I Fought The RBI & Survived a 2-Year Crypto Ban | Sathvik Vishwanath (Unocoin)

For years, Sathvik Vishwanath lost 7-8% of his earnings from a virtual world business to high transaction fees. His search for a cheaper alternative led him to discover Bitcoin and ultimately build Unocoin, India's very first cryptocurrency exchange, turning a personal frustration into a pioneering venture.

Dr. Sathvik Vishwanath is the Co-founder and CEO of Unocoin. A technologist-entrepreneur with a PhD focused on disruptive technologies, he has been at the forefront of India's crypto landscape for over 11 years. He has successfully raised over $6.75 million, grown the platform to over 2.5 million users, and demonstrated incredible resilience by surviving a two-year banking ban from the RBI, which he successfully challenged in the Supreme Court.

Key Insights from the Conversation:

• Problem-Driven Entrepreneurship: Unocoin was founded not on speculation, but to solve a tangible problem of high cross-border transaction fees that Sathvik personally experienced.
• Pioneering in an Unregulated Market: As India's first mover, Unocoin had the immense challenge of educating a nascent market and self-imposing strict KYC/AML standards in the absence of any regulatory framework.
• Resilience Against Regulatory Hurdles: The company survived the RBI's 2018 banking ban by downsizing, using its funding reserves, and leading the legal battle that eventually overturned the restriction in the Supreme Court.
• User-Centric Innovation: Product development was guided by user needs, leading to features like the Systematic Buying Plan (SBP) to mitigate volatility and an "auto-sell" function to help freelancers seamlessly convert crypto earnings to rupees.

Chapters:

(00:01:28) - Early Life & First Brush with Technology

(00:08:14) - Lessons from a Corporate Job & Funding an MBA

(00:12:51) - The "Second Life" Venture & The 7% Problem

(00:17:49) - Discovering Bitcoin: A Solution Becomes an Opportunity

(00:18:46) - A Simple Explanation of How Bitcoin & Blockchain Work

(00:33:30) - The Genesis of Unocoin: Building India's First Exchange

(00:42:21) - Solving Real User Problems: The Product Roadmap

(00:43:55) - The RBI Ban: Fighting for Survival for Two Years

(00:47:23) - The Future of Crypto in a Shifting Regulatory Landscape

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