Unocoin Partners Bitwage for Bitcoin-Based Payroll in India
Indian bitcoin exchange Unocoin is ramping up its fervent push for bitcoin adoption in India.
A new partnership with San Francisco-based bitcoin payments company Bitwage will see Unocoin integrated into the payments platform, enabling India-based workers, employees and businesses to receive wages from foreign businesses faster and at better rates.
“For instance, an employee receiving $1,000 USD sent to India could receive 70250.00 INR with Bitwage, far more than an estimated 64481.60 INR through Paypal or approximately 65660.00 INR via Citibank India,” claim Bitwage and Unocoin.
Bitwage allows employers to pay or actuate payments to employees. The platform uses bitcoin as a transfer mechanism and offers payouts in fiat currency or bitcoin – the latter, even if the employer does not pay out with the cryptocurrency.
An Unocoin account is generated automatically when employees, freelancers or businesses in India sign up on Bitwage. Currently, INR wages are supported from companies based in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.
Sunny Ray, co-founder and president of Unocoin stated:
The demand for Bitcoin in India is tremendous. Together with Unocoin, Bitwage is giving foreign employees in India an unprecedented arbitrage opportunity, so they can take home far more money from the same paycheck than ever before.
India is among the fastest growing bases for startups, anywhere in the world and is also home to a significant freelancer and contract hiring community. Bitcoin-based remittance and payroll solutions could have a telling impact on an employee base that is still heavily reliant on the likes of PayPal or other traditional money transfer companies.
Unocoin’s integration with Bitwage will be powered by the Indian exchange’s recently released API, which has opened the door for companies outside the country to gain entry into the Indian market.
Among the leading exchanges in India, Unocoin’s new partnership with Bitwage joins the likes of its existing tie-up with bitcoin blockchain-based Blockstream, the latter which aims to enable low-cost cross-border remittance between Canada and India.
As the second most populated country in the world, India is still only starting to find its feet after the recent demonetization drive. “With the recent economic crisis in India, more and more people are turning towards Bitcoin,” Ray added. In these cash-strapped times, Unocoin is making a marked effort to push for bitcoin adoption. Flush from a $1.5 million funding round, a record for a bitcoin startup in the country, the bitcoin exchange has released new mobile applications, APIs and now a partner in Bitwage as bitcoin awareness and adoption rises in India.
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