Crypto trading is looking up in India.

The Reserve Bank of India, the Indian central bank, confirmed that there currently exists no banking ban on the crypto industry in India. In response to a query under the Right to Information Act from B.V. Harish, co-founder of Unocoin, a major Indian cryptocurrency exchange, the RBI responded: “as on date, no such prohibition exists.” (Bitcoin.com)

Separately, CoinDCX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, gained a strategic investment of $2.5 million. Polychain Capital led the round with participation from Coinbase Ventures. (Coindesk)

CoinDCX fundraising

“This new strategic investment into CoinDCX is a shot of confidence in our roadmap toward bringing the crypto asset class to a largely untapped Indian market. We look forward to our investors’ continued counsel,” said Sumit Gupta, CEO and co-founder of CoinDCX.

CoinDCX will use the funding to boost the adoption of cryptocurrency in India through community engagements, meetup events, educational programs, and consumer campaigns. The company’s #TryCrypto campaign seeks to bring the total number of crypto users in India to 50 million.

The latest funding follows on the heels of a $3 million Series A funding in March. Investment firms Bain Capital and Polychain Capital as well as BitMEX-owner HDR Global Trading were among those that participated.

That funding was precipitated by the decision of the Supreme Court of India to strike down the banking ban on the cryptocurrency industry in India in early March.

Last week, CoinDCX appointed BitGo as its custodian for crypto assets.

COVID-19 proves to be a godsend for Indian crypto exchanges

Meanwhile, Indian crypto exchanges have benefited from the lockdowns imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The crypto sector is witnessing a huge surge in interest, trading volumes, and new user signups during the lockdowns.

“Our trading volume before the lockdown in India used to be around $1m. It has grown over 10x in just 60 days,” said Nischal Shetty, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx, and reported by Transfin.

Unocoin confirmed the trend, saying it witnessed a 10X jump in the volume of trading since the order of the Supreme Court striking down the RBI ban. In fact, its numbers doubled between April and May, in tandem with a stock exchange meltdown and nationwide lockdowns.

CoinDCX said its trading volumes spurted by 47% in the first quarter of 2020. Further, there was a 10-fold growth in user signups and a 150% growth in daily active users.

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