India’s Largest Mobile Payments Platform with 333 Million Users Is Considering Bitcoin Offerings

India’s payment giant Paytm had about 333 million customers and a network of more than 21 million merchants as of July 2021, would consider Bitcoin offerings if regulatory uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrencies gets cleared.

The rules around crypto-assets remain in a “grey area,” said Chief Financial Officer Madhur Deora in an interview with Bloomberg.

“Bitcoin is still a regulatory grey area if not a regulatory ban in India.”

“At the moment Paytm does not do Bitcoin. If it was ever to become fully legal in the country then clearly there could be offerings we could launch.”

Last year in March, India’s supreme court lifted the prohibition imposed by the central bank on the banks dealing with companies related to cryptocurrency.

In September came the reports that the government is drafting a new bill and planning to treat crypto commodities for all purposes, including taxation.

The company filed for an initial public offering (IPO) this summer, in which it aims to raise $2.5 billion. The listing is expected to be in mid-November. Paytm offers payment services, financial services, and commerce, and cloud services.