Bitcoin Forum

Unfortunately, it appears things are even worse in India right now, with over 90% of the country’s ATMs running dry. Ever since the Indian government began their demonetization efforts, things have gotten out of hand quickly. Late last year, the country’s bank ATMs were on the brink of running dry. The first time happened due to the change from old banknotes to new ones. However, this new debacle is due to a delay in software upgrades.

More information below:

http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/04/17/indias-bank-atms-running-cash-new-banknote-software-upgrades-still-not-completed/

It is evident that access to cash remains a big problem in India, do you think Bitcoin could be part of the solution?

The problem is Indian government is showing less interest in crypto currencies. The government official give controversial statements from time to time and people think that investing and using Bitcoin will be too risky.
I agree that India will be a great market for Bitcoin even if 10% of their population start using Bitcoin and the Bitcoin can help India's cashless economy.

I don't understand why the general population is so adamant in using physical cash, when the government is incentivizing the usage of digital payments. The government is doing the right thing. Just hoping that the population will support them.

There is a probability that the solution might get banned in India, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1848967.40

BTCx India have already shut down their operations, rest of the exchanges are in the process of submitting a petition to FM.

About that bold part of OP I must say that I laughed almost to my demise, you can't possibly expect a network capable only to process up to 5 transactions/s magically become a solution to a nation of more than 1B population can you?
I do respect Satoshi and know his intentions were pure and he really did have the interests of the people in his heart, but he really sucked at designing the bitcoin code for mass adoption and I could think of one good reason that would be as he didn't really expect for this experiment to become a global phenomenon.

I think what you're hoping for requires a network capable of at least 100,000 transactions/s with 256MB blocks as minimum accepted block size by all nodes and miners which only the miners with access to lightning internet speed and heavily invested on mining equipment could pull off such hefty task.
So for now please avoid telling us more jokes until we can increase the block size to 2MB/4MB base/weight then we'll start thinking about how to solve other nation's problems.

Oh yeah! This is one of the reason where bitcoin was invented! Government would always try to enslave us by controlling the "paper notes" money, banks and everything, that's why the banking system has not been evolved for more than a century. Yet with bitcoins we found the solution ourselves to take back is belong to us and live our lives without any boundary or international law to stop us! I believe this is the best time for people of India to start utilizing the power of bitcoins and endure as the future shine brighter for more better days ahead!

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Yes indeed, India need some sign from the government that the bitcoin is tolerated in their country, and it is not against any kind of a law.
If this will happen, Im sure that more wealthy citizens will buy some of this cryptocurrency, to have some funds saved in emergency case, because they would not risk putting their money into something, that is not defined in law, at least I would be scared to exchange a lot of my money into something uncertain-I dont know if in the next 3 years, the goverment in my country won't ban bitcoin.

They need some solution, because the whole cash situation in India seems really terrifying for everyone, not only poorer inhabitants of this beatiful country.

potentially yes, bitcoin can be a very good solution for situations like this but people are not ready for it yet. on top of that the volatile price and the spam attacks and all the rest of the drama makes it that much harder. and right now you can't use bitcoin for day to day use.

but one thing is for sure, the trade volume in India has been high and growing ever since this problem has started. that means many Indians have invested in bitcoin so far as a escape and to save their money's worth.

India is a big country in-terms of geography as well as population, BitCoin-CryptoCurrency can solve the cash issue, but As far as i Understand most of the ppl in india are not aware of its usage, post demonetization there are lots of awareness for digital payment systems mostly around grade a-b cities but yet its not a gigantic effect only upto 10% of ppl from those cities uses digital payments, but that too at very limited place, they use their ATM cards at ATM machine but not at the all places which accepts cards,

yes CryptoCurrency Digital payment should solve the issues, but its the people who has to start using it.
I am on my way to build a CryptoCurrency Trading platform, Mobile Wallet for crypto currency exchange and might be possible few mining pools for some altcoins

What are you talking about dude.Does the governments around the world put a cap on the money you withdraw from the bank,your hard earned money,no one tells me how i am going to spend or use my money and if you are honey dicking someone so be it,that does not mean that everyone have to adhere to the restrictions as no one is asking for a loan,people are trying to withdraw their own money and the government want to restrict that,that is terrible.

They should think again, because in the current crisis and cash shortages Bitcoin could be very helpful. What is happening there now is a normal panic. People are cashing out in fear of money shortages and by doing it causing the shortage themselves. I think introducing a formal electronic currency, like Japan did, would make things easier for them.

Firstly, since there is no law whatsoever stating bitcoin illegal it makes no sense to not use bitcoin because of that. There is absolute no risk in buying or using bitcoin in any country right now. Secondly, the cash situation has improved since the demonetization, mostly all the ATMs now have the cash(at least in cities) I really don't think anyone still has some problem related to not having enough cash, obviously some underprivileged people are still facing problems, but an average Indian is not really "terrified" by the cash situation.

No. Bitcoin won't solve x.

You're expecting people that don't want to use debit or credit cards to start using bitcoins? For what?

To buy with anonymity?
The anonymity is broken the moment you deposit the money on an exchange.

Go for localbitcoins? And pay a heavy 4-5% because of the shitty rates people offer?

To hope that after 10 days your transactions will get confirmed?

We're talking about people who usually spend 5-15 dollars a day. The transaction fee is pure robbery for most of their purchases.

but the government of India has talked about making bitcoin illegal though. there was a topic, petition like to prevent the law to go through. but fortunately so far it seems like nothing has changed and bitcoin is still legal.

but there are countries like Bangladesh of the top of my mind that have banned any kind of usage of bitcoin.

As far as I know, there was no restriction on online transfers and payments through cheque. So why do you want to withdraw physical cash and make the payments? Why can't you use digital payments or online transfer?

I think for many people in India it's not possible to use bitcoin.
After all we are talking about a country where about 30% of the population still can not read or write.
And for those who can, it's still a long way to use something like a computer or a crypto currency.
Those people need to have something in their hands, so there is no way around cash money for them.

Unless bitcoin get legalized in india as a payment for goods and services, There is really nothing bitcoin can do but act as alternative to store their money in the meantime.
The indian government is to afraid to try bitcoin because they think that it is to risky and might ban Bitcoin. If more indian people start using bitcoin the price value will get stablelized then it might save india's economy.

If you are from India, it's easier to say there will be a proper Idea for the same, but last discussion with my Indian friends and they had said Bitcoin is not legal and as early in three months your government is going to be passing a law to curb the use of Bitcoins. Honestly before taking huge bets in Bitcoins, it's best to be sure that it will be legal in coming time or else the prices may just crash.

You clearly don't understand the risk of having cashless society.

There is a colossal difference when we think of decentralized cryptocurrencies and government controlled fiat - but in digitalized form.
I hope danger of total control will be noticed and population will never support the idea of having digital government issued fiat as only option.

Bitcoin could probably solve the economic and financial condition of India right now or it can worsen it. By saying bitcoin could probably help India if the government will declare to use bitcoin as replacement to their fiat currency. But the problem will also occur since banks will close and India will begin from scratch since they have to begin from the very beginning and start from scratch.

Cash ban impressed people, on the contrary.

The situation is not as bad as it seems, there are lots of cash floating around, just dont need to panic.

India might not face the Cash issue if most of the ppl have constant Internet Connection, so far only 380 mil ppl out of 1.3bil of total population has internet connectivity and from those 380mil only 15% (50 mil around) has broadband + speed,

if constant internet connectivity improves over next few years and proper information be delivered to customers that banks will not call them for their card's pin and cvv  only then india can get good amount of digital transactions( fiat or digital currency )

ppl use internet but not trust it for banking transaction due to lack for proper information, as we heard many thing in the news about some scam/fraud of grabbing money from your bank account. that is where ppl think about their hard earned money to deal in cash mostly.

p.s. i received several call during demonetization stating my ATM card is blocked due to non-kyc, i asked them my bank account number, branch and opening date and they disconnect the call.

However, according to the latest reports, India might officially recognize Bitcoin as money before summer and impose a tax on the digital currency as the answer to its recognition. This is not a new phenomenon going by what’s been happening in some other countries lately.

There are indications that the committee recently constituted by India’s Reserve Bank to look into activities related to digital currencies such as Bitcoin will make its recommendations known between this coming May 15 and 20. Afterwards, the government would be left to decide on what to come next.

Cashless society doesn't mean digital government issued fiat in every case, if you have a look at Sweeden, they're cashless for some time now. The whole population uses debit and credit cards, the only cash in the society is the coins for the public toilets mainly.
If you plan to go to Sweeden, they inform you to carry an embossed card with you (unembossed is not accepted in public transportation and in other services).
This card solution is not so dangerous, but centralized digital money sounds frightening...