[ANN] IndiaBits - The New Beginning to India's Crypto Community

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

IndiaBits - The New Beginning to India's Crypto Community

      

About

IndiaBits is one among the most popular and oldest Indian crypto community, which for quite a long time has done various contributions to the Indian crypto community by organizing various meet-ups with some prominent members, spreading the awareness about bitcoin among the Indian population etc. As many of us here in the forum are already well aware about the Indiabits Telegram group, they have finally started a forum for the fair discussions about the crypto goings in India and also for reaching out to wider audience. The forum on the whole is written with Ember.js and Ruby on Rails with PostgreSQL serving as its back-end database management system.

For past 4 years, IndiaBits has actively engaged in connecting some of the important and prominent members who play a key role in Indian bitcoin community. The sole aim for the creation of this forum is to reach a larger set of audience and to have a fair non-spam discussion on the problems faced by the Indian crypto community. How often do you get a chance to discuss about the bitcoin code with an Indian developer? I hardly see any of them in Development & Technical Section of bitcointalk, but Indiabits Telegram group has quite a handful of Indian developers who works behind the scenes with Pieter Wuille and other bitcoin core developers. Isn't it great and proud to know when a Indian is working with core developers? IndiaBits forum is a one-stop solution to meet and discuss about the development, trading, mining, collectibles which are happening over in Indian crypto community.

Vision

Many of us from here in bitcointalk have been worrying about the sort of activity and connectivity we all are going through since the start of crypto ban in India. With IndiaBits, we would be able to indulge in various quality discussions as similar to our Indian board which was back during the olden days. It is quite exciting to note that, we would also be able to end the inactivity issues which we are experiencing right now by having quality discussion with old bitcoin adopters from India.

Some of the prominent faces of IndiaBits community - Gabru, Skang, Chainsmith, Vkeyz, Unfamiliartruth, Sohail, Funyug, h4r0015k, Joel

Features

There are quite a lot of features in IndiaBits which are missing in Bitcointalk (India)

• Good Spam free discussion about Indian crypto goings
• Communication with Indian blockchain developers
• A moderator for cleaning up the spams
• Getting in touch with various Indian crypto enthusiasts through meet-ups organized by IndiaBits
• Can have a fair discussion with old-timers.
• No scams and marketplace trading where the majority of newbies are being scammed.

I request the Indian bitcointalk community to join the IndiaBits forum and have a healthy discussion to make the Indian community stay strong.

Let the chain of Blocks connect us through IndiaBits.

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[chronicsky]

Have tried it a little bit, user-friendly platform. Might become a cool place for all Indian Crypto News and happenings.

Will update as i try it out...

[erikalui]

The forum doesn't have any active users and I always will prefer their telegram channel as the admin is active more there and you get instant responses. They recently held a meeting in Mumbai regarding bitcoins as well. They always share updated news about RBI vs crypto case hearings and other crypto related information while I don't see any other active Indian crypto forum/channel right now.

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

The forum doesn't have any active users and I always will prefer their telegram channel as the admin is active more there and you get instant responses. They recently held a meeting in Mumbai regarding bitcoins as well. They always share updated news about RBI vs crypto case hearings and other crypto related information while I don't see any other active Indian crypto forum/channel right now.

The forum is literally very new and was created only 2 weeks back. When bitcointalk was created by satoshi in 2009 it took around 6 months to make at least 100 members registered to the forum and there were hardly any active users as well. But over the time due to the popularity, we got engaged in the forum and here we are now. But since there isn't any moderator over here in bitcointalk, we can even try for IndiaBits as well to indulge in quality discussions. Every one of us need to take the initiative in building up the forum and discussing things regarding Indian crypto goings both in bitcointalk and in IndiaBits.

Their telegram is literally difficult to follow as there are over 4k people in the group and around 100-200 people talk all of a sudden. I guess the forum would be keeping up the topics tidy and clean and significantly help us to have a better connect. Regarding the instant responses we get in IndiaBits is very true, but the forum as a whole will have a better reach to wider audience I guess. Remember how bitcointalk was when Benson left his position? We, the better posters have spent time to drive the spammers and trolls who have been corroding the Indian board.

We still haven't made our board noisy as like the Russian and Indonesian boards since the majority of old timers have left the forum on whole. But I believe there would be fair chance for bringing them back when IndiaBits forum grow on a large scale. I guess the time and involvement of quality members like us will make IndiaBits like how bitcointalk (India) was in 2014-2017 era.

[erikalui]

The forum is literally very new and was created only 2 weeks back. When bitcointalk was created by satoshi in 2009 it took around 6 months to make at least 100 members registered to the forum and there were hardly any active users as well. But over the time due to the popularity, we got engaged in the forum and here we are now. But since there isn't any moderator over here in bitcointalk, we can even try for IndiaBits as well to indulge in quality discussions. Every one of us need to take the initiative in building up the forum and discussing things regarding Indian crypto goings both in bitcointalk and in IndiaBits.

Their telegram is literally difficult to follow as there are over 4k people in the group and around 100-200 people talk all of a sudden. I guess the forum would be keeping up the topics tidy and clean and significantly help us to have a better connect. Regarding the instant responses we get in IndiaBits is very true, but the forum as a whole will have a better reach to wider audience I guess. Remember how bitcointalk was when Benson left his position? We, the better posters have spent time to drive the spammers and trolls who have been corroding the Indian board.

We still haven't made our board noisy as like the Russian and Indonesian boards since the majority of old timers have left the forum on whole. But I believe there would be fair chance for bringing them back when IndiaBits forum grow on a large scale. I guess the time and involvement of quality members like us will make IndiaBits like how bitcointalk (India) was in 2014-2017 era.

They need to promote it actively and start few incentives so that more and more people can join which is a method even bitcointalk adopted after which more people started getting active here. I also started when someone told me about how you could earn bitcoins from faucets and use it as a currency to trade.

The fact that there are so many active members of the group is something positive but actually there isn't much to discuss on the forum as there are barely any exchanges (except P2P) and hence not many websites in India even accept bitcoins as a payment method. Except taxes and problems, we don't even have topics to discuss. Also, telegram group is much more private than an open forum.

[avikz]

While I am not sure whether to join India Bits because there are some concerns that I see. The website is just 23 days old right at this moment. I tried to look for the whois data and it seems the details are blocked.

@Heisenberg_Hunter, do you know the owner of this forum? Do you think the admin is trustworthy enough not to share our IP address to the enforcement authority upon receiving such request. I find bitcointalk more secure because I know Theymos won't entertain such requests from any enforcement agencies unless a serious scam is involved! Do you have such assurance from Indiabits??

My question may seem little odd, but since India is planning to criminalize cryptos, it is always better to be cautious!

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

They need to promote it actively and start few incentives so that more and more people can join which is a method even bitcointalk adopted after which more people started getting active here. I also started when someone told me about how you could earn bitcoins from faucets and use it as a currency to trade.

That's quite true. I am still not sure how much of them are really aware about IndiaBits forum! After I spoke with Gabru last week, they are totally against any sorts of trade or marketplace like stuff in the forum and they are feeling like it would certainly pave way for scams. This seems to be right from a forum's admin point of view and it totally differs from the way bitcointalk operates. Here scams aren't moderated and users should do their own diligent research before getting involved in anything which demands their money. Though I am not completely favouring the creation of forum nor endorsing the forum, but I believe the forum can we be a good way of connecting with various important personalities in Indian crypto community if they create a account there and discuss things.

The fact that there are so many active members of the group is something positive but actually there isn't much to discuss on the forum as there are barely any exchanges (except P2P) and hence not many websites in India even accept bitcoins as a payment method. Except taxes and problems, we don't even have topics to discuss. Also, telegram group is much more private than an open forum.

I agree with this. Taxation and Legality are the only important problems we are facing currently and there isn't much of them even interested in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies after the outright ban draft being circulated. Common Indian people are quite afraid to deal with bitcoin nowadays and they are no way the same as it was years back. There was an incident which happened last month to me when I started introducing bitcoin to some of my friends. Once they got to know about the legality they started blaming and was talking shit without knowing about the tech behind the coin completely. Not just me, the same incident would happen to every one of us when we start introducing bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to our friends.

@Heisenberg_Hunter, do you know the owner of this forum?

The group which handles the IndiaBits telegram group is the one who created the forum. I guess Gabru is the only admin of the forum as of now.

Do you think the admin is trustworthy enough not to share our IP address to the enforcement authority upon receiving such request.

Not sure. I am using TOR for connecting with IndiaBits, so there wouldn't be any problem for me I guess.

I find bitcointalk more secure because I know Theymos won't entertain such requests from any enforcement agencies unless a serious scam is involved! Do you have such assurance from Indiabits??

My question may seem little odd, but since India is planning to criminalize cryptos, it is always better to be cautious!

There is nothing to be odd about the question since everyone are very much concerned over their own privacy in an online forum. As far as I know there is a major difference between privacy and getting involved in a discussion forum. I had been there from day 3 in IndiaBits, but I never use the forum without connecting through TOR or at least a weak VPN whereas on the other hand I use bitcointalk with my own IP. The forum is based upon in Indian and there are many ways for the government officials to sue the forum if on very bad situations. Even if my account gets caught and the officials try to get my IP, they will be varying every day and every time I close and open my TOR. That would make them certainly not possible to track me down.

But the case of bitcointalk is very different since they are operated from USA. Even if the Indian government issue a subpoena to leak our IP, theymos would neglect their proposal since he is against these sorts of things. Weather or not IndiaBits admin is trustworthy, I would never use the forum without TOR.

P.S : I am no way related or endorsing to use the forum. Just that the forum might  be helpful for us to reach a wider range of Indian crypto enthusiast.

[pawanjain]

The forum looks pretty decent to me as it was just created half a month ago. I would still prefer to use it a little later when the forum is a little more established.

Isn't it great and proud to know when a Indian is working with core developers?

The last time I heard about it I got to know that there is no Indian developer who is working with the bitcoin core developers.
So I am not sure if what you said is actually true. Could you provide more details on this if possible ? Like a discussion thread or something.

[TigerMart]

While I am not sure whether to join India Bits because there are some concerns that I see. The website is just 23 days old right at this moment. I tried to look for the whois data and it seems the details are blocked.

@Heisenberg_Hunter, do you know the owner of this forum? Do you think the admin is trustworthy enough not to share our IP address to the enforcement authority upon receiving such request. I find bitcointalk more secure because I know Theymos won't entertain such requests from any enforcement agencies unless a serious scam is involved! Do you have such assurance from Indiabits??

My question may seem little odd, but since India is planning to criminalize cryptos, it is always better to be cautious!

This is a valid concern. To counter this, you may use Tor, as well as, their Telegram and Reddit platforms, which appear to be https://t.me/IndiaBits and https://reddit.com/r/IndiaBits respectively.

[akhjob]

I have been part of the Indiabits telegram group for a while now. They really help members with their concerns. But the thing is I was not able to actively participate in most of the time because they switch between English and Hindi, which I don't know. So, now I stick only to their announcement channel. I understand that spreading the information in Hindi is a bit more useful as the majority of Indian population understands it but it not very helpful for other language users. For now, the Indiabits forum seems to be clean and tidy and all the information are in English. But once the forum grows, the forum will attract spams like any other forum and they should be actively removing such spams.

After I spoke with Gabru last week, they are totally against any sorts of trade or marketplace like stuff in the forum and they are feeling like it would certainly pave way for scams. This seems to be right from a forum's admin point of view and it totally differs from the way bitcointalk operates. Here scams aren't moderated and users should do their own diligent research before getting involved in anything which demands their money.

Yes, a marketplace paves way for some sort of scams but I think that it is a necessary evil. If we are looking for mass adoption in future, we have to be delivering services/products for cryptos. And yeah users who are 18+ should do their own diligent research before getting involved in such trades because they are not kids anymore and I am sure that other reputed users will guide them just like here.

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

The last time I heard about it I got to know that there is no Indian developer who is working with the bitcoin core developers.
So I am not sure if what you said is actually true. Could you provide more details on this if possible ? Like a discussion thread or something.

I frequently visit the bitcoin core github, but I have never seen any Indian contributing to core or neither testing the core.

But recently I found that, there are developers of Indian descent (not sure if they live in India) who has recently worked with sipa in the Miniscript project. For enthusiast who are not aware of what Miniscript does to the bitcoin network, they are a language used for implementing smart contracts in bitcoin. So with the language, we can change the way we spend our bitcoin such that like we can change the time at which we spend (in simple understanding terms) etc. You can find more information on Miniscipt in official reference website.

The script has been jointly designed by sipa, Andrew Poelstra and Sanket Kanjalkar. Sanket is available in IndiaBits TG group and I have personally spoken with him (friendly and very helpful in clearing my doubts regarding testing the code). You can verify this message from sanket in IndiaBits TG group. Apart from this, I also encountered btcdrak in IndiaBits, though I have never spoken with him nor he is an Indian, but his prescense is in IndiaBits. See this message from btcdrak in IndiaBits TG group.

But once the forum grows, the forum will attract spams like any other forum and they should be actively removing such spams.

Right now I guess, Gabru acts both as admin and moderator of the forum. When the forum increases with registration (which might happen when btc finds the limelight in India) there would be additional appointment of moderators I guess. Apart from that, they also have badges similar to Bitcointalk where the user would be able to earn them only after certain activities. Another problem with bitcointalk is the incentive to posting. This was the sole reason for the increasing amount of spams, but that wouldn't happen with IndiaBits or if it happens on bad cases, mods would take care of it.

[pawanjain]

The last time I heard about it I got to know that there is no Indian developer who is working with the bitcoin core developers.
So I am not sure if what you said is actually true. Could you provide more details on this if possible ? Like a discussion thread or something.

I frequently visit the bitcoin core github, but I have never seen any Indian contributing to core or neither testing the core.

But recently I found that, there are developers of Indian decent (not sure if they live in India) who has recently worked with sipa in the Miniscript project. For enthusiast who are not aware of what Miniscript does to the bitcoin network, they are a language used for implementing smart contracts in bitcoin. So with the language, we can change the way we spend our bitcoin such that like we can change the time at which we spend (in simple understanding terms) etc. You can find more information on Miniscipt in official reference website.

The script has been jointly designed by sipa, Andrew Poelstra and Sanket Kanjalkar. Sanket is available in IndiaBits TG group and I have personally spoken with him (friendly and very helpful in clearing my doubts regarding testing the code). You can verify this message from sanket in IndiaBits TG group. Apart from this, I also encountered btcdrak in IndiaBits, though I have never spoken with him nor he is an Indian, but his prescense is in IndiaBits. See this message from btcdrak in IndiaBits TG group.

But once the forum grows, the forum will attract spams like any other forum and they should be actively removing such spams.

Right now I guess, Gabru acts both as admin and moderator of the forum. When the forum increases with registration (which might happen when btc finds the limelight in India) there would be additional appointment of moderators I guess. Apart from that, they also have badges similar to Bitcointalk where the user would be able to earn them only after certain activities. Another problem with bitcointalk is the incentive to posting. This was the sole reason for the increasing amount of spams, but that wouldn't happen with IndiaBits or if it happens on bad cases, mods would take care of it.

Thanks for the info. Good to know there are people like Sanket in India who are actually doing something good for the community unlike many others who waste their time watching shit series, movies, games etc.. Not that I don't like it but it shouldn't be consuming much of our time and we have to do something important in our life.

[libert19]

...while I don't see any other active Indian crypto forum/channel right now.

I use coincrunch India for crypto related updates.

Coincrunch + Indiabits + cryptokanoon = This trio is enough for any Indian crypto enthusiast to stay up to date.

[erikalui]

I use coincrunch India for crypto related updates.

Coincrunch + Indiabits + cryptokanoon = This trio is enough for any Indian crypto enthusiast to stay up to date.

Just joined their group. It is also pretty active and good to see people still trading in crypto and interested in updates even though the situation is tense.

They need to promote it actively and start few incentives so that more and more people can join which is a method even bitcointalk adopted after which more people started getting active here. I also started when someone told me about how you could earn bitcoins from faucets and use it as a currency to trade.

That's quite true. I am still not sure how much of them are really aware about IndiaBits forum! After I spoke with Gabru last week, they are totally against any sorts of trade or marketplace like stuff in the forum and they are feeling like it would certainly pave way for scams. This seems to be right from a forum's admin point of view and it totally differs from the way bitcointalk operates. Here scams aren't moderated and users should do their own diligent research before getting involved in anything which demands their money. Though I am not completely favouring the creation of forum nor endorsing the forum, but I believe the forum can we be a good way of connecting with various important personalities in Indian crypto community if they create a account there and discuss things.

Till we don't get a proper response regarding crypto's legal situation, I guess nobody would feel comfortable exposing themselves on Indian forums unlike this forum. I am also mainly following the updates on the case.

Desidime is another Indian forum where people from here also are active but not many there even know about crypto even though some members keep posting threads about new sites giving away free crypto for joining them.

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

Till we don't get a proper response regarding crypto's legal situation, I guess nobody would feel comfortable exposing themselves on Indian forums unlike this forum. I am also mainly following the updates on the case.

Desidime is another Indian forum where people from here also are active but not many there even know about crypto even though some members keep posting threads about new sites giving away free crypto for joining them.

Cryptocurrency would never see any good improvements in India considering the fact people are feared to trade them in the market. Apart from that, Indian people are just viewing the pump and dump schemes which crypto is offering and almost 90% of the population don't even understand or doesn't really want to know the technology behind them. All they need is immediate money which will make them super-rich in an overnight time period.

If the government or any officials try to understand what cryptocurrencies are and the technology behind it, that would probably take around a decade for them to implement these rules. Almost all the Indian politicians are uneducated pajeets who don't even have a basic knowledge on tech or in any fields. We are being acting as slaves for all those uneducated shits and going by their shitty rules which they implement. Bitcoin, Cryptography or any tech related advancements are far from Understandability level for our rich uneducated politicians and tech like bitcoin which demands money will always be banned by the technically backward government.

As far as our Indian population is concerned, Bitcoin and any other cryptocurrency are get-rich quick schemes which will make you rich overnight and as far as our Indian politicians are concerned these tech will pave way for further scams in a country like India. I guess it might be difficult for us (crypto enthusiast) to make the government educate on the field and it might take atleast 10-20 years to reach limelight.

[eaLiTy]

Almost all the Indian politicians are uneducated pajeets who don't even have a basic knowledge on tech or in any fields. We are being acting as slaves for all those uneducated shits and going by their shitty rules which they implement. Bitcoin, Cryptography or any tech related advancements are far from Understandability level for our rich uneducated politicians and tech like bitcoin which demands money will always be banned by the technically backward government.

I fully understand and support your feelings when it comes to the lack of education and shitty rules by the corrupted government, they are not here to improve the country, all they need is power and that brings them money. I encountered many hurdles and losses because of the stupid policies of the government and i am sure anyone who invested money have faced the same issues, i am talking in a general sense and the government really care less about bitcoin nor they want to understand the currency part of it.

to make the government educate on the field and it might take atleast 10-20 years to reach limelight.

The problem with India is that with any new technology or implementation you will find resistance from some corner, When computer was implemented i still remember the left parties conducting huge strikes to avoid the use of computer. So if you find hurdles like these to implement computer in India, image the resistance we will face when we talk about a decentralized digital currency .

[legendster]

Let me draw an analogy here.

You see there are hundreds of pizzerias in this country. Some branded, some internationally branded, and some like the ones you see in your canteen.

Now, the motive of all these "businesses" is not to feed the most amount of people as possible. The idea is to make the most amount of money.

Something that is against the core value of a Pizza. You see, Pizza, like Bitcoin, was made for the poor. It was made without a recipe and was made to feed the most amount of people with the least amount of labor per serving.

Bitcoin is pizza, and so is Bitcointalk.

Now why did I make this analogy?

The cryptoverse is now being controlled by people with a lot of money. Both black, white, and grey.
In such a situation, there would be ignorant governments, like ours, that would likely rebel against it, try to seclude people from it. Keep the masses underinformed.

I think, dividing the Indian community away from Bitcointalk is a bad idea. This ideology is what has kept me from diverging away from Bitcointalk for all these years and I still believe in it.

For good or worse, this place is a treasure trove and more than that is a uniting force that can let people connect with BTC people from around the world.

Do not tribalize the subject of Bitcoin so that it concentrates into small communities, do not let the Pizza become a luxury food. It is meant for the masses. Do not slice this pizza into individual Indian, Italian, mexican flavors...

Do note, I do admire that forum, I've checked it out, pretty neat and clean, exactly like what a good forum should be like.

It should focus on content generation, instead of user acquisition. I wish the Indian community was strong and large enough to support this division.

TBH, in this instance, I hope I am proven wrong and our community turns out to be really strong enough to sustain a healthy population and activity on both these forums.

[Lender]

Looks like this IndiaBits.org forum did not really peak up. The real action is still on BitcoinTalk and in the IndiaBits TG group.

[libert19]

Looks like this IndiaBits.org forum did not really peak up. The real action is still on BitcoinTalk and in the IndiaBits TG group.

Correct, it's because forum has nothing extra useful to offer.