So let’s start in the beginning – what is bitcoin? Bitcoin or BTC in short is digital currency through which transactions can be performed from person to person without the need for a central bank or any other third party. It was first described by anonymous user called Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, and was introduced as an open-source software in 2009. It is used as a currency around the world to buy anything from electronics in some of the world’s largest e-commerce sites, (Dell, Overstock, Tiger Direct) to crops being sold by local farmers using Bitcoin and also for charities accepting the online currency. Its main benefits are that it allows for almost instant, cheap, and highly secure transfers without involving banks or other payment providers.

The Indian bitcoin movement has been a bit slower than Europe, US, and East Asia, but now shows good signs to be in the move upwards. BTCXIndia, a IKEVA born company in Hyderabad, was conceived in the autumn of 2013 with the aim to create a fair, transparent and compliant platform for Indian customers. After a period of mapping out the Indian regulatory environment, raising seed capital, and developing a proprietary exchange software, they launched BTCXIndia.com in May 2014. Funding comes from a UK based angel investor who also assists the company as an advisor. 10 people are employed in customer service, back office, development, and compliance.

CEO RaoMupparaju says: “I see bitcoin as a truly revolutionary concept on the same order of magnitude as the Internet. As a developing nation especially, bitcoin presents a huge opportunity for India. The remittance market, welfare transfers, India’s many under-banked; all will have a lot to gain from using technological innovations like bitcoin”. The bitcoin industry has seen a huge surge of investments in the last year, and BTCXIndia seems greatly placed to become a significant player in the Indian crypto currency scene.