India Gets Bitcoin Rewards Cards With Backing From Crypto-Averse Central Bank

The GoSats prepaid RuPay debit cards will be released in two variants — a premium gold card and an intro card. Both cards offer a chance to win one Bitcoin, worth around US$47,694 as of publishing time, every time the card is used to buy something. The intro card offers up to 25% Bitcoin cashback while the gold card offers 100% Bitcoin cashbacks.

The new product is being launched in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India, a non-profit organization owned by the country’s central bank and Indian Banks’ Association. The NPCI introduced RuPay cards in India, similar to Visa and Mastercard, but geared for the Indian market. NCPI is, therefore, providing the card technology for GoSats’s new product, but is not connected to the Bitcoin rewards program.

NPCI’s involvement in this Bitcoin rewards card raises questions about whether its owner, India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, still holds dear its previous stance that the country should ban cryptocurrencies. The RBI is currently planning to launch its own central bank digital currency, but little progress has been made so far.

GoSats was launched earlier this year and currently has over 15,000 customers. The startup was built on Stacks, an open network for smart contracts and decentralized apps for Bitcoin. GoSats reward cards use Stacks’ Clarity smart contracts and “stacking,” where users lock their STX tokens on the network to support security and consensus and in turn earn Bitcoin transferred by miners as part of “proof of transfer.” GoSats plans to release 5,000 cards in the first batch and is planning to launch a gamified reward system on its app.

The GoSats cards will be accessible through the GoSats mobile app and browser extension. People in India can use the cards to spend rupees at major retailers, including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Starbucks.

Though the country’s government remains undecided on the future of crypto, Indian companies are taking strides towards fuelling greater adoption. Last week, Indian crypto exchange Unocoin introduced a new feature that allows users to buy gift vouchers from over 90 major brands across food, lifestyle, travel, accessories and other sectors.

Source: forkast.news