“Exponential Growth” of Bitcoin Users is Hurting Indian Exchange Coinsecure
Indian bitcoin exchange Coinsecure is current seeing downtime and hasn’t processed withdrawals in a week. The reason, the company says, is due to soaring interest and adoption of bitcoin in the country.
As reputation goes, Coinsecure is among India’s top three bitcoin exchanges. Founded in 2013, it is also among India’s oldest Bitcoin businesses and has partnered with the likes of blockchain platform OKLink, a subsidiary of Chinese bitcoin exchange OKCoin, to enable digital currency and fiat remittances to Indian users. Coinsecure is also among four leading Indian bitcoin companies that established the ‘Blockchain and Virtual Currency Association of India’, a self-governing body that launched in February after the bitcoin industry saw a cold shoulder from Indian authorities over regulation.
By most accounts, a successful FinTech startup.
This week, a CCN.com reader and Coinsecure user wrote in, stating:
Coinsecure has not processed my INR withdrawal in over 5 days. I have seen a very few floating grievances like mine, all of which were posted this week.
In a circular passed to customers yesterday, the bitcoin trading platform explained its reasons for the delays and downtime.
We have been experiencing exponential growth of users on our website, causing slowness and stress on our systems. You would have experienced downtime during the course of the last few days. We truly apologise. Rest assured that our teams are working hard to resolve the issue.
For context, the Indian bitcoin industry is currently at a watershed moment. As reported by CCN.com in April, the federal government established an inter-governmental committee to study virtual currencies. This committee would ultimately recommend a framework for virtual currencies like bitcoin.
All signs point to the Indian government installing a regulatory framework for the digital currency industry. Such legislation would also include taxing bitcoin and other digital currencies. This week, India’s finance ministry (FinMin) opened itself for public debate and suggestions about the future of digital currencies in India. A ban is almost certainly unlikely.
All of which has led to continued growth in adoption, awareness and even acceptance of bitcoin. Last week, major Indian exchange Zebpay claimed it was adding 2,500 KYC-adhering new users every day while its Android mobile application hit half a million downloads.
This overall trend of a bitcoin boom has seemingly inundated Coinsecure, with the company’s claims of being unable to keep up with the increase in bitcoin adopters on its platform.
The same user who wrote in citing withdrawal concerns got back to us after his initial email.
The CCN.com reader revealed:
I visited their Delhi office and they seem to be facing a genuine scaling up problem. In the past week, and understandably, they have witnessed a surge in users, withdrawals and deposits which have somewhat broken down their admin and other systems. IT guys are working under pressure to contain and upgrade their systems, and from what I was told the bosses are putting in more time and money in all aspects to create the required infrastructure. Accounts, admin and other guys are handling support and grievance calls really well so far.
A representative for Coinsecure was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing.
This story will be updated when we learn more.
