Unocoin releases API for users to create bitcoin wallets
Unocoin, the Indian bitcoin company, has launched an API which will give companies access to the world's largest potential market for bitcoin. The API will enable individuals and companies in India to generate bitcoin wallets, store bitcoin securely and access price information, while companies worldwide can remit bitcoin to India. Blockchain-based start-up Blockstream partnered with Unocoin to develop fast, low-cost cross-border transactions. Unocoin was started in 2013 and raised $1.5m in its pre-series A round.

Unocoin, India’s leading bitcoin company, has announced the implementation of its first-ever, easy-to- access Application Programming Interface (API) allowing companies world over to access the world’s largest potential market for bitcoin and to take advantage of Unocoin’s extraordinary set of features.



The company said that its API will allow individuals and companies in India to generate bitcoin wallets; buy, sell, send and receive bitcoin; securely store bitcoin; retrieve real-time or historical price information; receive notifications when payments arrive; accept and request bitcoin payments for merchants; as well as allow companies around the world to remit bitcoin to India and to submit KYC details of beneficiaries.



According to the official announcement, the Unocoin API has concluded rigorous testing and is already in active use by its largest customer: Unocoin itself. The company’s full-featured iOS app and soon-to-be-released Android app are both built entirely off of the Unocoin API. Unocoin explained that its API can plug right into any company, anywhere in the world, to assist them to gain access to the Indian bitcoin market and remittance industry, potentially worth an estimated $100 billion USD.



“We’ve been excited to develop a robust API for use by companies around the world. Our API is best described as an on-ramp for firms looking for a simple way to gain entry into one of the world’s fastest growing and largest potential markets. Our team has been working non-stop prior to and during our Pre-Series A round to provide the most reliable, full-featured API, but one that, most importantly, is incredibly easy to adopt”, Unocoin co-founder and CEO, Sathvik Vishwanath said. “Our API is the engine powering our mobile apps, through which customers will be able to store and spend bitcoin on the go, and also be able to buy bitcoin with just a click of a button.”



Blockstream, a blockchain-based startup company that developed sidechains to help users move digital assets from one blockchain to another, partnered with Unocoin to enable fast and low cost cross-border transactions. Also, Paycase, a Canada-based mobile-first remittance application, is now using the Unocoin API and Blockstream’s Liquid network to carry out frictionless money transfers from Canada to India.



“India represents a massive growth opportunity for Bitcoin and Unocoin is on the cutting edge of Bitcoin and blockchain technology,” said Dr. Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream. “We’re excited to be working with Unocoin on Liquid and believe the company has the potential to bring Bitcoin to millions of new users based on their technology vision and business execution.”



Paycase’s protocol-agnostic transfer routing system has already been tested in nearly 20 countries around the world, using a sophisticated trading algorithm to route payments over a variety of cryptocurrency rails with far greater efficiency as compared to the traditional SWIFT network. During a 6-month beta, Paycase successfully completed $50,000 worth of micro-transactions from Canada to the Philippines, with costs averaging 60-80% lower than traditional remittance players.



“Our work with Unocoin shows both company’s long-term dedication to one another, in strategically partnering to take bitcoin and Blockchain powered remittances and cross border transfer to the mass market. We have worked together from Canada and India to establish the technical, regulatory, and business logic needed to enable Canadian dollar to Indian rupee money transfer with bitcoin efficiencies in place. With the API, experience, and infrastructure in place, we can now scale this model beyond our current corridors and into the promising Indian market”, Paycase Co-founder and CEO Joseph Weinberg said.



The announcement follows Unocoin’s Pre-Series A round in which it raised $1.5 million. Started in 2013, the company now has over 30 employees on staff servicing over 100,000 users. Unocoin’s recently released features include a merchant point-of-sale (POS) app, a mobile trading app, an auto-selling feature for remittance users, systematic investment planning (SIP) to mitigate against volatility risk, integration with NETKI to simplify Bitcoin addresses, an over the counter (OTC) desk for large traders, and integration with Purse.io for discounts on Amazon.