Gaurav Dahake

Apr 21, 2023

Through OnRamp, crypto exchange Bitbns aims to allow UPI payments for its users. 21 Apr 2023, 11:46 AM IST 21 Apr 2023, 11:46 AM IST WhatsApp ADVERTISEMENT Transferring money to and from an Indian crypto exchange can be a hassle. It involves setting up mandates on bank accounts and can be a jarring experience for a customer base already used to the seamlessness of the unified payments interface. But crypto exchange Bitbns—via a related company called OnRamp—seems to have found a roundabout solution to the issue. OnRamp has integrated UPI as part of its payment flows, and users can ... Transferring money to and from an Indian crypto exchange can be a hassle. It involves setting up mandates on bank accounts and can be a jarring experience for a customer base already used to the seamlessness of the unified payments interface. But crypto exchange Bitbns—via a related company called OnRamp—seems to have found a roundabout solution to the issue. OnRamp has integrated UPI as part of its payment flows, and users can make instant transfers to pick and buy from over 300 crypto tokens. OnRamp is a separate entity for Bitbns but is operated by the same founding team as the exchange and has been operational for the last six months. But this isn’t the first time a crypto exchange has tried to fold in UPI transactions. In April 2022, US-based crypto exchange Coinbase announced that it had enabled UPI payments as part of its launch in India. But that announcement did not pan out the way the crypto exchange planned it. Hours later, UPI’s governing body, the National Payments Corporation of India, released a statement suggesting it wasn’t comfortable linking UPI to crypto. With reference to some recent media reports around the purchase of Cryptocurrencies using UPI, National Payments Corporation of India would like to clarify that we are not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI. NPCI, April 7, 2022 Just a few days later, Coinbase announced that it was shutting down the bridge between crypto and UPI. And now Bitbns—with the aim to solve instant money transfer issues for crypto—has resurrected it, Gaurav Dahake, chief executive officer at Bitbns, told BQ Prime. "We want to do a more compliant process," Dahake said, referring to their transaction flow for UPI. Instead of using a payment processing firm's services for UPI transactions, OnRamp displays a UPI ID for a bank account with a private bank that customers are supposed to send funds to. In return, OnRamp gives them crypto tokens of their choosing. OnRamp follows fit and proper KYC checks for customers using Aadhar authentication, Dahake added. The NPCI and RBI's stance on crypto hasn't changed, and OnRamp has just found a loophole that they're exploiting, the founder of a rival crypto exchange told BQ Prime on the condition of anonymity. While Dahake stated that if the regulators were to shut this bridge down, they would be in violation of the Supreme Court's 2020 order. The order overturned an RBI circular restricting financial services institutions from offering services to crypto businesses. At the time, the apex court stated that the RBI's ban violated the freedom to carry on trade guaranteed by Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution. "This argument is flawed," Sharat Chandra, co-founder of the India Blockchain Forum, told BQ Prime. Banks can choose to enable or disable services for a specific business as per their own choosing, he added. Although Bitbns has moved in this direction with OnRamp, other exchanges don't want to touch UPI with a flagpole. Both WazirX and Unocoin have made no moves to bring back UPI for crypto buying or selling, two senior executives at the exchanges told BQ Prime on condition of anonymity. This is likely to have a negative impact for all if regulators turn sour again, a senior executive at WazriX said. We ended up disabling UPI because of some informal pressure from the Reserve Bank of India, which is kind of the Treasury equivalent there. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, May 2022 On his part, Dahake believes that having a fiat-to-crypto ramp with instant payments, i.e., UPI, is crucial for ensuring the growth of crypto in India. The firm also has plans to expand OnRamp into other jurisdictions, such as Brazil, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates, Dahake said. Just how far its bridge gets in India, though, may very well depend on the way regulators assess it. Indian crypto exchanges have also been in talks with the government to formalise rules about reporting and monitoring illicit transactions, including money laundering, BQ Prime reported on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT