After RBI’s recent ban on the support of banks for cryptocurrency exchanges, Indian exchanges like WazirX and Koinex Loop which offer p2p trading quickly popped up.
Though they are doing fairly well and at least allowing investors to trade in a less efficient way, Zebpay has not made any move so far.
Ajeet Khurana, CEO of ZebPay, at the International Blockchain Congress in Hyderabad said:
“We are aware of the business we are losing to other exchanges because of not launching a p2p portal”. He further said, “They don’t want to give customers a bad experience” and would rather wait for government regulations to allow them to trade in a traditional manner.
Why Zebpay is not keen on P2P
These three reasons were given by Ajeet to an interest group discussing cryptocurrencies in IBC 2018.
1. Not a smooth experience: Ajeet believes Zebpay wants to offer the best service to customers and the pains of undergoing a p2p trade are too much for any user.
2. Waiting for Regulations: According to some unknown sources, the agency which was supposed to report to the government of India regarding the cryptocurrency legality in India has already submitted their report and likely a favorable ruling is predicted to allow trading of cryptocurrency on exchanges.
3. Avoiding Risks: The risk in p2p trade belongs to participants, and in cases where the source of bitcoin was malicious like a ransom or hacking, it would be followed by a bank transfer from the buyer’s account to malicious user’s bank account thus exposing the identity of the buyer and exposing him to unnecessary litigation. He emphasizes in such cases exchanges facilitating the trade would give out details of both the parties since they won’t be the official intermediary.
Ajeet also mentioned the fact that such services are easier for exchange to offer because of little tech involved and reduced responsibility, but they are not in the best interest of the users.
The Regulation is Near
The CEO of India’s largest crypto exchange believes that negative regulation is better than no regulation. He appreciates the fact that government has started to act on cryptocurrencies. He predicts within this year, the regulatory ban will cease to exist.
Zebpay will do Everything to Protect Customer’s Fund
Ajeet emphasizes the mission of Zebpay is to provide the best experience to its customer’s and will do everything to protect the interest of its customers. On being asked what would exchange do if RBI refuses to allow banks to support cryptocurrency exchanges in future – to which the CEO replied, company will appeal to government to open a window for refunding the customers who have their holdings struck in the exchange, and in any case – Zebpay will remain committed to protecting consumer interest.
Are Decentralised Exchanges – the Future?
Ajeet believes decentralized exchanges are the future – but they account for a very little volume as of now and he labels it as a chicken-and-egg problem.