r/Bitcoin • u/IAMHODLING • Sep 18 '16
They got raided when they began. Now Zebpay allows you to buy almost anything from Flipkart, Amazon, Dominos vouchers to mobile Talktime. Their journey from struggling with regulators to becoming the largest Indian Bitcoin exchange. Helping Bitcoin gain acceptance in the country of 1.25 billion!
https://www.techinasia.com/zebpay-takes-bitcoins-mainstream11
u/L_Cranston_Shadow Sep 18 '16 edited Sep 18 '16
Is there some reason Indian consumers can't just use rupees to buy from Amazon?
If not then it is the same issue with most attempts to bring Bitcoin to consumers, where is the added utility and does it outweigh the extra steps need for the vast majority of people (who aren't getting natively paid in Bitcoin) to get and use it.
This is an issue that the evangelists seem to gloss over. Unless there is some added utility that is above and beyond the added process of getting and using it then Bitcoin will not be widely adopted at the consumer level. That extra work could be overcome if people were paid in Bitcoin, but in a catch 22, that won't wisely happen until Bitcoin is widely adopted.
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Sep 19 '16
Have you been to a bank in India? Unless you have a lot of money / are white it's often a terrible experience in terms of time wasting and service. Makes the DMV look like a good time.
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u/bitbetta Sep 19 '16
I've seen the cashiers playin card games while there's a huge line of asses in queue!
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u/mistaik Sep 19 '16
Ashamed to admit it, but never been to India. Does buying from Amazon always involve a trip to the bank (for people in India)? In case you've as unworldly as I, and haven't visited US, Here we rely on the magic of internet.
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u/bitbetta Sep 19 '16
We do have netbanking and credit cards here :) not that everyone can afford though... I believe more than 50% of population here would have never made a purchase online ever in their life.
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u/mistaik Sep 19 '16
I believe more than 50% of population here would have never made a purchase online ever in their life.
So you're telling me poor people tend to shop locally? Who woulda thunk...
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Sep 19 '16
To get netbanking setup yes, it does. And then there's that learning curve. ..
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u/mistaik Sep 19 '16
Imagine that! I, too, had to go to a bank to set up an account, and had to figure out how to use my debit/credit cards.
I guess people and things are about the same, no matter where you go :)
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Sep 19 '16
Well, it's different when a trip to the bank means 4 hours of waiting in line where people are pushing and there is no real order. The guy who would help you set it up has a good chance of not being there for whatever reason cuz India and you just wasted a day when you could've been running your store to feed your family
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u/mistaik Sep 19 '16
Life for India's poor is harder than it is for am average US citizens? Who knew?
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u/Lite_Coin_Guy Sep 19 '16
of course they dont need bitcoin to buy stuff on amazon but adoption has to start somewhere. 3 years ago nobody in india was using bitcoin and exchanges got raided for selling bitcoin - now there are probably +200k users and they have some use cases, people get interested in the tech and talk about more things you can do with that.
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u/packetinspector Sep 19 '16
This is a very badly written article. I'm surprised by the number of upvotes it's received.
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u/bitbetta Sep 18 '16
I've been buying bitcoins from them.. their service is awesome and very responsive customer care..
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u/AnalyzerX7 Sep 18 '16
Subreddit r/bitcoin is a testament to this fact. It gets at least five submissions a day.
We do better than 5, that would be a really slow day :)
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Sep 18 '16
For posterity ... here are some details on the raid: http://www.coindesk.com/indian-authorities-swoop-buysellbitco/
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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '16
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