According to a blog post from digital finance firm Cashaa on Tuesday, a new joint venture with the United Multi State Credit Cooperative Society will provide users with cryptocurrency services alongside traditional banking at 22 locations in the northern part of the country.
A launch is slated for December of this year, with Cashaa saying the plan is to expand the service to over 100 branches by 2022. Cashaa, which calls itself a “crypto-friendly neo-bank,” said it was planning a move into India from a Dubai when it raised $5 million investment firm in early September.
The joint venture, called UNICAS, will offer crypto savings accounts; lending with gold, cryptocurrency and property as collateral; and crypto buying and investment.
At launch, UNICAS will list six significant cryptocurrencies available for buying with Indian rupees: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), EOS, litecoin (LTC) and XRP. Binance coin (BNB) and Cashaa (CAS) will also be offered.
The credit cooperative society already has regulatory licenses in India, which will bring Cashaa to the local markets, was mentioned in the post.
“This will allow us to build, scale and offer customized financial and crypto products for the local Indian markets,” said by Dinesh Kukreja, managing director of United Multistate Credit Cooperative Society and CEO of UNICAS.
India has been seeing something of a crypto renaissance since the central bank’s crypto ban on banking services for digital assets companies was lifted by the Supreme Court in March 2020.