Bitget, which is a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, has decided to let Indian users purchase cryptocurrencies using fiat Rupee. The exchange has entered into a partnership with Web3 payments solutions platform Alchemy Pay to facilitate crypto purchases through the Rupee currency. The aim of this collaboration is to make crypto buying on international exchanges more accessible in India while also diversifying the number of platforms to do so for the nationals.
As per the announcement published on Bitget’s site, its collaboration with Alchemy Pay will open crypto purchases through IMPS bank transfers as well as through Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
Alchemy Pay, as part of this partnership, will provide its on-ramp services on Bitget’s trading platform. This service lets users utilise fiat services like Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, and Google Pay to purchase crypto assets. As part of its services, Alchemy also lets crypto holders sell their crypto holdings and wire back the funds to their back accounts in the form of fiat currencies.
This makes for an interesting development because the last time an exchange offered to let Indians purchase crypto assets through UPI, it did not go down well with the Indian authorities.
In April 2022, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong had announced this feature for Indian users visiting the exchange. NPCI’s reaction to the development, however, did dampen the company’s spirit. At the time, the National Payments Corporations of India (NPCI) had said it had not authorised Coinbase to use the UPI system for allowing crypto purchases. The exchange had to retract its announcement and disable the UPI-based asset purchasing feature.
As of now, the NPCI has not reacted to Bitget’s feature allowing crypto purchases for Indians through UPI.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that Bitget has shown its interest in India. In November 2023, Bitget decided to infuse $10 million (roughly Rs. 83 crore) over the term of five years in India, aiming to foster the firms operating in the crypto space. In April last year, Bitget initiated a self-funded pool of $100 million (roughly Rs. 819 crore) to help promising Web3 projects emerging from Asia.
As per a 2023 Chainalysis report India topped the index of 154 countries, that shows most promise in crypto adoption. Nigeria, Vietnam, US, and Ukraine followed India on the index to secure the second, third, and fourth rankings, respectively.
