Unocoin: India’s first Bitcoin and Crypto Exchange

India has an over 1.3 billion population. About 20% of them have no access to formal finance banking with over 191 million adults still unbanked. With the introduction of Aadhar, Jan-Dhan Yojna and BHIM UPI, we did see a massive increase in bank account holders. Yet, with a huge sized population, our economy still suffers a big sink.

A healthy economy is driven by an open and free market that allows citizens to trade freely and globally. In the economic world today, there are many protocols that one needs to follow. Even if you just wish to send your money, the process would still be tedious. Countries impose certain tariffs on each other while importing and exporting goods and whenever there is financial trading. Institutional banks charge hugely when clients transact internationally.

With all these issues existing, bitcoin came to the rescue. The year was 2008 — in the aftermath of the Economic Recession, an anonymous person by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a nine-page long whitepaper on Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system that claimed to solve the Byzantine General Problem. And this is taking the world by storm.

It was 2013 when the first Bitcoin and Crypto Exchange — Unocoin emerged in India. The story of Unocoin was like any other startup of Bengaluru. The co-founders of Unocoin met in a meetup cafe, some of them came back from abroad from their studies or work. With a vision to enable Indians to enter into the bitcoin world, they took their chance to build Unocoin. And today they are serving nearly 1.5 million customers.

Countries around the world are becoming more Bitcoin and Crypto friendly

Recently, El Salvador, a country in Central America became the first country to consider bitcoin as a legal tender. Salvador’s can now use bitcoin for any transaction alongside their national currency which is USD. This is a big milestone for bitcoiners and crypto lovers from around the world. Inevitably, countries in South America and Africa are expected to follow suit.

Bitcoin is all about financial inclusivity and India can greatly benefit from it.

Bitcoin and any cryptocurrency for that matter are distributed and decentralized. No nation or corporation has control over this. With a simple smartphone and the internet, you can buy, transact, and hold bitcoin from anywhere and with anyone. Now that India has a huge population, bitcoin can enable 1.4 billion Indias to directly participate in the open, free international market, which will push India’s economy forward.

Focus on bitcoin philosophy and not price for a long-term goal

We all know that you bought bitcoin to gain profit and there is nothing wrong with that. In the last decade, bitcoin has given more than 90,000,000% gain and that is huge! But now, as you have invested into this assets’ class for profit, stay for its philosophy, because bitcoin is much more than its price. Think in this way, how much of your money do you want to protect in blockchain, a technology that is immutable, transparent, decentralized and gives you full control over itself. It is time we see bitcoin vs. all the traditional banks that are inefficient, prompt to manipulate, and lastly, economic inflation where your money loses its value over time. The bitcoin blockchain not only provides an investment incentive but also the best store of value. Now is the time to try learning the amazing technology behind it in spite you already have bought bitcoin.

Choose the right one, not the best one

Now, coming to the action part, how can you start investing in bitcoin. Best is not always the right one. In the world of marketing and common ground, everybody claims to be the best, the largest, the strongest. But is it the right one? Think again. I am not here to say, Unocoin is the best platform to buy bitcoin. I am here to say, Unocoin ALSO is the right one that stood the test of time since its inception in 2013. It has gone up and down, fought for the crypto community in India, stood firm to its philosophy — just like bitcoin. It has learned and understood the emotions of its customers and has adapted over time. It happens to be the right platform for many and maybe even yours!

Conclusion

Bitcoin is inevitable. It has stood the test of time and it is here to stay. The best thing anyone can do for themselves that will give them a better future is to accumulate as much bitcoin as they can afford NOW. This is not financial advice. DYOR — Do your own research. Bitcoin is all about financial inclusivity, bringing hope to the financially unreached people, and redistributing the concept of finance to the world.

Bringing Bitcoin to Billions was originally published in Unocoin’s Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.