Indian Investors to Have Access to U.S. Bitcoin ETFs via Mudrex, an Indian Crypto Investment Platform

Mudrex is a California-based company supported by Y-Combinator that has a subsidiary that is registered with the Indian Intelligence Bureau.

Indian investors may now purchase U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) via the cryptocurrency investing platform Mudrex.

Four spot ETFs—BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Vanguard—will be listed by Mudrex at first.

According to CEO and co-founder Edul Patel, Indian cryptocurrency investing platform Mudrex intends to provide institutional and individual investors in India with U.S. spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

According to Patel, "this is much more valuable to institutions, as this was already available to retailers," during a CoinDesk interview. While spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are available to retail consumers in the nation via U.S. stock investing firms, Patel said that "as far as we know," we are the first in India to provide this service to institutions. "We are certainly the first Indian crypto website to offer this service."

Mudrex will identify BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Vanguard as the four spot ETFs in the initial phase.

Mudrex, a California-based company supported by Y-Combinator, has a subsidiary that is registered with the Indian Intelligence Unit. It has permits in Lithuania and Italy, giving it a foothold in the European Union as well. According to Patel, who spoke with CoinDesk, the Indian subsidiary would handle the spof-bitcoin ETF service, while the company will make sure that the actual transaction is processed via broker partners in the United States.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country's central bank, and the government, represented by the Finance Ministry, both have separate regulatory authority over cryptocurrencies, making this development unique. The RBI has been adamantly opposed to cryptocurrencies, and it recently said that India's economy cannot afford such risk, therefore it doesn't need to adopt the same stance as the US on crypto ETFs. On the other hand, the Intelligence Unit of the Finance Ministry has registered over twenty-one Indian cryptocurrency service providers and levied high taxes on the industry. Their regulatory priorities seem to diverge, despite their shared belief that investors and the Indian economy must be safeguarded.

"The bitcoin spot ETF works as a security and Indians are able to buy securities under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and, as a result, users or businesses specifically, who do want to get access to bitcoin can now start using the currency through ETFs to diversify their portfolio," Patel stated.

For Indians, investing abroad is made easier with the LRS. The Reserve Bank of India has set an annual maximum for the LRS of $250,000. On its platform, Mudrex will enable investors to purchase spot bitcoin ETFs for as little as $5,000 and as much as $250,000.

"The LRS is the tricky part for most people and over there (in the U.S.), because we they additionally have strong banking relationships, we're able to help users accomplish these transactions in a very seamless way, and that's the reason why these services are important," Patel said.

Additionally, Patel said that around 20 of the 350 universities that the business works with have started the enrollment process, and he anticipates volumes with an average ticket size of $110,000.