More and more Indians are now shopping online and paying their bills through credit cards and internet banking. Not many would know, but there is another alternative which is finally catching up in India- Bitcoins. Now you can use this digital currency, as your preferred mode of transaction.
Whether it’s your mobile or DTH bill you can make the payment through the digital currency. Online shopping and utility bill payments via the virtual currency should also be available soon.
Sandeep Goenka, co-founder of Bitcoin mobile app-based platform Zebpay, told IANS
Users are increasingly using Zebpay to pay their mobile bills using bitcoins and to buy vouchers for online shopping. Last month, users paid bills of more than Rs 15 lakh using bitcoins. This number is doubling every month.
This is how the company explains its workings:
In case you are technically challenged and still are confused about Bitcoins, here are a few things to know:
- Bitcoin is primarily a decentralized digital currency (not produced by any government or statutory authority) which was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.
- Basically it is an open source software, meaning that no person, company or country owns this network just like no one owns the Internet.
- The system is peer-to-peer, that is, users can transact directly without an intermediary like a bank, a credit card company.
- Bitcoins are digital currency and their value is determined o the basis of their demand and supply, just like the price of shares. Each bitcoin’s value now is around Rs 30,000.
How will it work?
Let’s say you have to pay for a mobile bill of, Rs. X, the Bitcoins from your Zebpay wallet will be transferred to the company at the current bitcoin price. Later, Zebpay will pay the amount in rupees to the mobile carrier companies.