MUMBAI: Poland-based BitBay, a platform for trade and exchange of cryptocurrency, has set up shop in India to expand its trading business and for sourcing IT talent to develop products for the world.
“Our focus is to grow with regulation. The Indian market is the fourth largest for cryptocurrencies. On one side we want to work closer with banks so that the new technology is adopted and deposits and withdrawals are facilitated. On the other, we want to work with the government to make it a regulated business subjected to tax,” said Chafik Abdellaoui, chief information officer, BitBay.
BitBay’s India trading platform will open in the demo mode on August 14 and will start trading from August 24. BitBay India head Rohit Dahda said, “Anyone can trade on the platform, provided they complete the full ‘know-your-customer’ requirements by providing Aadhaar and PAN card number.” According to Dahda, BitBay India already has a headcount of 10, which will be increased to 50 by the end of the year.
Cryptocurrencies are alternatives to government-issued currencies. They are a piece of code where the value is derived from encryption techniques. Instead of a government or central authority, the authentication is decentralised as all transactions are permanently recorded in a public ledger.
According to Abdellaoui, what sets apart BitBay from other platforms is that it enables trading of multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, Lisk, Monero, Dash, and Gamecredits. The company will also have a physical presence for customers.
BitBay is one of the top 10 cryptocurrency trading platforms in the world with over 2,00,000 users. The ranking comes largely from its dominance in central Europe where it has a 60% market share. Abdellaoui said that the company has chosen India among various Asian markets because the customer authentication infrastructure is the best here.
In Poland, BitBay facilitates issue of debit cards which makes it possible to pay with cryptocurrencies at stores and restaurants and do ATM withdrawals. At present, BitBay will be available only on the web platform. In future, the company will look at providing an app for facilitating offline payments using cryptocurrencies.
