Unocoin launches India’s first fiat-to-crypto ATM in Bengaluru amidst the RBI ban preventing banks from interacting with crypto individuals or institutions.
ENTER: UNOCOIN
Indian cryptocurrency mass had been growing weary ever since the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban on banks. Cryptocurrency exchanges faced extinction in India due to these regulations, resulting to the birth of p2p exchanges and India’s first Fiat-to-Crypto ATM. As good as these may sound, the p2p exchanges are unregulated and hence could support money laundering and other illegal activities.
But Unocoin, India’s cryptocurrency exchange startup based in Bengaluru has set up its first fiat-to-crypto ATM. The ATM is well within the bounds of government regulations issued by Central Bank post demonetisation.
Unocoin said, “Users are subject to some limits on deposits and withdrawals per transaction and per day subject to cash handling restrictions in India.”
A minimum of ₹1000 ($13.50) has to be deposited in denominations of 500s for transacting through the ATM.
This was reported by a lot of crypto enthusiasts over twitter and clearly they are happy with the move by Unocoin.
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RBI AND CRYPTOCURRENCY/BLOCKCHAIN
RBI published the first warnings in a press release on their website, dated December 24, 2013, and published two more in February and December 2017.
On April 6, 2018, RBI issued circulars condemning banks to seize activities related to cryptocurrencies. As a result many parties filed petition against the circular, including IAMAI (Internet And Mobile Association of India). In response, RBI argues that Supreme Court should stay out of the decisions of financial matters, especially cryptocurrencies. Needles to say the court case is still being heard and a verdict is yet to be reached.
INDIA AND BLOCKCHAIN
Speaking at the launch of World Economic Forum (W.E.F.) India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi said India will not be left out in the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Adding to the statement he said,
"Some people are worried that the advancement of technology will have negative impact on jobs but the reality is otherwise. The Industry 4.0 will touch those aspects which still remain untouched so far. It will change the nature of job and create new opportunities,"
Allaying fears of job loss with the advancement of Industrial revolution 4.0, Modi said Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Blockchain, Machine Learning and other technologies will change the nature of employment and provide more opportunities.
The Bitcoin community in India remains unfazed even with the ban on banks. Efforts to bypass banks and find loophole with all the red tapism by the Central Bank have yielded p2p exchanges and now fiat-to-crypto ATMs.
“Global Cryptocurrency Survey,” by German research company ranks India at fourth place in number of people trading cryptocurrency. US ranks the first, followed by UK and Japan, where cryptocurrency and trading is legal.
What do you think?
Is India advancing by going through the rules and finding alternatives to trade cryptos?
Have you tried the ATM?
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