The cryptocurrency industry in India is on the rise. The country’s leading Bitcoin platforms have been introducing new features on a regular basis. Unocoin, one of the “Big Four” Bitcoin platforms in the country today announced a partnership with ShapeShift. The partnership will allow Unocoin to slowly extend its reach beyond just Bitcoin and start dealing with other cryptocurrencies as well.
According to the platform, Unocoin users will now be able to convert their blockchain assets like Ethereum, Monero, ZCash, Dash and other altcoins supported by Shapeshift to Bitcoin. The converted Bitcoin can then be traded for INR using Unocoin’s existing exchange service.
In the press statement, the founder of ShapeShift Eric Voorhees describes the changing cryptocurrency ecosystem by saying,
“When I was first got involved with Bitcoin in 2011, it was mostly a Western community. It’s been tremendously exciting to see Unocoin help bring this technology to India. ShapeShift is very proud to partner with them for digital asset exchange.”
In India, Bitcoin is a major cryptocurrency. Other altcoins are yet to make a mark due to various factors including the lack of domestic exchange and trading platforms that offer multi-cryptocurrency support. The inclusion of ShapeShift’s services makes Unocoin the first company to consider other cryptocurrencies apart from Bitcoin and Ether.
Sunny Ray, the co-founder of Unocoin was quoted in a media report stating,
“Many view Bitcoin as digital gold and we’re always looking for ways to make it easier for people to get into Bitcoin. Many people learn about Bitcoin through other cryptocurrencies, and once they do, we would like to give them an easy way to convert their blockchain assets into Bitcoin. In the meantime, we’re keeping a close eye on the open blockchain ecosystem and may or may not introduce deeper integrations in the future.”
Even though the recent partnership is a welcome development, the country’s cryptocurrency ecosystem still has a long way to go before it can support multiple crypto-assets. Even the latest ShapeShift integration doesn’t do much in terms of encouraging the use of alternative assets. However, it is just the beginning, and if Unocoin does take a step towards creating its own multi-cryptocurrency exchange, then it will probably be a different story. Unocoin is currently in a position to steer the Indian cryptocurrency ecosystem towards a whole new range of cryptocurrencies, which might be good news for the people of the world’s largest democracy.
Ref: DNA
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