- Once India’s largest exchange, Zebpay shut down the exchange in September and launched a Euro based exchange under a new Malta based company Awlencan Innovations Malta Limited.
- Residents of 21 EU countries can now trade on Zebpay with fiat, while other country residents are allowed Crypto-to-crypto.
- Citizens or residents of India are no longer allowed to register on Zebpay.
- For existing users in India, Zebpay can be used as a wallet service.
- Possible new launch in Singapore planned as well.
From Zeb IT services registered in Ahmedabad and Zeb Ventures Pte Ltd registered in Singapore to Awlencan Innovations Malta Ltd, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange is doing the world tour most crypto traders can only dream of in 2018.
Zebpay’s exit from India in September gave birth to several speculations, including one about Zebpay going global. Seems like the vision has finally come to fruition as Zebpay opens its doors to EU residents to buy and sell digital assets with Euro. But India is no longer supported.
Try registering on Zebpay now with an Indian number and you’ll get the error:
“Thank you for your interest in Zebpay but now we are not taking new registrations from India.”
Zebpay error when trying to register with an Indian number
Even US and Japanese residents or citizens aren’t allowed to register.
Contents
The Malta Bet for Global Launch
Zebpay has begun operations in Europe under a parent company registered as Awlencan Innovations Malta Private Limited.
Under a new launch promo, makers can trade on Zebpay at Zero fees and receive 0.25% rebate as well, until December 31, 2018.
Currently traders from only 21 European union countries are allowed to use the fiat based services, aka EUR-crypto trading.
However, if you do not belong to the restricted list of countries including the US, India, Japan, Sri Lanka, etc, nor are part of the EU countries, you can still register and trade crypto-to-crypto.
GDPR compliance
The global terms and conditions reveal Zebpay’s adherence to GDPR compliance, offering the users rights like the right to remove their data from the exchange or disallow them from using personal information.
Side Note: A Week to Process EURO Deposits
Something I have always believed after travelling and working for European and American countries is that we Indians take our banking system for granted. India is way ahead in terms of quick transfer of funds and its verification within the country. Zebpay has set 5 working days as the maximum time to verify a Bank deposit of Euro and the charge of 10 Euros (800 INR) for withdrawal.
OTC and VFA Exchange
VFA stands for Virtual Financial Assets such as digital tokens, crypto currencies and assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. In the terms and conditions, Zebpay defines both services, an OTC service plus a spot exchange for trading VFAs.
In the current version of the app, OTC trading is not available and it is unknown whether it will be a separate app or will launch as a new upgrade to the existing app.
Awlencan in Singapore and India
Awlencan Innovations, the new parent company of Zebpay also has a registered office in Singapore under the same name. Earlier this quarter, a recruitment call was published on LinkedIn to hire the exchange head for Zebpay, who can “Lead the trade function and ensure that Zebpay is the top global exchange”.
The call was for hiring at Awlencan Innovations Pte Ltd, Singapore and is no longer accepting applications.
Zebpay already has a registered company Zeb ventures, registered in Singapore. Awlencan Innovations is registered at the same address.
Back at home, Awlencan Innovations India is registered as a subsidiary of a foreign company in Ahmedabad, with none of the original founders of Zebpay as directors.
India no longer Serviceable
On September 28, Zebpay sent an email to its 3 million users stating that it will be stopping its exchange business on the very same day. At the time Zebpay was still serving only Indian users.
The shut down decision was blamed on RBI’s unfavourable policy that banned banks from supporting any cryptocurrency related business or individuals. In the announcement the exchange said,
“The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customer’s, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business.”
Zebpay
Zebpay’s exit shocked the crypto community and competitors equally. Zebpay was India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and to shut down without warning was not an easily digestible announcement.
As for the users, the wallet service is still active and they can deposit or withdraw cryptocurrencies on the exchange. The competitors tried to lure Zebpay users by launching new offers.
Who is Leading Awlencan Innovations?
Zebpay had appointed Ajeet Khurana as CEO in early 2018 but he isn’t the CEO anymore as confirmed on call by Ankit Parikh, who is one of the directors of Awlencan Innovations India.
So, who is the CEO? Parikh refused to answer but said Khurana is still very much involved with Zebpay.
Parikh however confirmed a restructuring of Zebpay’s team and asked us to reach out to Ajeet Khurana to get more details. A detailed questionnaire was sent to Khurana on LinkedIn as well as whatsapp. We will update the story when he responds.
But as of today, none of the original co-founders of Zebpay are associated with the old Zebpay companies or the new ones on paper.
You can read everything about the new organisational structure in the new story here:
Restructuring at Zebpay: Co-founders no longer Directors in Company
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