Soon, buy a flat, pay restaurant bills using Bitcoin

Zebpay, India's first Bitcoin App, is in talks with a builder in Ahmedabad who wants to start using Bitcoin for selling of flats

If you are one of the early adopters of Bitcoin currency in India then there is some good news. You could soon be able to buy a flat or the ticket of the upcoming IPL matches and even pay your restaurant bills.

Zebpay, India's first Bitcoin App, is in talks with a developer in Ahmedabad who wants to start using Bitcoin for selling of flats, they are also doing a pilot project for a chain of restaurants in Mumbai for use of this currency for transaction.

Zebpay App was launched in February of 2015 and has seen its app downloaded almost 2,000 times in the last one month. Of these 1,000 downloads have been done in India followed by US and Philippines. The exchange value of 1 bitcoin is equal to about Rs 17,000.

According to Saurabh Agarwal, Jt CEO, Zebpay the app allows buying, selling and transacting in Bitcoin's easy. "We want to make transacting in Bitcoin as simple as Whatsapping. We will soon be able to buy IPL tickets using Bitcoin, we have sold Flipkart and Amazon vouchers among others. We have started a pilot with a restaurant chain in Mumbai who want to trade in Bitcoins and we have signed a MoU with an Ahmedabad-based developer who wants to trade flat in lieu of Bitcoins," added Agarwal.

So far the vouchers that Zebpay allows to buy from merchants like Flipkart, Amazon and even the Farhan Akhtar Live concert have been done through a mediator. So Zebpay or a third party pays Flipkart and other merchant in rupees or via credit card and then a user can buy those vouchers using Bitcoin on Zebpay app. Agarwal however, highlights that in the pilot for the restaurant and the developer and others will allow users to directly transact in Bitcoin.

Zebpay in it is initial avatar was started as a Bitcoin exchange and was known as buysellbitco.in, however with no clarity from the financial regulator on the Bitcoin in India, the founders discontinue the business and in September 2014 started working on app based Bitcoin mobile wallet.

"Unlike an exchange were you have to give all your details for transaction we use your mobile number as authenticator. The idea is to make transaction in Bitcoin easy so that we have higher adoption," he added.

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that is created and stored electronically. While it is not the only virtual currency in the digital market (there are at least more than 100), it is by far the most popular one and accounts for more than two-third of the virtual currency market volume.

Earlier this week, Zebpay initiated the formation of the Bitcoin India Alliance (BIA), the first in India, that will not only create awareness and adoption in India but will also be the official body representing the segment at government organizations and other associations. The first meet of BIA was held in Ahmedabad this week which had an audience of over 400 people comprising industry leaders of Ahmedabad, FICCI, senior chamber members and business school students.

The BIA already has serious players from the Bitcoin industry such as-Unocoin, Coinstreet, Searchcoin, Blockstreet and Nishith Desai Associates-joining the alliance.

In India, the Reserve Bank of India has not given a legal standing to Bitcoin but it also does not ban it. Though it has allowed Bitcoin businesses to operate, it warns investors of cyptocurrency risks.

In India so far 150,000 bitcoin wallets have been downloaded. India's ranking in the overall download of raw Bitcoin protocol is 19th.

Agarwal is excited about the opportunity that the app will create for them globally. This is also evident from the fact that several VCs have shown interest in investing in Zebpay. "We did raise seed capital of $125,000. We are looking to raise $2 million and we have received several interest from Indian VCs," he added.

Bangalore-base Bitcoin exchange firm Unocoin had raised $250,000 from bitcoin investor Barry Silbert last year.