Bitcoin wallet and technology giant Blockchain.info is entering the Indian market via a partnership with leading Indian bitcoin exchange Unocoin.Blockchain, the world’s most widely used bitcoin wallet, is now available for users in India to buy and hold their bitcoins. In an announcement today, Blockchain revealed it has integrated Unocoinwithin its wallet dashboard to enable Indian users to buy the cryptocurrency.Speaking to CCN, Unocoin CEO Sathvik Vishwanath revealed details of the partnership, stating:
The entire idea is – whenever a customer buys bitcoin through Blockchain.info, the bitcoins will get delivered directly to their blockchain wallet. A user will not be holding their bitcoin balance with Unocoin, where we control their funds.
In essence, Unocoin will process the fiat transactions locally in India for Blockchain users where purchases will see bitcoin(s) bought and stored directly in the user’s Blockchain wallet, where the user holds the private keys.
The process entails linking a user’s bank account details before submitting KYC forms to buy bitcoin through Blockchain.
Of the 16.6 million users on Blockchain’s wallet service, Vishwanath also claimed that 1 million or so were Indian registrant. WhileThe new partnership will provide “an entry” point for Blockchain in India, he further added.Vishwanath told CCN:
For Unocoin, it is millions of users that are gaining exposure to us. It is a win-win-win, for customers, Unocoin and Blockchain.
“India is our 35th market and after demonetization, there has been an unprecedented surge in people using Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies,” Blockchain co-founder Nicolas Cary told the Economic Times. “For the past eight years, using bitcoins has been difficult with not many knowing about it. There have been issues on delays, verification issues and two-faced providers.”“Users will have full control of their bitcoins [with their private keys at Blockchain],” Vishawanath said, “as opposed to we [Unocoin] holding and having full control of their bitcoins.”Blockchain, one of the industry’s earliest and best-funded startups, recently raised a record $40 million in a fresh round of funding. Blockchain hit a milestone with 10 million wallet users in November 2016 and is quickly accelerating toward the 20 million user mark.
