Bitcoin Forum

Last month, this news was widely reported in mainstream media outlets, but I forgot to share it with the Indian community. Therefore, I'm sharing it now.

Despite the initial negativity surrounding cryptocurrency in the media, most Indian literates avoid it. However, this auto driver is thinking beyond those literates.

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You can read the full article here. Source (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/trending/bengaluru-auto-driver-takes-payments-to-the-next-level-with-cryptocurrency-option-101724164449975-amp.html).

Hope more people inspired from this person and accept crypto as payment, I think he is a crypto lover, more people adopting cryptos more returns to holders ofcourse it's generates some revenue to government from taxes.

In terms of adoption, India is still not on the top of the ladder but such news will encourage others to adopt and endorse cryptocurrencies. I still salute this individual idea of accepting crypto as an alternative to fiat. I hope some coffee shops in India follow his footsteps which will give a good boost to adoption. Most Indians are here for short-term gain that is the reason Indians love investing in meme coins.

Props to him but I hope he doesn't attract bad actors due to this. We have heard some horror stories in the past where even Police tried to take advantage and harrassed some guy for bitcoins.

Just to be safe, it would be ideal if he just put a BTC QR code or preferred altcoin QR code on the back of his seat (In front of the passenger), along with a UPI QR code.

We already have a system called UPI which we can find even in the roadside shop and that's made the bank transfer instantaneous and fee less so someone has no reason to accept Bitcoin as payment or atleast for such small fares unless they really understand the importance of decentralisation and these long dark history of banking.

Or it could just be a public stunt to get a spot light that brings more customers but kudos for advertising it as payment and actually there was an restuarant a long back which accepted Bitcoin as payment but RBI issued blanket ban in 2018 that ended their run.

I wonder if someone has the guts to ask him when around how he manages to convert to fiat money? He has to pay the taxes or is he using the bitcoins directly for paying?

A UPI code and a Bitcoin code, sounds pretty neat, this will increase awareness and make people curious about this concept in the younger generation.

Someone should go get an interview done with this dude asap. :D

Nimoo Tai is in form these days so I think that it would be a reasonable query if someone does ask him.

I have witnessed a fair amount of BTC/UPI QR codes in Delhi-NCR and a few tourist areas and it made more sense to me, instead of big ass sign board (more like a screaming, for my taste) but any publicity is better than nothing, i guess.

On a funny note, with the kind of language shenanigans that are going on in Bangalore, I reckon a journalist's first question should be "Why not use Kannada?"

Good sense of humor! I do not think he is looking to sell those coins that he gets from his customers. Most of them will be paying him in cash or through UPI not many would be interested in paying in Bitcoin or altcoin. He holding them for his and his family's future as we all know and we all preach holding your coins is the key to financial independence.


This part made me  :D :D :D
The visuals that are coming out daily and the fight on X.com prove that Kannadigas has a lot of spare time. Most North Indians in that state are well off as they are working in IT but the locals who are not well off are the ones who are screaming on this issue not to forget the local government is also encouraging them.

It's always the fringe group but they have street power and are vocal enough to attract attention in the media.

It's not hunky dory in North India as well. North India has a different set of problems and not related to Language at all but at times worst situation. In the long run, It's a big problem for us that a fair amount of our youth focuses on too much tribalism and wasting their energy, mainly driven by politics.

Yes I had read that news. It's good to see such things in India because the general conception about cryptocurrency is negative. Also the banks promote wrong information about cryptocurrency quite actively. So when such news surfaces in the internet, that really helps cryptocurrency in general.


Don't get into such shitty things! That insider outsider debate will go on as long as we believe in politics. Common people do not really want to get into such things. It's politics that puts hatred in our minds.

Yeah! Yeah! I know mate and I am aware of the reason why it is happening. It is just that these guys themselves need to understand the situation. That is what I wanted to convey with my reply. Let us talk about the auto driver who is the reason for me coming up with this topic.

That's interesting. Bangalore is full of IT people and no wonder he would be getting a decent amount of income through crypto.
If I were his customer then I would surely be paying my fare in crypto to him.
It feels good to pay in crypto in real life. Accumulation is the long term goal but it's not bad to pay in crypto at times just to use it for it's real intended purpose.

IT people may have their own transportation, or it will be provided by the company.

Well I would love too for the experience of paying in crypto but would you do it every time?

Because even when the fees are very low like 2-3sat/vb still its around 20-30 Rupees so lets assume if the auto fare is 100 then would you be willing to pay 20% of the fee as fare every time, I highly doubt it.

For small payments LN could be an option if we purely want to pay with bitcoin or else picking some other coins with cheap TX as low as possible will be the feasible solution.

I knew this question might arise and hence I already mentioned the two things.
Nobody would like to pay in crypto every time and that's why I wrote "at times" so that we can get a feel of it.
Secondly, I mentioned "crypto" because becasue BTC and ETH fees are high and hence other coins like SOL and TRX could be used for low transaction fees.

Did a couple of transactions in real but just for the experience and in India, it's not like there are tons of available when you are traveling. If it gets normalized in India then I won't mind using it, given it's for a big purchase like land/property, vehicles etc

Via online, I've paid BTC/Altcoins in return for freelancing services many times but again, I also used to get paid in BTC so I didn't mind.

I don't mind too paying for big purchases even if it's in thousands rupees the fee we spend might looks justified but here we were talking about paying the auto fare which hardly will be in hundreds or two most of the time that is why I said paying with bitcoin doesn't really make sense there but there are other cheaper options and that could be used when it comes to small payments if it ever became normalized paying via crypto in our country.

I agree with your point that paying with Bitcoin will be a bad idea. For example, if the fare is INR 100, which would come around to be approximately $1.20, and the lowest transaction fee today according to mempool is 4 sat/vB, which is approximately $0.35, it doesn't make any sense to pay in Bitcoin. That is the reason the rickshaw driver is accepting cryptocurrency and not specifically Bitcoin.

It's very rare to see an option to pay with crypto in our country, hope he gets famous with his new tactic and get more customers and some may even hear about the term crypto currency for the very first time after seeing this banner.

There are only a very few things I have paid in bitcoin directly.
One among them was a bitcoin magazine I ordered online from HERE (https://shop.citadel21.com/) and it was delivered from abroad.
I don't have it handy but here's the link to the post I made when I received the magazine. Do give it a read.

My post: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5302282.msg55890032#msg55890032

There is a big reason why no one in our country thinks Bitcoin. or other crypto as an alternate payment option and that is the huge tax associated with it. I have said it in the past and I am saying it once again that it would have been great if a big corporation integrated cryptocurrency as a mode of alternate payment. The problem with our country is most of our enemies are surrounding our border and they have started using crypto as an alternate source of payment to pay those who are being used to disrupt our democratic values. This might be the reason why we do not see a big firm operating within India using the existing cryptocurrency tech as a mode of alternate payment option.

So isn't there a way to avoid paying the taxes associated with capital gains in bitcoin? I always ask myself this even when reading your posts but I just can't understand why we can't circumvent this system which is honestly wrong!

I hate to play the devil's advocate here, but taxation is necessary evil however you might think it is. Without taxation who is paying the government for its development, in theoretically well functioning government the taxpayers money is used in the country's development among many other things.

If you think bitcoin is a silver bullet to avoiding taxation, then you are grossly mistaken. The officials will find out eventually and then you have to face the music. The ones who get saved are the ones who are below poverty line or super rich.

so as in all countries the richest social class is the one that always has more privileges than the others, so the poor have to suffer and the big rich can do their dirty things behind the backs of the citizens who pay, no I'm sorry but I don't think so thus, everyone should pay taxes in relation to what they earn

In democracy everyone has the equal chance as long as they are ready to pay what's required for it. And in our country the indirect taxes is the big burden on the middle class and lower middle class even though taxation is necessary but it doesn't see right to ask someone who earns 300 a day and someone who make lakhs or more the same tax for the groceries or the petrol and that's how it doesn't affect the rich but this is how the system works in all over the world and the only escape route is make money and live your life.

Exactly you state you have to try to burden less in the situation of the less well-off families it is not right that I pay equally, I totally agree with you this is the path to take for a brighter future and for the growth of the nation