British fintech to expand banking services to Indian crypto customers

The London-based online banking platform Cashaa is planning to launch a crypto-friendly neobank — or internet bank — in India. 

Kuman Gaurav, the founder of Cashaa, told Cointelegraph that Cashaa India will allow Indian businesses and individuals to open a savings account with them and buy, store and save cryptocurrencies just like any other financial instrument.

“For lending, we will be adding crypto assets class together with gold and real estate as collateral,” he said.

Gaurav explained the need for a crypto-friendly bank in India, saying that most Indian banks are reluctant to provide banking services to the crypto users. Cashaa India, he added, would be the first registered bank to allow deposits and withdrawals of cryptocurrencies just like it is today for the Indian rupee.

Cashaa has provided B2B banking services to most of the major Indian cryptocurrency companies. The launch of the neo bank will allow the platform to extend its crypto and banking services to individuals as well.

Cashaa recently received clearance from regulators to operate as a crypto-friendly internet banking platform across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. The company aims to start operating the banking platform with support for the euro, British pound and U.S. dollar by December this year.

Gaurav said that Cashaa would initially start providing its banking services to Indian cooperatives and will launch its full-fledged services in the next year. The company’s focus is on “three key states” in India, from where it plans to expand throughout the country.

Reflecting on the regulations in India, Gaurav said that the fintech regulations in the country are still evolving. He said that that is why financial scams using one-time passwords and phishing techniques are so difficult to restrict. 

He further added that the Indian government and financial institutions are well aware of the potential of cryptocurrencies, and there has been no indication from the government about a potential ban on cryptos. The reports of the impending ban on crypto in India by media outlets have only been speculative stories, he emphasized, adding that regulations will most likely not be a hurdle for Cashaa India to offer crypto services to its users.