Did you guys hear about the Indian Crypto Bank

[pawanjain]

I was reading some articles when I stumbled upon this article where it said that Unicas, an Indian Crypto Bank has been launched and is about to roll out 14 branches in India.
They would be offering traditional banking services along with buy/sell crypto, exchange crypto to INR and getting loans against crypto through a single account.
The bank claims to open around 100 branches by 2022. Seems like they do have a plan. It would be good if these guys don't turn it into a scam 

Well it does seem like something good but the probability of scam is always a risk.
Besides that it’s a joint venture between Indian online crypto banking platform Cashaa and United Multistate Credit Co-op Society.
We all know Cashaa was recently hacked. So I would definitely advise to do a thorough research before trusting this so-called crypto bank.

Get more info here:
Sources :
https://www.indianweb2.com/2020/12/unicas-crypto-bank-to-roll-out-14.html
https://cointelegraph.com/news/indian-crypto-bank-opens-physical-location-eyes-100-branches-by-2022

[libert19]

I would only use it to withdraw money, if ever.

[amishmanish]

Ahha Cashaa. Now where have I heard of this before? Mr. Kumar Gaurav who has a website of fake credentials and sells ponzi MLMs to newbies. The other partner "United Multistate credit cooperative society" is a typical Indian NBFC with word of mouth credentials at best.

While the step is commendable, I will be eager to see what exactly do these people come up with and will they actually take it to 100 branches as claimed. The official website of the NBFC does not show any such announcement on their press release officially. So there is a possibility they they will just use this to garnish their credentials because of a crypto website mentioning their name. BTW, This has become a classic scammer tactic in India. Unknown online websites that refer each other for a facade of legitimacy.

They want you to buy their token "CAS" for additional interest on deposits. That is ~INR 25000 (300 USD) for pretty much opening an account. Also reminds me of Amit Bhardwaj's MCAPs.

From the past of Cashaa, that held BTC deposits in a web wallet, i doubt they are the kind of "bank" to do serious business with.

[teosanru]

One thing I can assure you this would face a fate like UNOCOIN too. I don't know when will these people realize that their advertising terminology can put them in troubles. In India no Bank can be opened by approval of RBI. There is a hefty process of getting approval to be called a bank which even PAYTM and AIRTEL haven't been able to comply with and they still just have the status of "Payments Bank", not a complete bank. Hundreds of NBFC handling AUM and Loan Books of more than thousands of crores have not been upgraded to the status of Bank but this new startup has started calling itself a Bank. To be very honest legally speaking I would recommend you all to stay away from this until it gets an RBI NOC to operate. Supreme Court has said that RBI can monitor affairs of crypto space it has just uplifted the ban. Don't do foolish things that would lead to trouble.

[madhavsinghrajput]

YES I have also heard about this back in December when news just Popped on my feed that fintech company called cashaa has raised 5 million dollar from Dubai based company Olex to start Crypto banking services. See seriously i think with ever growing fintech sector of india this can be the future of crypto in India. But concern of risk is always there in sort of services and irony is one of it's branch or office in east delhi has already been hacked once and many users had lost there money.
sources:- https://help.cashaa.com/knowledgebase/cashaa-india-otc-hack-update-follow-up/

To be very honest legally speaking I would recommend you all to stay away from this until it gets an RBI NOC to operate

Soo I agree with this that we need to be really carefull while investing in such things.
but again if this turned out well and i have read that CEO of the company is in talk with RBI authority to seek legal permissions for banking than this can be revolutionary.
source:- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/cashaa-raises-5-million-from-dubai-based-o1ex-a-blockchain-investment-firm/articleshow/77888859.cms

[teosanru]

YES I have also heard about this back in December when news just Popped on my feed that fintech company called cashaa has raised 5 million dollar from Dubai based company Olex to start Crypto banking services. See seriously i think with ever growing fintech sector of india this can be the future of crypto in India. But concern of risk is always there in sort of services and irony is one of it's branch or office in east delhi has already been hacked once and many users had lost there money.
sources:- https://help.cashaa.com/knowledgebase/cashaa-india-otc-hack-update-follow-up/

To be very honest legally speaking I would recommend you all to stay away from this until it gets an RBI NOC to operate

Soo I agree with this that we need to be really carefull while investing in such things.
but again if this turned out well and i have read that CEO of the company is in talk with RBI authority to seek legal permissions for banking than this can be revolutionary.
source:- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/cashaa-raises-5-million-from-dubai-based-o1ex-a-blockchain-investment-firm/articleshow/77888859.cms

Every CEO says this. This isn't anything new. Moreover trust me They won't get permission until a full fledged crypto act comes into place by parliament. Will you give your money in such a bank when the bank isn't even governed by any legal framework? They surely can make a huge impact as a wallet but I will be too surprised if they get a banking license you need a loan book worth rupees tens of thousands of crores to get a banking license.

[madhavsinghrajput]

Every CEO says this. This isn't anything new. Moreover trust me They won't get permission until a full fledged crypto act comes into place by parliament. Will you give your money in such a bank when the bank isn't even governed by any legal framework? They surely can make a huge impact as a wallet but I will be too surprised if they get a banking license you need a loan book worth rupees tens of thousands of crores to get a banking license.

I agree with you that there are lots and lots of norms and legal activities that one has to fulfill with RBI to established any sort of financial institute in India.It will be a foolishness to invest your money in such talks and i already vouched for it in my previous post. But My only point was that crypto being the future,we need to encourage or motivate people who are trying to revive this industry. In my perspective this might not be the best of ideas legally now but can have slight chance.For me I'd rather prefer saying it as slim chance than poor possibility as it spread positive word of mouth.

[amishmanish]

T

YES I have also heard about this back in December when news just Popped on my feed that fintech company called cashaa has raised 5 million dollar from Dubai based company Olex to start Crypto banking services. See seriously i think with ever growing fintech sector of india this can be the future of crypto in India. But concern of risk is always there in sort of services and irony is one of it's branch or office in east delhi has already been hacked once and many users had lost there money.
sources:- https://help.cashaa.com/knowledgebase/cashaa-india-otc-hack-update-follow-up/

They did an ICO in 2017-18 and raised ~15 Million USD. Their "CEO" then attended every possible blockchain meetup he could and uploaded videos with people interviewing him. Every Indian knows that being interviewed by an Angrez is the ultimate symbol of your legitimacy...LOL..Sarcasm notwithstanding, they are flush with cash to spend on offices, marketing etc. That kind of thing requires lot of legal fees and expenditure in the west. In India, you can make do with a bit of "adjustment".

So they partnered with one of those "Credit co-operatives" that are in every Indian city where merchants take their loans from. While it may not be legal to call themselves a bank, they have a website platform and an app where you can buy and sell some crypto. They are planning to expand it to give out crypto backed loans. The plan i think is to basically do what the credit co-operatives do, with crypto added to the mix.

Seriously though, this space is so new that people will throw money at you for working openly in it.

[PhoenixZephyrus]

I wouldn't trust them with my crypto anytime soon. There has been no official legitimacy of bitcoin declared by the government, and who's to say that they just won't pack up and go home with what they have once they see that it's getting rough here in India with the regulations? Currently, from what I saw, they have a single building in Rajasthan with a pretty small team, and although they seem to have some authenticity, there have been multiple precedents of people packing up profits once things get rough and that's probably what will prevent people from keeping "all" of their crypto with them for safekeeping. I would much rather trust myself.

[aysg76]

One thing I can assure you this would face a fate like UNOCOIN too. I don't know when will these people realize that their advertising terminology can put them in troubles. In India no Bank can be opened by approval of RBI. There is a hefty process of getting approval to be called a bank which even PAYTM and AIRTEL haven't been able to comply with and they still just have the status of "Payments Bank", not a complete bank. Hundreds of NBFC handling AUM and Loan Books of more than thousands of crores have not been upgraded to the status of Bank but this new startup has started calling itself a Bank. To be very honest legally speaking I would recommend you all to stay away from this until it gets an RBI NOC to operate. Supreme Court has said that RBI can monitor affairs of crypto space it has just uplifted the ban. Don't do foolish things that would lead to trouble.

Absolutely right. Crypto banks are still a dream , which won't become reality soon.

As far for now ,just hope at upcoming budget i.e. coming on 1 feb
there must be some regulations regarding crypto ,so the danger of it  getting banned  again is gone.

[pawanjain]

As far for now ,just hope at upcoming budget i.e. coming on 1 feb
there must be some regulations regarding crypto ,so the danger of it  getting banned  again is gone.

Even I am eagerly waiting for what the upcoming Union budget has to declare for crypto. If crypto gets regulated I will be personally happy about it since it will be legalized completely in India.
We will be able to trade without any fear. We might also be able to see mixed sentiments in the Indian crypto community since many people who trade crypto are unwilling to pay taxes for it.
Hence it might lead to some political debates as well.

Seriously though, this space is so new that people will throw money at you for working openly in it.

True ! May be even they know that people will definitely throw their money in it and that's why they planned on to create such a crypto bank.
Although crypto banks is inevitable I think we all should probably wait until this one is well established given the allegations which were put upon them related to cashaa hack.
One who suffered the losses in the hack would definitely think thrice before trusting them again.

[teosanru]

As far for now ,just hope at upcoming budget i.e. coming on 1 feb
there must be some regulations regarding crypto ,so the danger of it  getting banned  again is gone.

Even I am eagerly waiting for what the upcoming Union budget has to declare for crypto. If crypto gets regulated I will be personally happy about it since it will be legalized completely in India.
We will be able to trade without any fear. We might also be able to see mixed sentiments in the Indian crypto community since many people who trade crypto are unwilling to pay taxes for it.
Hence it might lead to some political debates as well.

There is going to be no political debates on this unless the opposition makes any adverse comment on the policy. Gone are the days when Indian news channels used to debate on relevant and intelligent topics. These days you can't find a debate on such topics. In fact, there is no debate until the topic of the debate doesn't contain Congress/ Pakistan/ China or Bengal these days. I wouldn't be amazed if you barely see any news about this in the mainstream media except just a single line coverage.

Seriously though, this space is so new that people will throw money at you for working openly in it.

True ! May be even they know that people will definitely throw their money in it and that's why they planned on to create such a crypto bank.
Although crypto banks is inevitable I think we all should probably wait until this one is well established given the allegations which were put upon them related to cashaa hack.
One who suffered the losses in the hack would definitely think thrice before trusting them again.

I don't really agree with you. Crypto bank is pointless. It's just giving way too much power in hands of a centralized Institution. These banks aren't going to give you the private keys so technically they would act just as any wallets. But killing the very essence of bitcoin, isn't it?

[AjithBtc]

One thing I can assure you this would face a fate like UNOCOIN too. I don't know when will these people realize that their advertising terminology can put them in troubles. In India no Bank can be opened by approval of RBI. There is a hefty process of getting approval to be called a bank which even PAYTM and AIRTEL haven't been able to comply with and they still just have the status of "Payments Bank", not a complete bank. Hundreds of NBFC handling AUM and Loan Books of more than thousands of crores have not been upgraded to the status of Bank but this new startup has started calling itself a Bank. To be very honest legally speaking I would recommend you all to stay away from this until it gets an RBI NOC to operate. Supreme Court has said that RBI can monitor affairs of crypto space it has just uplifted the ban. Don't do foolish things that would lead to trouble.

Agreed, there is huge process involved to get recognised and approval from the RBI. I'm not sure of it, but came to know from an person working in a bank that to do banking services of ten lakh, the respective bank is supposed to have a reserve of one crore in RBI. For small level financing those limitations weren't available. Thats the reason we can see most of the financing service providers have lots of branches but doesn't get the recognition as Bank.

Few such financing service providers are Chola Finance, Muthoot Finance, Coramandel Finance, Equitos, Ujjivan, Fincare, etc

[teosanru]

One thing I can assure you this would face a fate like UNOCOIN too. I don't know when will these people realize that their advertising terminology can put them in troubles. In India no Bank can be opened by approval of RBI. There is a hefty process of getting approval to be called a bank which even PAYTM and AIRTEL haven't been able to comply with and they still just have the status of "Payments Bank", not a complete bank. Hundreds of NBFC handling AUM and Loan Books of more than thousands of crores have not been upgraded to the status of Bank but this new startup has started calling itself a Bank. To be very honest legally speaking I would recommend you all to stay away from this until it gets an RBI NOC to operate. Supreme Court has said that RBI can monitor affairs of crypto space it has just uplifted the ban. Don't do foolish things that would lead to trouble.

Agreed, there is huge process involved to get recognised and approval from the RBI. I'm not sure of it, but came to know from an person working in a bank that to do banking services of ten lakh, the respective bank is supposed to have a reserve of one crore in RBI. For small level financing those limitations weren't available. Thats the reason we can see most of the financing service providers have lots of branches but doesn't get the recognition as Bank.

Few such financing service providers are Chola Finance, Muthoot Finance, Coramandel Finance, Equitos, Ujjivan, Fincare, etc

It's definitely not 1 crore. Generally the banks are expected to have with RBI reserve equal to cash reserve ratio(CRR). Current CRR is around 3% so you will see atleast a 3% of the total deposits with RBI. Total deposits range at around 8-10k crores so you can calculate the total number very well.
You are right  about these financing service providers they operate as systematically-important-core Deposit-taking-NBFCs currently.

[Mistafreeze]

I was reading some articles when I stumbled upon this article where it said that Unicas, an Indian Crypto Bank has been launched and is about to roll out 14 branches in India.
They would be offering traditional banking services along with buy/sell crypto, exchange crypto to INR and getting loans against crypto through a single account.
The bank claims to open around 100 branches by 2022. Seems like they do have a plan. It would be good if these guys don't turn it into a scam 

Well it does seem like something good but the probability of scam is always a risk.
Besides that it’s a joint venture between Indian online crypto banking platform Cashaa and United Multistate Credit Co-op Society.
We all know Cashaa was recently hacked. So I would definitely advise to do a thorough research before trusting this so-called crypto bank.

Get more info here:
Sources :
https://www.indianweb2.com/2020/12/unicas-crypto-bank-to-roll-out-14.html
https://cointelegraph.com/news/indian-crypto-bank-opens-physical-location-eyes-100-branches-by-2022

Unless crypto are regulated by government through some law, it is always risky to use any such crypto related bank or even exchanges.
Remember greed leads one fall into scammers trap so be careful these fancy looking projects.

[Manish2809]

If this happens, paytm Will support it first. And as soon as it's supported by Paytm, everyone else's payment gateway will start supporting it. If possible, Indian government will also have to accept it in Fees of different government works like in Post offices, for e-challans etc.. I'm sure people will put pressure on government. Reading such news shows that we are moving in the right direction. People probably won't understand bitcoin like a ballon and the rate of bitcoin won't go down too much like 2018.

[pawanjain]

If this happens, paytm Will support it first. And as soon as it's supported by Paytm, everyone else's payment gateway will start supporting it. If possible, Indian government will also have to accept it in Fees of different government works like in Post offices, for e-challans etc.. I'm sure people will put pressure on government. Reading such news shows that we are moving in the right direction. People probably won't understand bitcoin like a ballon and the rate of bitcoin won't go down too much like 2018.

That's far from happening. Government is already against considering cryptocurrencies as a legal tender for now. So I don't think that even if cryptocurrencies are regulated in India, the government will start using them for payments any time soon. This might be a possibility but not right now. Cryptocurrencies still have a long road ahead in India. In order for it to be accepted as a payment method, it will first have to be regulated but the government is still unsure of how to proceed with the regulation of cryptocurrencies in India.