On Feb 24, 2020, India’s first cryptocurrency exchange, Unocoin, unveiled a partnership with Unstoppable Domains to create human-readable web addresses.
The move is expected to boost crypto use in the country by simplifying the sending and receiving of digital assets such as bitcoin.
Unstoppable Domains will provide blockchain domains that turn crypto addresses into decentralized URLs on the Ethereum and Zilliqa networks. By tapping into these simple URLs ending in “.crypto” and “.zil” extensions, crypto users can enjoy more straightforward transactions and lower remittance costs across India.
What’s more, sending coins to simple domains instead of a 42-character blockchain address is expected to establish an improved user experience for Unocoin’s 1.2M Users.
This partnership seeks to boost the remittance market at a time when India is facing an impending crypto ban. The decentralized nature of Unstoppable Domains could be a game-changer in the country; it would ensure that addresses and URLs created on the blockchain platform remain operational even if Unocoin were to be shut down.
The domain names exist forever on the blockchain and do not require any maintenance or renewal fees.
The CEO of Unocoin, Sathvik Vishwanath, hailed the adoption of Unstoppable Domains as a sign of the maturation of the crypto space in India.
India’s Appetite For Crypto Is On The Rise
The mounting demand for cryptocurrencies in India is evident, despite the regulatory uncertainties in the space and efforts by regulators to reign in widespread adoption of the asset class.
The Finance Ministry’s decision to ban most cryptocurrencies is receiving a lot of pushback from crypto users and other industry players. Twitter users are currently embarking on a campaign dubbed #IndiaWantsBitcoin that aims to urge government officials to end their efforts to outlaw cryptocurrency.
Furthermore, Indian cryptocurrency exchanges have started joint efforts seeking positive and progressive regulation of the digital asset class instead of a widespread ban.
Unstoppable Domains and Unocoin are looking to foster crypto adoption across India by providing cheaper, more efficient ways of sending money. India facilitates the highest recipient of remittances globally and could benefit massively from the seamless sending and receiving of digital money.
According to Brad Kam, co-founder of Unstoppable Domains, the collaboration between his firm and Unocoin will allow for the efficient transfer of financial assets. He noted:
“Unstoppable Domains is excited to deliver the seamless sending and receiving of cryptocurrency to Unocoin’s users. Our aim is to simplify cryptocurrency addresses, and establish human readable names as the domain standard across wallets and exchanges.”
Indian Authorities Express Support for a Digital Rupee
The Indian central bank (RBI) expressed support for a government-backed digital currency just hours before the Unocoin partnership news broke.
In a Bloomberg interview from Feb 24, the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das asserted that India’s central bank is “very much in the game” to develop a digital rupee.
He explained that the motivation behind the effort was the government’s determination to emulate China’s digital yuan project. However, Das did not provide an official release date for the proposed CBDC.
The move to create a state-backed digital rupee could be interpreted by some crypto enthusiasts as a way to counter the widespread use of decentralized digital assets in India.
