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Talking Bitcoin with Jeff Garzik – Short chat with one of the core developers on the Bitcoin team.

Revisiting the legality of Bitcoin in India – Moot case and some frequent queries

Decentralizing Energy With Bitcoin – Interview with Harold Tan – COO of GoGreenSolar

An Introduction to Bitcoin & Bitfilm in Bangalore, India – Event at CIS with Aaron Koenig

Universal Bitcoin Exchange – Interview with Jeremias Kangas of Localbitcoins.com

Buy Gold with Bitcoin – Seriously? – Interview with Jay Shore – Chief of Coinabul

Crypto Anarchist Manifesto – Video

Bitcoins First Emerging Payments Conference in India with @bensonsamuel

Bitcoin goes to CARTES 2012 – Paymium’s Newest Offering – Announcement from Paymium about Banking Partner & Bitcoin’s 1st Visit to CARTES.

Jorge Timón – An Interesting & Involved Bitcoiner – Interview with the founder of Freicoin

Bitcoin gets funded by YCombinator – Interview with the CEO of Coinbase

A Decentralized monetary system for a Decentralized currency – Interview with the Founder of Ripple

A Talk over Coffee: Bitcoin & Christiania in Bangalore, India

Bitcoin & Outsourcing to India – Interview with the Director of Bitfilm & Founder of Credestudio

Bitcoin – In India?

Bitcoin – Reaching India! Why Is It So Important?

Bitcoins celebrity status and the Death of Trust

Dragon’s Tale – Play to win Bitcoin – Interview with the President of eGenesis

Reserve Bank of India regulations on Bitcoin in India

51 comments on “Home”

beluxedfashion (@Beluxedfashion) on October 2, 2012 at 1:21 pm said:

Hi sent you an email about using bitcoin on our upcoming ecommerce website, looking forward to your response.

Veena

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john on November 13, 2012 at 8:37 pm said:

hi mate,wanna know more about bitcoin buy and selling

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- Benson Samuel on November 13, 2012 at 9:41 pm said:
  
  sure mate.. where are you from?
  
  Reply
  - john on November 22, 2012 at 8:04 pm said:
    
    john from madurai (tamilnadu), do you have any one from madurai?,how can i know more about bicoins mate?
  - Benson Samuel on November 23, 2012 at 9:45 pm said:
    
    Welcome to Bitcoin john. I know a few people scattered across South India.
    Best way to learn about Bitcoin is to read a lot.
john on November 25, 2012 at 12:55 pm said:

ok mate,do you know any body from madurai are in and round madurai ? now im using liberty reserve ,just planing to jump to bitcoins mate,just wanna know how to buy and sell bitcoins, can you guide me mate?….

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- Benson Samuel on November 26, 2012 at 6:23 pm said:
  
  join the forum at bitcointalk.org. There are a few people from Chennai and Kerala. Most of my work is around Bangalore. Maybe a quick trip to Bangalore for one of our meetups will expand your Bitcoin network. You can also convert your LR to BTC quite easily.
  Another way to work this is to register on localbitcoins.com. this seems to be working very well in Bangalore with 3-4 confirmed buy/ sells.
  
  Reply
  - john on November 29, 2012 at 10:15 am said:
    
    ok mate, can i have any contact details of the persons in and around maduai and chennai
  - Benson Samuel on November 29, 2012 at 5:24 pm said:
    
    Dishwara on bitcointalk.org is from Chennai and coin.karma is from Kerala.
    Most of the other Bitcoin Bugs are from Bangalore and Mumbai.
  - loganathan on December 5, 2013 at 12:05 pm said:
    
    hi
    i am loganathan. i want to buy bitcoin but how much it is very useful for my life. can u reply
  - Benson Samuel on December 7, 2013 at 3:14 pm said:
    
    It depends on you. Based on your requirements, understanding of macro-economics, etc.
- kathir on January 5, 2013 at 5:36 pm said:
  
  hi,i am from madurai. and i am new to bitcoins and i am planning to do bitcoin mining.
  can you provide me your email id so that wecan talk there and i need you advice setting up a bitcoin miner
  
  Reply
prayags on November 30, 2012 at 11:43 am said:

Thank you for your informative articles.
I have just discovered bitcoin and you call me one of those who has just joined the gold rush. (though it is another matter that I have just gathered gold dust so far) But I want to be on the right side of the law.Since there is no clear guideline from RBI on bitcoin, I wonder if you could offer some suggestion
– Is it illegal to convert your bitcoins to INR either by direct exchange with another person in my locality who is willing to purchase bitcoins as far current laws in India are concerned ?
– is there another way possible to convert to bitcoins to INR legally and remit to my account in India (I am based in India) provided i am willing to declare in my tax returns ?
– do you suppose it would be good idea to ask these questions to RBI (perhaps via their website or dropping them a RTI or something) ?

PS : Sorry for posting this earlier in one your another blog post.

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- Benson Samuel on November 30, 2012 at 5:32 pm said:
  
  When INR touches Bitcoin it moves into a grey area. Bitcoins nature has not been defined by the RBI, but it will come under Virtual Currencies, which are regulated in India.
  The only legal way to procure Bitcoin are Mining and selling services for Bitcoin. Sale of goods comes under the regulation as it can generate revenue that needs to be taxed.
  The good thing about cash is that it cannot be traced, therefore buying Bitcoin with INR is highly un-regulatable due to the fact that 97% of India uses cash.
  I like the idea of an RTI to the RBI. Let me work on that and revert back to you.
  
  Reply
  - prayags on December 1, 2012 at 7:56 pm said:
    
    Thanks very much for your insight. Regarding earning bitcoin, there is another way which to visit those sites offering bitcoins for free or clicking link etc. Though they offer almost nothing, I suppose they are better than nothing till one is in position to mine bitcoins or offer services. For now I think the best strategy would be keep on accumulating them and cash on then when they become legal.
    And thanks for considering RTI. In case I do that or contact RBI regarding this I would surely update you.
john on November 30, 2012 at 7:39 pm said:

hi mate,
tnx for your guidness,i had sent them mail, but there’s no replay yet mate, do you know any other person ?do you have any other contact details of the mates in chennai?

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- Benson Samuel on November 30, 2012 at 9:17 pm said:
  
  I am currently talking to someone in Chennai. He wants to buy Bitcoin.
  
  Reply
  - john on November 30, 2012 at 10:13 pm said:
    
    ok mate,i wanna to sell and buy only,i have to ask my customer to credit the amount on bitcoin instead of lr. in fact i dont know how to sell and buy itself , my customer wll credit the pay in USD wll the payment get credited in INR
  - Benson Samuel on December 3, 2012 at 4:15 pm said:
    
    Receiving Bitcoins is not as big a problem as using them. They can be bought or earned relatively easily. Selling them seems to be the problem for now.
john on December 3, 2012 at 8:33 pm said:

how to sell mate, and how to convert bitcoins in to inr, were to sell the bitcoins??

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- Benson Samuel on December 4, 2012 at 6:25 pm said:
  
  That is still a bit of a problem. Remember that Bitcoin is not a short term investment. May take another year before we can easily buy and sell.
  
  Reply
john on December 5, 2012 at 6:52 pm said:

ok mate,can you guide me how to convert bitcoins in to inr(indian ruppes) by mtgox or by mrbitcoin, how to log on to mrbitcoin mate,guide me friend

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- Benson Samuel on December 6, 2012 at 6:13 pm said:
  
  We should have a Skype chat sometime to answer all your questions at one time 🙂
  Let me know.
  
  Reply
john on December 6, 2012 at 6:44 pm said:

what’s your id mate?

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- Benson Samuel on December 6, 2012 at 6:46 pm said:
  
  benson.samuel1
  
  Reply
john on December 6, 2012 at 6:54 pm said:

hi mate, if i can sent you btc can you xchange and tranfer in INR?

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- Benson Samuel on December 6, 2012 at 6:54 pm said:
  
  Not me, but I know some people who would be interested.
  
  Reply
john on December 6, 2012 at 6:55 pm said:

have yahoo messager mate?

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- Benson Samuel on December 10, 2012 at 7:15 pm said:
  
  benson.samuel12.. but I usually do not use messenger.. Mail me on benson.samuel@gmail.com and I will log into messenger.
  
  Reply
john on December 6, 2012 at 6:57 pm said:

ok,can i know the mobile no or mail id for those who are intrested mate?

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kathir on January 5, 2013 at 5:41 pm said:

Hi i am planning to do bitcoin mining to earn some money and you tell mw wheather it will be profitalbe or not or is it advisable to do bitcoin mining?

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- Benson Samuel on January 8, 2013 at 11:07 am said:
  
  Can you buy ASICS equipment? Then it is worth it.
  
  Else, Starting a business is also a good idea for BTC.
  
  Reply
Nathan on January 7, 2013 at 2:32 pm said:

Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been
blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of
your site is great, let alone the content!

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Che on February 3, 2013 at 1:30 am said:

i just want to know whether bitcoins are regulated by FEMA, 1999 or RBI regulations. If bitcoins purchased in a foreign nation and exhanging it to an authorised money exchanger in India without special or general permission from RBI amounts to an offence of money laundering? pls can u clarify my doubt..?

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- Benson Samuel on February 5, 2013 at 10:39 pm said:
  
  That is correct Che, however, since Bitcoin can be defined as a software, this could come under the jurisdiction of IT instead.
  
  Reply
Rajandran R on April 12, 2013 at 4:11 pm said:

@Benson Samuel,
Good to see lots of happenings in india about Bit Coins, May I know why these guys are showing interest in purchasing Bit Coins. I had seen the charts of Bitcoins it looks like price collapse is likely to happen and happening! If you are a buyer then BitCoin Economy bothers me.

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- Benson Samuel on April 12, 2013 at 5:20 pm said:
  
  @Rajendran, Thank you for connecting. I have taken this price crash opportunity to get some more coins! While a price collapse may happen, It will never be a complete collapse. Bitcoin is the only method in the world that allows for such ease of use. It’s unique properties are what will keep it alive, not its prices. No, I am not a buyer in the economy, buy I do earn Bitcoins through programming, blogging, marketing and a bit of mining.
  
  Reply
thedronezone on August 19, 2013 at 6:46 pm said:

Nice blog. I’m actually stupid to have not gone into bitcoins, when I discovered it on 2009, I was 18 then. Now I’m 21 and I feel bad about this. But now, I guess it’s not too late. What are the business opportunities which are available through trading/ services/ products etc. Hope you reply. Thanks.

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- Benson Samuel on September 1, 2013 at 9:16 pm said:
  
  Every business that is based on Fiat can be built on Bitcoins. Loads of business opportunities there.
  
  Reply
alwayzgame on August 23, 2013 at 11:06 pm said:

Hi benson I’m Arun from bangalore I gotta kno about u fro owner of buysellbitcoin.in he told me to contact u so please can u once mail me on arunkumarinbangalore@gmail.com pls I’m waiting for ur reply and I even tried contacting pinwheel but he is very remote can’t trace him

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sam on November 2, 2013 at 11:25 pm said:

Benson i like your blog. I stumbled upon your blog when i was searching info about bitcoin mining. I have bookmarked your blog. Keep updating.

http://freeamorphis.tk

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DK on November 26, 2013 at 9:58 am said:

Heh thanks for your blog, is there anyone else creating another kind of virtual money similar to Bitcoin?

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- Benson Samuel on November 26, 2013 at 10:03 am said:
  
  Yes, there are several alt-coins, but none as pervasive as Bitcoin till now. Lookup Litecoins, they may interest as well.
  
  Reply
  - Murali Kumar on November 29, 2013 at 11:12 am said:
    
    See litecoins sky rocketed..
sathish on December 6, 2013 at 2:12 pm said:

does anyone know help me out how to mine bitcoin using cpu. because i am having access to around 200 cpu’s which is running 24/7. some one please help me out. i am from chennai

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- Benson Samuel on December 7, 2013 at 3:13 pm said:
  
  Its a tremendous drain on the system. You can try mining Litecoins with your resources.
  
  Reply
Sunil Kumar S on December 9, 2013 at 1:06 pm said:

Hello Ben,

I’m Sunil here from Mysore…. i’m a small time techie at few cafes at b’lore, 2 yrs back shifted to Mysore… i’m really amused of bitcoins from past 1 year… but none of my family members encourages it… it would be nice if i could meet u in person… i see u stay in bangalore… if its ok with u could u please drop ur address or a location to meet at my mail: sunilshivling@yahoo.com

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- Benson Samuel on December 10, 2013 at 12:49 pm said:
  
  Sure, I can meet in Bangalore.
  
  Reply
  - Sunil Kumar S on December 11, 2013 at 1:14 pm said:
    
    i’ll be coming to b’lore in jan… could u please drop ur contact no at my mail id: sunilshivling@yahoo.com
Sam Abraham on January 18, 2014 at 6:01 pm said:

Hi Benson,

I’m trying to contact you for a small story on the recent RBI guidelines. We’re a niche personal finance magazine from the India Today group. Hope you’ll get back.

Sam Abraham,
9818557386
samuel.abraham@intoday.com

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Prem Kumar Kankaria on January 29, 2014 at 3:18 pm said:

Hi Mr. Benson,

We are planning to hold a programme on ‘Bitcoin – it’s prospect’ and would like to invite you to address us on the theme in February 2014. We are a 112 years old Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata. Looking forward to your response.

Prem Kumar Kankaria
9830688602
mcciorg@mcciorg.com

Reply