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Bitcoin related discussion has been making a lot of noise in India for few years. There is discussion about making Bitcoin and Blockchain related startup in India, and there are some freelancers accepting Bitcoin payment from overseas clients to avoid the bank and Paypal charges. The rise of bitcoin prices in the last 4-5 months have lured a lot of non-techies to invest in bitcoin as well. The prices of bitcoin are generally higher in Indian exchanges as compared to US exchanges. If you are looking to buy Bitcoin, following reviews of top Indian bitcoin exchanges will help.
All the sites ask for the same set of documents for KYC i.e. PAN card, Address proof and India phone number verified through a One Time Password.
Review of Top Bitcoin Exchange Sites in India:
1. Koinex
Good for regular trading.
Koinex is a new exchange in the Indian market, launched in Aug 2017. Technology wise it looks like the most stable and advanced. There is decent liquidity in this exchange.
- Registration time– 4-5 working hours.
- Bank interaction time – Transfer from bank is fast. Under 15mins for IMPS, NEFT 2hrs. If you are a Kotak bank customer, you won’t be able to use mobile for the transfer; you will have to log on to Bank’s website. Bank withdrawals are free and instant for upto Rs.200K. They use Razorpay for deposit and Cashfree* for withdrawal.
- Prices – Prices are generally a little higher than Coinsecure. Good place to sell.
- Transaction Fees – 0.2% for seller. 0.25% for buyer. Selling is free till 31 Dec 2017. There is a rebate of upto 30% on total fee, based on trading volume.
- Bitcoin Transfer Time– Transfer time is fastest amongst all the Bitcoin sites I tried.
- Bitcoin Transfer Fee– Mostly 0.001BTC. Very high.
- Downtime – The BTC crash on 11 Nov. 2017 did take Koinex down but their communication about the whole situation was good.
- Mobile App – Not yet. Desktop app is good.
- Other cryptocurrency – Ether, Litecoin, Ripple, BCH, .
Use my affiliate link to register on Koinex to register.
2. Zebpay
Update 23 Jan 2018: Zebpay is now similar to Koinex. They are now a user to user exchange.
Good for one time buying.
Zebpay is not an open exchange. You buy from or sell to Zebpay itself. There is one price each for buy and sell. You take it or leave it. The company is based out of Ahmadabad. There is a buying limit of Rs.15L for first month of the user.
- Registration time– 2-3 working hours.
- Bank interaction time – Transfer from bank is fast. Under 15 mins for IMPS, NEFT 2hrs. If you are a Kotak bank customer, you wont be able to use mobile for the transfer; you will have to log on to Bank’s website. Bank withdrawals attract a fee of Rs.10.
- Prices – Buying prices are generally costlier by about 0.5-1% as compared to coinsecure/koinex. Selling prices are lower by about 1%. When there is a major fall, their selling prices are generally higher than other places.
- Transaction Fees – There is no additional fee. It is included in the BTC price.
- Bitcoin Transfer Time– Transfer time is higher than Koinex, but tough to quantify exactly.
- Bitcoin Transfer Fee– Mostly 0.0005BTC.
- Downtime – None that I have experienced.
- App – Tried the Android App. It is Good.
- Other cryptocurrency – None.
Use my referral code REF84555915 to register.
3. Coinsecure
Lowest price, generally.
Coinsecure is one of the older exchanges in India. Technology wise it doesn’t look very great, specially the user interface. Good liquidity, hence prices are generally the lowest.
- Registration time– My registration took over over 2 weeks due to some confusion. Generally, they are a backlogged for registration. Assume, 2 days atleast.
- Bank interaction time – Transfer from bank can take upto 12hrs. Most of the process is manual it seems. Same for withdrawals.
- Prices – Buying prices are generally the lowest here. At times the brokerage fee is a spoiler and makes the transaction costly.
- Transaction Fees – 0.4% for buying and selling. This is very high.
- Bitcoin Transfer Time– Transfer time is high.
- Bitcoin Transfer Fee– 0.0001BTC. Pretty low.
- Downtime – The site acts up at times. The async price updates also stops very often. UI needs serious work.
- App – Tried the Android App. It is bad. Almost unusable.
- Other cryptocurrency – None.
Click here to register on Coinsecure.
4. Unocoin
Unocoin is one of the most popular Bitcoin apps of India, partly because it is one of the few VC funded ones. This is not an open exchange. Similar to Zebpay, you have a single buyer/seller. Transaction fee is too high.
- Registration time– Smooth. Took 1 working day, I think. Don’t exactly remember.
- Bank interaction time – Very slow. Both deposit and withdrawals take time and are manual it seems.
- Prices – Buying prices are generally on the higher side. High brokerage makes it worse. Selling prices are rarely good.
- Transaction Fees – 1.18% for buying and selling. This is the highest amongst all and a major turn-off.
- Bitcoin Transfer Time– Receiving acknowledgement was fine. Haven’t tried sending.
- Bitcoin Transfer Fee– 0.0005BTC.
- Downtime – Nothing that I faced
- App – Android App is neat.
- Other cryptocurrency – None.
Use my referral code U531810 while registering and get signup bonus. Download here.
5. Throughbit
Throughbit is one of the first sites I tried. This was while I was waiting for Coinsecure to approve my account.
- Registration time– Under an hour.
- Bank interaction time – Depositing is manual.
- Prices -Prices are generally better than Zebpay but the transaction fee is a deterrent, making the effective price unattractive.
- Transaction Fees – 0.75% + GST. Almost 0.9%. Second highest after Unocoin.
- Bitcoin Transfer Time– Decent. Not as fast as Koinex.
- Bitcoin Transfer Fee– 0.0007 BTC.
- Downtime – Nothing that I experienced.
- App – None. Web app is decent.
- Other crypto currency – Ether.
6. Bitxoxo
Bitxoxo is also a single price exchange like Zebpay and Unocoin. The site was facing some issue when I tried them. It was a weekend as well. Customer care was responsive but issue resolution took just too much time.
- Registration time– Smooth. Almost instant.
- Bank interaction time – Depositing is manual. Haven’t experienced withdrawal.
- Prices -Both buying and selling prices are between Zebpay and Unocoin (after fee), most of the time.
- Transaction Fees – No fees, like Zebpay.
- Bitcoin Transfer Time– Had a very bad experience. Hopefully, it was one-off.
- Bitcoin Transfer Fee– You can select between 0.00009 to 0.001 BTC.
- Downtime – Site seemed to be working but deposits were facing issue for over 2 days.
- App – None. Web app is decent.
- Other cryptocurrency – None.
Use my affiliate link to register.
7. Pocketbits
Pocketbits is again a single buy/sell price site. The fastest registration that I have experienced. I haven’t tried them much but the prices are also competitive as compared to Zebpay.
- Registration time– Fastest.
- Bank interaction time – Depositing is manual. Haven’t experienced withdrawal.
- Prices -Prices are generally closer to the exchanges like Coinsecure and Koinex, than Zebpay/Bitxoxo. Buying prices are generally much lower than Zebpay and others but just above Coinsecure.
- Transaction Fees – No fees, like Zebpay.
- Bitcoin Transfer Time– Still to try.
- Bitcoin Transfer Fee– 0.0003 BTC. Pretty low.
- Downtime – Nothing experienced.
- App – Android app is only for price update. Not for transactions.
- Other cryptocurrency – None.
*The author has vested interest in Cashfree – the payment gateway and INR withdrawal system used by most of the above sites.
Other Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Sites similar to Koinex
- Coinome.com – From Billdesk group.
- Coindelta
- BuyUcoin
