India’s Best-Funded Bitcoin Exchange is Running Low on Cash and Employees

Mark Emem
Updated
India's banking ban is chocking the life out of the country's cryptocurrency exchanges. | Source: Shutterstock
India's banking ban is chocking the life out of the country's cryptocurrency exchanges. | Source: Shutterstock

By CCN.com: India’s regulatory uncertainty on cryptocurrencies has taken a toll on Bengaluru-based exchange Unocoin forcing it to lay off employees. According to The Economic Times, the bitcoin exchange has laid off over a dozen employees and now only has 14 employees remaining.

The changes are drastic considering that last year in February Unocoin which is in its sixth year of existence boasted of over 100 employees.

Per Unocoin’s CEO, Sathvik Vishwanath, the cryptocurrency exchange – the best-funded in the country – only has cash reserves to last it just a few months. Unocoin had previously attempted to raise funding but this did not materialize.

Reserve Bank of India Quick to ban, Supreme Court Slow to Decide

The future of the bitcoin exchange also rests heavily on the kind of ruling India’s Supreme Court will make regarding the banking restrictions imposed by the country’s central bank on cryptocurrency businesses, according to Vishwanath:

We did ask people to leave last week, but our operations will continue for the foreseeable future. We have some amount of reserves to push through for the next couple of months and will wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict.

Initially, the Supreme Court of India was to issue a ruling on the matter on March 29. This has now been postponed to July 23 igniting some street protests by those angered by the delays.

Read the full story on CCN.com.