With the Supreme Court lifting ban on cryptocurrencies, the sector is set to boom.
Many cryptocurrency exchanges have revived operations and companies are lining up expansion plans even as customers are queuing up for registrations within weeks of the Supreme Court relief.
Companies including ZPX, Incrypt Blockchain and Unocoin are chalking out plans to revive and expand their business in the coming months.
While the total number of verified virtual currency users stands at 1.7 million in India, according to IAMAI, the global market size is pegged at $430 billion.
Crypto exchanges
Cryptocurrency exchanges are seeing a huge number of user registrations. Unocoin says over 1,000 customers are registering daily while WazirX platform is adding 300 users daily.
Unocoin is up with a lending feature where people can use their bitcoin as collateral and get money to their bank accounts, which would allow long-term investors to get some liquidity.
Trading platform
CoinDCX, a cryptocurrency trading platform, has launched its crypto-referral initiative in India and will provide an incentive Rs 500 for every new referral in addition to Rs 500 worth of bitcoin for every new user. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Zebpay has also restarted rupee deposits and withdrawals, while Blockchain.com has launched Borrow, a new product offering users to borrow US dollar-denominated stablecoins against crypto held in their Blockchain.com wallet.
Binance plans
Global decentralised cryptocurrency exchange Binance Group has set up a $50 million (Rs 370 crore) blockchain technology fund for India. The fund, called Blockchain for India, plans to invest upwards of $100,000 per start-up. It promises to open up direct access to Binance’s global blockchain ecosystem to India’s entrepreneurial community and will also invest in projects using Binance Coin, Binance USD and WRX coins up to $5 million.
The fund will make investments including in fiat-to-digital assets gateway solutions, trading platforms, payment and remittance solutions, digital asset wallets, DeFi platforms and decentralised applications.
It plans to provide support to universities and student organisations who want to set up blockchain tech incubators at their college to accelerate blockchain education in India.
The ecosystem
Binance’s global blockchain ecosystem includes Binance Chain, Binance Cloud, Binance DEX, Binance Launchpad, Binance Research, Binance Academy, Binance X and portfolio companies such as WazirX, DappReview and Trust Wallet among others.
Binance had acquired Mumbai-based WazirX in 2019. Its other acquisitions include Hong Kong-based DApp and JEX and San Francisco-based Trust Wallet.
The company globally competes with Robinhood, SFOX, CoinFLEX, TigerWit and Bakkt among others.
