all parties in the Internet search engine process – the searcher, the owner of the key word being searched, the builder of the app using the search engine, and the advertisers – to profit from the process using bitcoin. Using bitcoin, the system redistributes the revenue among the stakeholders in the process, rather than allowing all the profit to flow to the big search engines like Google and Bing.
CoinSecure:
Founded in July 2014, Coinsecure is registered as Secure Bitcoin Traders Pvt. Ltd. An ISO certified company, Coinsecure offers Bitcoin wallet, exchange, trading and merchant services along with other Blockchain based services. Blockchain consists of data structure blocks that maintain the transaction records against tempering and revision. The company has its Head Office in Delhi and the Research and Development division in Bangalore.
The company launched a Bitcoin exchange on January 1, 2015. Coinsecure offers an algorithmic trading Bitcoin exchange, a Blockchain explorer, free APIs for all their products, a mock trading platform for users to try trading without real money and On-Chain and Off-Chain wallet services. The company now consistently handles over 3,000 BTCs a month in terms of volume.
Bitcoin start-ups Zebpay, Unocoin, Coinsecure and Searchtrade jointly launched Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI) for the orderly and transparent growth of virtual currency market. Nishith Desai Associates, an international law firm has been appointed to develop self-regulations for the industry.
