Ever since the supreme court quashed the banking restriction imposed by the central bank, interest in cryptocurrency has been rising in India, including on peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplaces. The local crypto community is growing despite the nationwide lockdown and rising covid-19 threat.
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P2P Marketplaces for Indian Users
Established P2P marketplaces, such as Localbitcoins and Paxful, allow Indians to buy and sell BTC for INR. Paxful, in particular, has been focusing on growing its Indian operations. According to data on Coin Dance, Indian trading volume on the platform has been steadily increasing over the years, with 132 BTC traded in the week ending April 4, a 408% year-on-year increase from the 26 BTC traded on the platform in the same time period last year. For the week ending March 28, the trading volume on the platform was 113 BTC. The company additionally revealed last week that its trade volume in January was over $3 million. “Paxful gets 1000’s of bitcoin buyers from India every day,” its website claims.
The top payment methods for Indian users on the marketplace are IMPS transfer, UPI transfer, Paytm online wallet, Phonepe, BHIM, and bank transfer. Users can buy bitcoin by browsing seller listings, which detail accepted payment methods and specific rules. Localbitcoins is another long-standing P2P marketplace where users can buy and sell BTC for INR. For the week ending April 4, 129 BTC were traded on Localbitcoins and 132 BTC the previous week.
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