Turkish Crypto Exchange Bitay Announces Plan to Enter India: Here's What You Need to Know

Turkish cryptocurrency giant Bitay has announced its foray into the Indian market in a bid to add to its million strong userbase across regions and tap a market that hasn't been very accommodating to global exchanges amid regulatory uncertainty. Headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey, Bitay is an exchange platform that enables its users to purchase and sell crypto assets with a key focus on security. The platform claims to store customer assets in cold storage like hardware wallets over paper wallets and computers without an internet connection to keep up to high safety standards.

The digital asset exchange group has already set up its office in Gurugram, India as per a press note and will operate under 'Bitay India' — a name that the company has picked for its India arm.

Having started off in Turkey in late 2019, over the last two years, Bitay boasts of some impressive milestones with upwards of 30,000 daily active traders and a user base of more than 750,000 KYC-verified users, as well as, an average daily trading volume of $250 million (roughly Rs. 1,942 crore).

Speaking on the marking of a footprint in India, Niyazi Yilmaz, CEO, Bitay said, "We are excited to mark our presence in India with full knowledge of the current status of legal and regulatory guidelines of cryptocurrency in the country. Keeping in mind the immense growth opportunities of the crypto industry, we readily accept and welcome the government's 30 percent tax on income from cryptocurrencies and 1 percent TDS to be applicable from July."

"We plan to reach out to Indian traders and investors directly or indirectly and communicate our offerings to them through our campaigns. Upon joining our platform, early users shall get an airdrop from Bitay, once they complete their KYC on our platform," added Yilmaz.

Apart from India, Bitay foresees setting up its operations in other countries, including the USA, England, the Netherlands, and Estonia, considering the vast possibilities of cryptocurrency activities in these places. The company currently has licenses in 12 US states. Besides crypto exchange activities, Bitay has launched other products in the space such as the Bitay NFT platform, Bitay Visa Card, Bitay Game, and Bitay Academy.