Unocoin is one of India's earliest cryptocurrency exchanges, founded in July 2013 in Tumakuru, Karnataka, and later headquartered in Bengaluru. The company was India's first dedicated Bitcoin platform and received the country's first Bitcoin-related venture investment when Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group invested in 2014, putting Unocoin on the map as a credible player in the Indian crypto market.

Unocoin enables users to buy, sell, and store Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through its web and mobile platforms. The exchange was among the first in India to introduce systematic investment plans (SIP) for Bitcoin, allowing users to make recurring purchases at regular intervals, a concept borrowed from traditional Indian mutual fund investing. Unocoin also developed merchant payment tools and an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk for high-volume transactions.

The company weathered significant challenges including the Reserve Bank of India's 2018 banking ban on crypto businesses (later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2020) and the co-founders' brief arrest in 2018 over a Bitcoin ATM operation. Unocoin resumed full operations after the banking ban was lifted and continues to serve Indian crypto users under the country's evolving regulatory framework, which now includes a 30% tax on crypto income and 1% TDS on transactions introduced in 2022.

Key Facts

• Founded: July 2013
• Headquarters: Bengaluru, India
• First investor: Digital Currency Group (Barry Silbert)
• Notable feature: Bitcoin SIP (systematic investment plan)

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