Unocoin – the first cryptocurrency exchange established in India – has just completed a Series A funding round that has garnered the company as much as $5 million from the likes of Tim Draper and other top-notch crypto investors.
Unocoin Heads Into Uncharted Territory
India is facing a massive crisis in that regulators are now looking to potentially ban digital trading, rather than simply business and banking relationships between crypto firms and traditional financial institutions. Many industry experts are criticizing the move, claiming that this would ultimately put India behind its neighbors such as China, which despite a spotty crypto past, is deciding to regulate crypto activity rather than ban it outright.
However, the fact that the exchange could garner so much money despite the uneven regulatory environment suggests that India has a solid reputation in the crypto space and that it is capable of retaining its place on the financial ladder. Unocoin has announced that it will use the money it’s received to boost decentralized finance (DeFi) and build a new virtual chatbot to assist customers in the future.
Chief executive officer of the trading platform Sathvik Vishwanath explained in a recent interview:
We’ve seen a dramatic increase in cryptocurrency adoption in India following the lifting of an industrywide ban by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) enacted in 2018. Customer growth rates have surged by more than ten times in the month the Supreme Court verdict was announced, accompanied by a five-time increase in trading volume in subsequent months. The funding will help us scale our business further and give us a strong financial foothold to expand our platform’s offerings. We will double down on our efforts to improve our product features and offerings, which will enhance the overall usability and functionality for our customers.
Thus far, the exchange is responsible for delivering several innovations and new products to the crypto space such as the bitcoin systematic buying plan (SBP), crypto lending, crypto interest earning and bitcoin over-the-counter trading (OTC).
Getting the Funds from the Right People
Tim Draper – who has always been a heavy bitcoin advocate – commented:
We were delighted to hear the verdict by the Indian Supreme Court, and we had been tracking Unocoin, the leader in India for bitcoin for years. We are so thrilled that the stars aligned, and we could finally back Unocoin. Every Indian should have a bitcoin account with Unocoin. It is a great way to do business in a currency that doesn’t devalue over time.
It’s impressive to see the trading platform garner so much in such a short period. However, will all this funding be for nothing? After all, India-based legislators are likely to get their way no matter what they decide, and should India’s crypto scene be given a reversal, Unocoin may find itself using the money to move its headquarters to a different region.
