BITCOIN DEMAND EXPLODE IN INDIA

[cryptoheadd]

Bitcoin demand was there in India since 2013, around this time RBI took a stand against it, but the note ban just increased the demand. The way government is handling things, it looks like they are going to go too hard on regulation. About a week ago bitcoin was dissed as a currency used for money laundering and illegal activites by a couple of ministers in the parliament with the statement that the regulation process would go hand in hand with cracking down illegal activites involving ponzi/pyramid schemes. Based on all these a report would be submitted by the end of July and then the government would decide if bitcoin needs to be regulated or not. The whole process would take at least more than a year.

I agree, but that was before the committee was set-up by RBI.
At the moment, the committee is looking into regulations related to Bitcoin and they probably will announce their decision soon. (It's looking positive, though.)

Most Indian bitcoin users are just in for the speculation. Even with a 30% premium, Zebpay was breaking all volumes. Unocoin has partnered with a handful of merchants, but there are no major stores accepting bitcoins in India.

The 30% premium sucks, not sure why people are willing to pay this much. :/
Major stores cannot accept Bitcoin even if they wanted to, at the moment. (Because of the legality).

[shamzblueworld]

I cannot understand how the value in India are close to $3,500 whereas its a lot less in international market. Why would people buy at such high value? Can't they buy at an international exchange?

[just a man]

Wow 500,000 new regular users is such a blast! I mean, with that demand, the price also would explode, because if the demand is high, the price would rise too. And it's good to see that at least there are more and more people trying to explore thr world of bitcoin. Such a good news tho.

All those people that are using Bitcoin seems like a huge amount though how many of them actually plan on holding Bitcoin for multiple years? Holding Bitcoin will increase the price of Bitcoin, just using Bitcoin in  HYIP type websites won't do much for Bitcoin other than slow down the transaction speed through Blocklchain.

[cryptoheadd]

I cannot understand how the value in India are close to $3,500 whereas its a lot less in international market. Why would people buy at such high value? Can't they buy at an international exchange?

Most people can't, because International cards or wire transfers are required to be made.
For those of us who can, it's a great arbitrage opportunity.

[szpalata]

I cannot understand how the value in India are close to $3,500 whereas its a lot less in international market. Why would people buy at such high value? Can't they buy at an international exchange?

Most people can't, because International cards or wire transfers are required to be made.
For those of us who can, it's a great arbitrage opportunity.

Great, I think it's even better setting up an offshore exchange and have them deposited their funds in an account in India so that we will buy for less here and have it transferred to them so that we profit from the margins of the different market prices. I used arbitrage in gambling but I think it will suite this current trend in India.

[Ayers]

I cannot understand how the value in India are close to $3,500 whereas its a lot less in international market. Why would people buy at such high value? Can't they buy at an international exchange?

because they can't buy on another exchange, they have restrition, or it will cost them many money to do a wire transfer, or mayeb their bank are not operative for other country, it make sense for them to buy locally and $3500 is not that higher than the current value, they know will rise more

[bongiu]

It is (at least for me) quite scary how volatile it's becoming bitcoin  . Now with this news I have the feeling that it's gonna become more volatile. Read about cold storage... It will help!

[cryptoheadd]

Great, I think it's even better setting up an offshore exchange and have them deposited their funds in an account in India so that we will buy for less here and have it transferred to them so that we profit from the margins of the different market prices. I used arbitrage in gambling but I think it will suite this current trend in India.

I think this would be illegal at worst, and questionable at best.
Moreover, moving money out of India is not that easy through Banking channels.

[S4pta]

I think the demand for bitcoin in india is very much ... but maybe in karnakan the unstable economy in India is a crisis ... India is more investing in forex because forex more quickly enter in india than bitcoin ... but surely very much Bitcoin enthusiasts in india after the crisis in india ended ... Thanks

[stompix]

Wow 500,000 new regular users is such a blast! I mean, with that demand, the price also would explode, because if the demand is high, the price would rise too. And it's good to see that at least there are more and more people trying to explore thr world of bitcoin. Such a good news tho.

All those people that are using Bitcoin seems like a huge amount though how many of them actually plan on holding Bitcoin for multiple years? Holding Bitcoin will increase the price of Bitcoin, just using Bitcoin in  HYIP type websites won't do much for Bitcoin other than slow down the transaction speed through Blocklchain.

The real question is how many of them are actually buying and how many invest more than 10$.
500 000 users and 25 000 new users a day would only require  each one of them to buy 0.1 btc to offset the ratio of the sell/buy volume on finex/stamp/btc  during the drop one week ago.

[TravelMug]

I cannot understand how the value in India are close to $3,500 whereas its a lot less in international market. Why would people buy at such high value? Can't they buy at an international exchange?

Most people can't, because International cards or wire transfers are required to be made.
For those of us who can, it's a great arbitrage opportunity.

Great, I think it's even better setting up an offshore exchange and have them deposited their funds in an account in India so that we will buy for less here and have it transferred to them so that we profit from the margins of the different market prices. I used arbitrage in gambling but I think it will suite this current trend in India.

I arbitrage can be apply in India trading platforms because of the high premium it gives. But the problem arises if those using arbitrage can withdraw their money in those Indian Exchangers. Or they require more documents to verify your account?

[haroldtee]

This is interesting. Quite an overwhelming demand truly but why the sudden rush? I see this kinda development causing great upsurge in the price of bitcoin. Maybe I am just the only one thinking this, but isn't this purchase rate alarming? Hope it is just an attempt to invest or probably there is something some of us do not know?

[Yakamoto]

Wow 500,000 new regular users is such a blast! I mean, with that demand, the price also would explode, because if the demand is high, the price would rise too. And it's good to see that at least there are more and more people trying to explore thr world of bitcoin. Such a good news tho.

All those people that are using Bitcoin seems like a huge amount though how many of them actually plan on holding Bitcoin for multiple years? Holding Bitcoin will increase the price of Bitcoin, just using Bitcoin in  HYIP type websites won't do much for Bitcoin other than slow down the transaction speed through Blocklchain.

The real question is how many of them are actually buying and how many invest more than 10$.
500 000 users and 25 000 new users a day would only require  each one of them to buy 0.1 btc to offset the ratio of the sell/buy volume on finex/stamp/btc  during the drop one week ago.

25000 new users a day would be insane when it comes to how most of these countries would grow and it is beyond doubtful that there would be numbers anywhere close to something like that, if you want a daily growth average, composed of users who are actually buying Bitcoin as opposed to just using it.

I think we maybe have that total amount daily, globally. Not a constant influx of buying users.

[johnwest]

This is interesting. Quite an overwhelming demand truly but why the sudden rush? I see this kinda development causing great upsurge in the price of bitcoin. Maybe I am just the only one thinking this, but isn't this purchase rate alarming? Hope it is just an attempt to invest or probably there is something some of us do not know?

The price hasnt got less in India as far as my friends are telling, people thought the price is gonna fall and will be great opportunity to invest in BTC. Zebpay is using this situation for themselves, the price is around 2850$+ now and it holding that place from 2 days now.

[Prodigan786]

Exploding demand, high premium

    "Zebpay, one of India’s Bitcoin exchanges, has over 500,000 downloads of its mobile app and is adding about 2,500 new users every day."

The scarcity of Bitcoins in India has resulted in Bitcoin being traded at a significant premium. The Bitcoin price in India touched INR 225,000 (~$3,500) before declining slightly. International users cannot arbitrage the demand for Bitcoins in India due to capital controls and foreign exchange regulations.
Exchanges overwhelmed

So how are exchanges coping with this overwhelming demand?

Zebpay urged investors to be cautious while buying Bitcoins, citing the high volatility

Zebpay tweeted “Bitcoin prices are very volatile right now. Please use caution when investing. This is a new technology innovation on a global but early stage. Your investment should match your knowledge. Be safe!”

However, this didn’t have the intended effect on Bitcoin investors. Zebpay later introduced a daily limit of INR 50,000 (~$780) on Bitcoin purchases.

Zebpay tweeted:

    “Dear user, we have put temporary buy limits of Rs 50,000 per day due to the shortage of Bitcoin stocks. These limits are temporary and will be revised as market conditions change.”

The situation was no different at other Bitcoin exchanges. Coinsecure, one of India’s leading exchanges was down, citing the exponential growth of users causing stress on the Company’s systems. The company expects the downtime to continue over the next few days. Visitors to the website were greeted with the following message.

Letter

You forgot to mention one more highest downloaded and widely used wallet unocoin which also having huge trading per day I don't have exact calculation but this exchange also doing good

[Netnox]

I think the demand for bitcoin in india is very much ... but maybe in karnakan the unstable economy in India is a crisis ... India is more investing in forex because forex more quickly enter in india than bitcoin ... but surely very much Bitcoin enthusiasts in india after the crisis in india ended ... Thanks

I have heard that Forex trading is very popular in India, despite its risks. Perhaps Bitcoin can also attract a nice user-base, since crypto-coin trading is also similar to Forex trading. It can also bring huge amounts of profits in relatively short time period. But the legal status of Bitcoin in India is still unclear, along with its tax implications.

[Esphere.in]

This is interesting. Quite an overwhelming demand truly but why the sudden rush? I see this kinda development causing great upsurge in the price of bitcoin. Maybe I am just the only one thinking this, but isn't this purchase rate alarming? Hope it is just an attempt to invest or probably there is something some of us do not know?

It is not a sudden rush,the prices in Indian exchanges were always higher than the normal market and after the demonetization the price parity increased and if the increase in price we are seeing more people coming into Indian exchanges which forced them to upgrade their network to accommodate the users.

[andrei56]

Exploding demand, high premium

    "Zebpay, one of India’s Bitcoin exchanges, has over 500,000 downloads of its mobile app and is adding about 2,500 new users every day."

The scarcity of Bitcoins in India has resulted in Bitcoin being traded at a significant premium. The Bitcoin price in India touched INR 225,000 (~$3,500) before declining slightly. International users cannot arbitrage the demand for Bitcoins in India due to capital controls and foreign exchange regulations.
Exchanges overwhelmed

So how are exchanges coping with this overwhelming demand?

Zebpay urged investors to be cautious while buying Bitcoins, citing the high volatility

Zebpay tweeted “Bitcoin prices are very volatile right now. Please use caution when investing. This is a new technology innovation on a global but early stage. Your investment should match your knowledge. Be safe!”

However, this didn’t have the intended effect on Bitcoin investors. Zebpay later introduced a daily limit of INR 50,000 (~$780) on Bitcoin purchases.

Zebpay tweeted:

    “Dear user, we have put temporary buy limits of Rs 50,000 per day due to the shortage of Bitcoin stocks. These limits are temporary and will be revised as market conditions change.”

The situation was no different at other Bitcoin exchanges. Coinsecure, one of India’s leading exchanges was down, citing the exponential growth of users causing stress on the Company’s systems. The company expects the downtime to continue over the next few days. Visitors to the website were greeted with the following message.

Letter

500,000 downloads in a country of a billion people, umm that's .05% of the population. I'm not saying Bitcoin isn't getting more interest but let's go easy on the 'explode' shall we.

It is relative, when you consider the whole population of India, it seems the new interest in bitcoin to be very small, but if the community of people in India using bitcoin was small then this may be in fact a huge growth and to say it is an explosion is in fact the correct term.

[cryptoheadd]

I arbitrage can be apply in India trading platforms because of the high premium it gives. But the problem arises if those using arbitrage can withdraw their money in those Indian Exchangers. Or they require more documents to verify your account?

All Indian exchangers have strict KYC requirements and require an Indian bank account to transfer the fiat to.

The price hasnt got less in India as far as my friends are telling, people thought the price is gonna fall and will be great opportunity to invest in BTC. Zebpay is using this situation for themselves, the price is around 2850$+ now and it holding that place from 2 days now.

Yes, the price of 1 BTC here is still around $2840.

[stompix]

This is interesting. Quite an overwhelming demand truly but why the sudden rush? I see this kinda development causing great upsurge in the price of bitcoin. Maybe I am just the only one thinking this, but isn't this purchase rate alarming? Hope it is just an attempt to invest or probably there is something some of us do not know?

The price hasnt got less in India as far as my friends are telling, people thought the price is gonna fall and will be great opportunity to invest in BTC. Zebpay is using this situation for themselves, the price is around 2850$+ now and it holding that place from 2 days now.

From what you and others are telling Zebpay is fleecing your compatriots bigtime.
Paying an extra 300$ at the moment of writing this or around 15% premium for buying btc is nonsense.

Why would you even do it?
There are so many ways in which you can get bitcoins I don't understand people that go and buy at this price or people that use atms and their sky high fees.