Namaste Tribe! The RBI deadline has crossed, our banking operations have stopped, but the show must go on (yes, the rhyming was intentional)! We’d promised you that irrespective of RBI’s stand on crypto, with WazirX P2P, you’ll always have a way to cash in and cash out of crypto whenever you want, 24x7! And it’s absolutely legal as well as safe.
Have no fear, WazirX P2P is here 💪
WazirX P2P goes live today, 10th July at 3PM. With WazirX P2P, a buyer and seller can buy and sell cryptos for INR directly with each other. Here’s how it works:
When we started building WazirX P2P, we came across a few roadblocks and knew that we had to solve them in order to ensure you have an amazing experience. We’ve tried to answer all the doubts that you may have regarding P2P.
Introducing Tether (USDT) to make stability and crazy liquidity happen!
Tether converts cash into digital currency to mirror the price of national currencies like the USD, the Euro, and the Yen. Tether (USDT) is a stable coin — cryptocurrency holding stable value — and is 100% backed by the USD held in their reserves in a 1:1 ratio. Hence:
1 USDT is always equivalent to $1 USD
While building WazirX P2P, we realized that since crypto price fluctuations are beyond our control, we needed to bring in a stable coin. Thanks to the amazing crypto ecosystem, there are plenty of stable coin options available! Since we wanted to add the stable coin with the highest liquidity in the global market, we’ve decided to go with Tether (USDT) to use in WazirX P2P. Also, USDT Deposits are live.
But what if I put my crypto for sale on WazirX P2P and its price drops or rises before it’s sold?
Our solution in one word: Stability with Tether (USDT). We’re launching our USDT market alongside WazirX P2P so that you can easily convert your cryptos to USDT. We’ve also ensured that there is enough liquidity in the market so that you can buy and sell at the best possible price. No other exchange in India will be able to offer such attractive prices! So whenever you want to sell any crypto: Convert your crypto to USDT > Cash out using WazirX P2P.
Same is true for cashing in. You don’t have to worry about price fluctuations while buying (or cashing in) through WazirX P2P as the value of USDT is pegged to the US dollar and it’s very stable in day to day value.
For example, if you want to sell your BTC worth $5000 which is equivalent to approximately ₹3.4 Lakhs INR, here’s what to do:
Sell your crypto (BTC, in this case) for 5000 USDT. Your trades will execute instantly because our USDT market has great liquidity! Now since USDT is a stable coin, its value will not fluctuate like volatile cryptos.
Put your 5000 USDT for sale on WazirX P2P.
When someone comes to buy 5000 USDT on WazirX P2P, they will transfer ₹3.4 Lakhs to your bank account. 💰
The method of converting your crypto to USDT first ensures that you never have to worry about price fluctuations anymore.
But will my funds be safe in WazirX P2P transfer?
Absolutely, yes! We’ve kept your fund security, and transaction legitimacy at the top of our priorities while building WazirX P2P! We’d promised that WazirX P2P would be the safest and most legal way to cash in/cash out of cryptos in India, and we’ll live up to our promise! But we understand that it’s normal for you to have a few fears as your money is involved here.
What if I transfer the money but the seller doesn’t transfer the USDT to me?
Before we ask you to transfer the money to a seller’s bank account, we lock the seller’s USDT on WazirX. This is called “escrow” where WazirX holds the USDT before you make a money transfer. When the seller confirms that they have received the money from you, WazirX will transfer this locked USDT to your WazirX wallet.
What if I transfer the money but the seller doesn’t acknowledge?
If the seller does not confirm receipt of money, then you can always mark such a transaction as disputed and we’ll quickly work on resolving this for you. Irrespective, you don’t have to worry about receiving the USDT as funds would be safely in the possession of WazirX and not the seller. WazirX will decide based on the dispute resolution whether to transfer the USDT to the buyer or the seller.
How do I know if I’m dealing with a legitimate person?
We verify the KYC details of every user before allowing them to trade on WazirX, and keep a record of each and every transaction that occurs on our exchange. This ensures that we have legitimate sellers and buyers on our platform — it’s all taken care of!
Now we also wanted to answer some additional questions you might have because of the FUD going around.
Isn’t Crypto illegal in India?
No. The Government of India has yet to come up with any laws around cryptocurrencies and until then, Indians are free to own and trade in cryptocurrencies. RBI is not allowing exchanges in India to hold bank accounts and that doesn’t make crypto illegal in India.
Moreover, with WazirX P2P there’s nothing to worry since you would be dealing directly with an individual.
But the Finance Minister said cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in India.
Correct! And rightly so. It means that you can’t buy coffee and pay for it using BTC or ETH. Similarly, you can’t pay for your coffee using USD too. It’s because INR is the only legal tender in India.
But that does not make USD illegal, right? Cryptocurrencies should not be seen as tender but rather as a new class of assets that can be used as an investment option for Indians.
What will happen to crypto in India?
While it’s hard to say at this point, we should look look forward to the 3 important events happening this month:
RBI will be responding to the representation sent by IAMAI around insights into Blockchain, cryptocurrency, its use cases and regulation. The ball is now in RBI’s court to go through this and respond within the next few days.
Subhash Garg Committee will be submitting its draft on crypto regulation in India. It’s going to be very crucial as this draft has the potential to overturn all other confusion if the Government of India decides to regulate crypto.
Stay order request on RBI ban to be heard on 20th July in Supreme Court along with remaining petitions.
I feel that we should take a cue from US, Japan, UK, Australia, EU nations, etc., coming up with regulations around cryptocurrencies so that their citizens can participate in this global phenomenon. We’re hopeful that the Indian government will follow the footsteps of other progressive nations. And when this happens, banks will have to start providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges once again. Until then, let’s make the best use of WazirX P2P and keep the Crypto fire burning in India!!
One way or another, our mission is to involve every Indian in the blockchain revolution and we’ll make that happen!
Jai hind!