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An Exclusive Interview With Laxman Singh, Founder of BitBatua

Bitbatua – India’s first cryptocurrency payment gateway that anyone can use at any time to send or receive crypto payments worldwide. 

Bitbatua supports the most commonly used cryptocurrencies for payments; Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and ERC20 Tether (USDT) and is open for business in more than 80 countries.

Businesses can simply integrate either payment buttons or a payment API with their existing web store.

We believe that cryptocurrencies are absolutely the future of money, finance, and commerce. To cater to this need, we have built a cryptocurrency payment gateway – Bitbatua claims to provide near-instant crypto to fiat settlement with zero volatility.

Do you think Bitbatua will become the next UPI revolution in India?

Before answering this question, let us first understand why UPI matters most.

In 2021, industry body BACC estimated that India has approximately 15-20 million users who have so far invested over INR 40,000 Cr in crypto. According to a report by CLSA, “UPI comprises 60% of total payments by volume, and digital payments have risen from $61 billion in FY16 to $300 billion as of FY21.” Riding on the UPI wave, India is expected to hit the $1 trillion digital payments mark by 2026.

UPI has become an essential part of India’s payment culture. And that is why it has been and is going to be the key instrument for crypto exchanges and gateways to deepen their presence in India. If there’s no UPI, it will be extremely difficult for crypto payment gateways to bring in non-serious Indian users who have been accustomed to making payments via UPI.

Currently, more enterprises are understanding the advantages of quick, secure, and modest crypto transactions and are looking for ways to make them a piece of their foundation.

Right now in Bitbatua, we are working on a mission to enable crypto payments worldwide. And we truly believe that we can create a new revolution in the digital payments era. As the stats are increasing day by day for crypto adoption, according to Brand Essence Market Research, the Global Crypto Payment Gateway Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.8% over the forecast period of 2025.

Most merchants want to trade in crypto, but they are looking for a simple UX. How has BitBatua worked towards achieving the same?

Yes, merchants are looking forward to making trade-in crypto. No doubt, crypto transactions are increasing rapidly around the world. But there are no more possible options currently for people. As per our research, we’re one of the early start-ups that started playing around with crypto payments. And we totally understand how important the user experience is. In our early stages, we personally got stuck paying with crypto. There are lots of hurdles in fees and inappropriate layouts of the typical apps, which usually don’t seem familiar to the users, especially in the case of Indian users.

Talking about bitbatua UX, you just need to do two basic steps and you’re good to send or receive crypto payments. The first one is signup and the second one is verification of your email (2 mins mein maggie ka toh pta nhi but bitbatua mein registration jarur ho jata hai)

We at Bitbatua think that simplicity is the key to unlocking opportunities. So we constantly thrive to build solutions that are simple, easy to use and safe for the users.

How do you rate adoption: (i) More in developing nations and (ii) More in developed nations? Do you think the model can revolutionize African nations struggling hard under inflation?

Global crypto adoption rose by over 880% in 2021, according to research conducted by Chainalysis. The change is even more significant compared to data from 2019, with a 2300% increase. So the adoption of crypto is insane.

You might expect countries like the USA and the UK to be leaders in cryptocurrency uptake. However, data from Statista and Chainalysis shows otherwise.

Countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America lead in adoption, especially when it comes to individual investors. The dataset correlates with information from exchanges and on-chain providers—more accounts were opened within this period, as well as many crypto wallets.

In Europe, the UK and Switzerland top the rankings, although large hedge funds facilitate adoption. In short, English-speaking countries, the US, the UK, and Australia lead in crypto adoption. However, consumers from Eastern Europe see crypto as a means of avoiding financial institutions and tax evasion. Data from Statista seems to correspond with these findings. However, in this case, Nigeria, Thailand, and the Philippines are firmly in the lead in crypto adoption.

In Nigeria, 33% of the respondents from a survey by Statista indicated that they owned cryptos. Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya lead the pack in crypto adoption in Africa. Argentina and Brazil are the leaders in Latin America.

In the African region, internet usage stats are increasing day by day. Their Fintech ecosystem also includes the development and use of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has become popular in many African countries as a cheaper solution to sending money across borders.

In Ethiopia, for instance, ProjectMano has been pushing the government to consider mining and storing Bitcoin to combat rising inequalities and global inflation.

Reliance on remittances and the prevalence of peer-to-peer phone payments have led to a steep rise in cryptocurrency use in Africa’s largest economy.

Out of 74 countries in the Statista Global Consumer Survey, Nigerians were the most likely to say they used or owned cryptocurrency. Almost a third of Nigerians said this applied to them. The high cost of sending money across borders (the conventional way) has caused many to turn to local cryptocurrency exchanges catering to overseas workers and their families, according to Bitcoin.com. Nigerians also often use their phones to send money to each other or to pay for goods in shops.

Recently, businesses in the country have been adding crypto plugins to their phone payment options, adding another way in which Nigerians can use cryptocurrency in their everyday lives. The second and third-highest rates of cryptocurrency use in the survey were recorded in Vietnam and the Philippines, respectively. Again, remittance payments play a role in the widespread use of cryptocurrency. 

The government itself is already meddling in cryptocurrency by setting up blockchain app bonds.

What have you done to ensure mobile-first use?

According to a report, 91% of internet users worldwide access the internet via their smartphones. So, it has become essential to build mobile-first applications. Our platform is mobile-friendly and can be used on any device. We have also developed a mobile app for users who will use it to pay using cryptocurrency. The application is now in beta testing and will soon be available on the apple store and play store.

How do you see the project 5 years from now?

For various reasons, we believe that today’s payment system for commerce will be disrupted, and crypto will take over. While crypto payments in commerce are already taking root. More than 15K businesses worldwide currently accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This figure will skyrocket in the next few years. To meet this need, we created Bitbatua, which promises to offer a near-instant crypto-to-fiat settlement with 0% volatility.

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high in 2021, while Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also reached a new all-time high. As a result, 2021 was a significant year for cryptocurrencies. Along with numerous other nations, US government officials and the Biden administration have voiced a growing interest in new cryptocurrency legislation. Facebook was renamed Meta, which is again based on the notion of the Metaverse. Some of the world’s greatest corporations have expressed interest in bitcoin and have accepted cryptocurrency payments for their products and services, including Tesla and Microsoft. People’s interest in cryptocurrency will undoubtedly increase in early 2022, as has Bitbatua. As more enterprises enter the market, additional possibilities will emerge.

Most businesses are already using payment gateways for FIAT money, why should they use Bitbatua for Crypto?

The Fiat to Crypto payment gateway is a vital step in modernizing your company’s payment procedures. Allowing customers to pay with fiat or cryptocurrency would be a great feature for many, especially since the crypto sector is fast developing.

It is apparent that the cryptocurrency market will grow in popularity, which means shops must be ready to accept it as a payment option or risk losing revenue. Integrating a crypto payment gateway simplifies the process of creating a business’s crypto portfolio.

As well as being able to attract more sales from crypto enthusiasts, using crypto as payment provides a multitude of benefits for businesses:

-Crypto transactions are processed on weekends and holidays when banks are traditionally closed. closed due to the continuous operation of blockchain networks.

-Cryptocurrencies have lower transaction costs for both businesses and consumers as no middlemen are involved in the process. For the same reason, digital assets arrive faster (anywhere between a few seconds and an hour) in the recipient’s wallet.

-Crypto payments are usually more secure than traditional solutions. In the blockchain networks digital assets use, data is stored on thousands of computers instead of a central server, and every transaction is encrypted via public-key cryptography.

-Crypto payments can’t be reversed, so there’s no risk of chargebacks and related fraud. Once a digital asset transaction is confirmed, the network considers it final.

-Crypto is an excellent choice for merchants with an international user base. Unlike bank transfers, cryptocurrency networks don’t differentiate between local and overseas transactions. As a result, you may have to pay an extra fee or wait longer to receive or send cross-border digital asset transfers.

Additionally, bitbatua provides invoicing features, so there is no need for merchants to track individual crypto transactions and link them to the customers’ orders. We’re also coming up with more benefits in upcoming quarters, so till then, stay tuned with us.

Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Crypto is not a legal tender and is subject to market risks. Readers are advised to seek expert advice and read offer document(s) along with related important literature on the subject carefully before making any kind of investment whatsoever. Crypto market predictions are speculative and any investment made shall be at the sole cost and risk of the readers.