Crypto exchanges in India such as CoinDCX and WazirX are now setting their sights on global markets after one of the country’s leading exchanges Koinex, shut down operations last week citing an unclear regulatory framework in the country.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are trying options including peer-to-peer transactions, crypto-to-crypto-transactions, and entry into foreign markets to survive the uncertain phase, according to industry experts. These options though come with their own set of challenges which include; low user growth, lack of funding, low margins, global competition, and lack of funding for user education.
Indian crypto exchanges such as CoinDCX are looking into other markets since the Indian regulatory environment is just not conducive for business according to the Co-founder, and CEO of CoinDCX Summit Gupta. The crypto to crypto transactions firm’s CEO said;
“We initially wanted to cater only to the Indian market, but if the Indian regulations aren’t favorable we will be looking at focusing on onboarding international users”
The startup which was initially only looking at the Indian market claimed it had 50,000 users and processed about a million dollars in an average trading volume day. These numbers could rise significantly if their plans to go global bear fruit. Rival company, Mumbai based WazirX which started operations about four months ago revealed that it’s P2P, and crypto to crypto transactions have been growing at a rate of more than 20% monthly.
WazirX founder Nischal Shetty, believes that there is great potential for Indian crypto exchanges, but cited India’s cryptocurrency-banking ban as the major impediment to the growth of the exchanges. In his view, the right set of regulations could drastically drive up the user base and the transaction levels. Other than the crypto banking ban, the WazirX CEO also attributes the reluctance of trading in cryptocurrencies in India, to a lack of awareness. To address this, he is planning to try and make it easier to onboard and guide new users for transactions in digital currencies.
Nitin Sharma, who is the founder of Incrypt Blockchain also faults India’s crypto ban as the reason why the country’s exchanges, are still streets behind at a time when global exchanges are doing quite well thanks to a global resurgence of interest in crypto. Nothing shows that India’s crypto stance is killing the industry more than crypto exchange Unocoin, firing half of its employees back in April after a failed ICO. It should also be remembered that crypto exchanges Zebpay, Coinome, and Coindelta all shut down due to the lack of regulatory clarity in the country.
Image Courtesy of Pexels
