Indian exchange BuyUCoin expands to Estonia

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India’s digital currency industry keeps on growing ever since the banking ban was lifted. The latest to make a big move is BuyUCoin, a digital currency exchange based in Delhi that has now obtained an operating license in Estonia. The exchange also announced that it had partnered with a local mobile payments processor as part of its efforts to help India deal with the COVID-19 crisis.

BuyUCoin had received digital currency-to-fiat license in late 2019, allowing it to have a presence in the Northern European country. It has now acquired the digital currency wallet license, the CEO and founder Shivam Thakral has revealed.

He told Indian tech outlet Inc42, “BuyUCoin is global now. We have acquired the license to operate from Estonia as well. There are two licenses required in Estonia, one is for converting fiat to crypto and vice versa. Other is for storing crypto in wallets. BuyUCoin has successfully acquired both the licenses.”

It hasn’t been easy, however. Estonia, along with many other countries that were initially digital currency havens such as Japan have tightened their regulations. This is in response to a growing number of scams and hacks in which billions of dollars are lost each year. Thakral explained, “According to new regulations we would need to have a local compliance officer who must prove an impeccable business reputation—i.e. provide supporting documents regarding education, skills. The local management board must also have a good reputation.”

BuyUCoin has also revealed that it has partnered with Mobikwik, a local mobile payments and digital wallet platform. The partnership will allow Indians to easily purchase digital currencies using their mobile cash. Mobikwik is the second-largest mobile payments processor in India, claiming to have over 107 million users and about 3 million merchants on its platform. Thakral further revealed that the Mobikwik mobile app will now have a link that will redirect users to BuyUCoin’s platform.

And as India fights the coronavirus, the exchange, which has 350,000 users, has pledged to chip in. Thakral stated, “BuyUcoin has announced an initiative to contribute its part in the fight against this hostile situation. We will donate 15% of our exchange trading fees to the COVID-19 RELIEF FUND for the next 3 months to help the Indian government in its battle against coronavirus.”

Indian exchanges have continued to grow rapidly, getting a new leash of life from the lifting of a banking ban that had threatened to bring it to an untimely end. Just recently, CoinDCX announced that it had raised $3 million in Series A funding. This was just a week after it revealed that it would invest $1.3 million in digital currency education across the country in its TryCrypto campaign. The exchange also partnered with global giant OKEx.