Banking services platform Cashaa has seen significant growth in crypto trading volume in India since it began offering INR deposits and withdrawals. The platform has cut its fees by more than 50% and is getting ready to add five more cryptocurrencies for users in India, Cashaa has shared with news.Bitcoin.com.
Significant Volume Growth, Fees Reduced
London-based banking platform Cashaa announced on Monday that its trading volume in India has grown to over $1 million in less than six weeks since it began offering INR services in October, on the occasion of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.
The company revealed:
Cashaa’s volume has grown significantly and made company operations profitable in less than 6 weeks in India.
The platform has now reduced its service fee from 3.49% to 1.49%. In addition, users who choose to pay their fees in the CAS token can get a further discount, bringing their net fees down to less than 1%.
Cashaa co-founder Janina Lowisz told news.Bitcoin.com that the reduced fee, which is already in effect, is permanent. “We are working to take down fees more in the coming quarters”, she added.
“In India, all the P2P peer-to-peer markets are currently having a premium of 5-7%, while at Cashaa the fee is much lower. The users who are paying in CAS and have a subscription plan are paying a fee of 0.97%”, she clarified, elaborating:
Since the fee went down, more our volume has grown 400% through existing brokers who are using to buy from Cashaa and selling at Paxful, Local Bitcoins or other P2P markets.
In addition, Cashaa announced, “Following community requests, the minimum deposit and withdrawal limit has also been reduced from 25,000 to 10,000 INR $140 to make bitcoin accessible to every Indian investor.”
Cashaa was founded by Indian entrepreneurs in the U.K. in 2016 as a P2P money transfer and crypto trading service. Its primary markets are the U.K. and India. “Due to demonetization in India, the company pivoted from money transfer service to full banking service focused on crypto business worldwide”, Cashaa detailed. Currently, the company has a physical presence in 14 countries, including Mumbai, India.
More Coins to Be Added Soon
Lowisz also shared with news.Bitcoin.com that “Due to overwhelming demand and a high number of transactions, we had to work more on ether and bitcoin nodes for faster transaction processing and automating the reporting and payment of state and central taxes in India”, elaborating:
We can expect USDT live by mid-January … bitcoin cash will be added in the next release in the coming quarter … After bitcoin cash, the following coins will be added: litecoin, EOS, and XRP, expected by the end of March 2020.
P2P System
“Access to crypto in India through banking no longer exists, but thanks to our partnerships, unique technology and access to banking networks worldwide we are enabling INR deposit and withdrawals up to 250,000 USD equivalent of INR/ month”, Cashaa claims. However, the service is only accessible to Indian residents with at least 2,500 CAS tokens deposited in their wallets.
In order to offer INR services, Cashaa explained that it utilizes “its banking and vast trading network to create a peer to peer model for its INR services which enabled Indian residents to buy and sell BTC, ETH and CAS via bank transfer up to 1.5 crore INR.”
India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), placed a banking restriction on the crypto industry in April last year, prohibiting regulated financial entities from providing services to crypto businesses. Banks subsequently closed accounts of crypto exchanges. The ban has been challenged in the supreme court which is expected to resume hearing the case in January. Meanwhile, several Indian crypto exchanges are also offering P2P trading. Bitcoin.com also offers a BCH marketplace for users in India.
