Polish Bitcoin Exchange BitBay Opens Shop in India; 6 Altcoins Supported
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The acceptance of bitcoin is likely to grow, but without regulations, investing in cryptocurrency could be a game of luck. People may know how many bitcoins a publicly used address holds, but no one will know whom it belongs to. Overall, it is estimated that India has close to 10 lakh bitcoin users, with daily transaction of about 2, coins. Its value has more than tripled in less than polish bitcoin exchange bitbay opens shop in india 6 altcoins supported year, making even the strong run in the equity markets look lacklustre.
One bitcoin, available for around Rs 52, in November last year, now costs about Rs 3,30, on bitcoin exchanges like Zebpay and Unocoin. The bitcoin, a digital currency, is said to have been invented by a Satoshi Nakamoto in But, as it is open source, no person, company or country owns the bitcoin network. In fact, no one even knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is.
Moreover, bitcoin doesn't come polish bitcoin exchange bitbay opens shop in india 6 altcoins supported the regulation of any monetary authority in the world, unlike say the rupee, which is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India or the US dollar, which the Federal Reserve controls. Bitcoin works on a peer-to-peer network, where users transact directly across borders and there is no intermediary, like a bank.
Also, being an electronic currency, it cannot be printed. Bitcoins need to be mined online through a software polish bitcoin exchange bitbay opens shop in india 6 altcoins supported, based on mathematical equations. Moreover, trading in bitcoins offers anonymity.
You can have multiple bitcoin addresses, none of them linked to your personal information. When a person trades in bitcoin, a private key linked with his bitcoin wallet is used to create code, and that code allows the anonymous transaction. Transactions done on the bitcoin network are stored on the blockchain a list of digital records.
Also, a bitcoin can be divided into parts for transactions, the smallest being one hundred millionth of a bitcoin, polish bitcoin exchange bitbay opens shop in india 6 altcoins supported to coindesk.
The success of bitcoins has led to the formation of similar virtual currencies like Ether, Litecoin, Ripple, Neo and Dogecoin, which are called altcoins. And, the rising acceptance of bitcoins is another reason people are attracted to cryptocurrencies. In April, stores in Japan began legally accepting bitcoins and that number could top 2,50, by the end of the year. Also, earlier this year, Russia's deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev said authorities hope to recognise polish bitcoin exchange bitbay opens shop in india 6 altcoins supported and other cryptocurrencies as legal financial instruments as early as Zebpay is a bitcoin exchange, a place where you can buy and sell bitcoins.
There are many such exchanges around the world. In India, apart from Zebpay, there are companies like Coinsecure, Unocoin and BTCXIndia, where you can open a bitcoin wallet and trade in bitcoins convert from rupee to bitcoin and vice versa. Goenka said Zebpay had grown exponentially in the past two years, adding close to 1. Its app has been downloaded more than a 10 lakh times.
Unocoin, too, has seen its users double in the past year. When the Indian government announced the note ban in November, the value of bitcoins jumped. Now, they are even talking about investing in altcoins. He said bitcoins command a premium of roughly Rs 25, in India, compared with other bitcoin exchanges like in Singapore, as a majority of the investors here are only looking to buy bitcoins and not sell them.
In India, some of the newer generation startups like gift card marketplace Nafa, air ticket booking site flybit and cloud hosting company IndSoft accept bitcoins and the overall acceptance is only expected to grow, said experts.
Moreover, the increasing popularity of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies in India is driving new players to its shores. Last month, BitBay, a Poland-based cryptocurrency exchange, opened its trading platform in India. In Europe, BitBay sees around 10, to one lakh trades a day, depending on fluctuating prices, and has total transactions worth about 50 million euros. BitBay is starting with nine cryptocurrencies on its platform and will expand its team from 10 to about 50 by the end of the year.
However, despite the growing interest, cryptocurrencies are still not regulated in India. The department of economic affairs had constituted a panel to study the increase in popularity of virtual currencies polish bitcoin exchange bitbay opens shop in india 6 altcoins supported the regulatory challenges.
The need for regulation has only increased in the wake of recent cyber attacks like WannaCry and Petya, where the hackers demanded payments in bitcoins. The Reserve Bank of India is also keeping a close watch on transactions done through cryptocurrencies.
Governor Urjit Patel has reportedly told a parliamentary panel that an inter-disciplinary committee had been formed to discuss the legality of cryptocurrencies. The RBI had in February cautioned people investing in cryptocurrencies against exposing themselves to financial, operational and security related risks.
Companies operating bitcoin exchanges said that while there were no regulations on cryptocurrencies in India so far, that doesn't mean it was illegal. In fact, they would work with the government, central bank and other financial institutions on regulating cryptocurrencies and adoption of new technologies, said Rohit Dahda, head of BitBay in India.
However, if you are thinking of investing, you must understand the risks. InJapan-based Mt. Gox, the world's largest bitcoin exchange at the time, filed for bankruptcy, admitting to have lost 7. Innefu is a information security consulting group, whose clients include the RBI and the Defence Research and Development Organisation. He said bitcoin was not the safest route of currency exchange and if India was to allow cryptocurrencies, there have to be lasting solutions against threats.
Companies, meanwhile, said that systems have evolved since the collapse of Mt Gox. Processes, infrastructure and security have all progressed. Now exchange hacks are lower in frequency and volumes.
As a general rule of investment, he said, one must not invest in something that one doesn't understand and, before investing, one must spend time and effort to understand the technology right from the concept. BitBay is already using an extra layer of authentication for safety. Also, funds of its customers are stored in encrypted cold wallets offline format that will make them non-hackable, company officials added. Piyush Goyal vows to clean up banking sector.
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Investment bankers February 02, By Nachiket Kelkar From issue dated September 24, The acceptance of bitcoin is likely to grow, but without regulations, investing in cryptocurrency could be a game of luck People may know how many bitcoins a publicly used address holds, but no one will know whom it belongs to. You have successfully sent the article. Mail This Article Your form could not be submitted. Enter the letters from image:. This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically.
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