{"id":12484,"date":"2021-01-22T17:25:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T11:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/?p=12484"},"modified":"2024-12-18T09:36:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T09:36:41","slug":"reflecting-on-2020-the-year-of-zebpay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/blog\/reflecting-on-2020-the-year-of-zebpay","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on 2020: The Year of ZebPay"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_66_1 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/blog\/reflecting-on-2020-the-year-of-zebpay\/#2020_Growth\" title=\"2020 Growth\">2020 Growth<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/blog\/reflecting-on-2020-the-year-of-zebpay\/#2021_Goals\" title=\"2021 Goals\">2021 Goals<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/blog\/reflecting-on-2020-the-year-of-zebpay\/#Challenges\" title=\"Challenges\">Challenges<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/blog\/reflecting-on-2020-the-year-of-zebpay\/#India_and_Bitcoin\" title=\"India and Bitcoin\">India and Bitcoin<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p><strong>At the start of this year, I set one goal for myself\u2014make 2020 the year of ZebPay. I\u2019ve been in the blockchain space for almost 9 years now. I called last year my year of Ethereum. I started buying 1 ETH every single day, and still do. When I took over as CEO of ZebPay in January, I didn\u2019t expect any change in the RBI\u2019s directive to banks for several years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With a mostly new leadership team, <a href=\"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ZebPay\u2019s<\/a> focus was to offer our members whatever we legally could. Our goal was to get to break-even, keep all of our employees, and grow slowly for a year or more until we got regulatory clarity. When the Supreme Court overturned the RBI ruling in March, we were as surprised as anyone and immediately got to work scaling up to meet the demand from old and new customers. As the year closes, I can say our progress exceeds my wildest expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our ohana (Hawa\u2019iian word for family) is now more than double what it was in March, and every day, they\u2019re each getting a tiny bit better at what they do. As a result we\u2019re seeing this momentum build up in every area. It\u2019s happening within our customer base, our revenue and profit, our culture and how our work <em>feels<\/em>. This is not to say it\u2019s been a linear path up. We have down days and sometimes, down weeks. I\u2019ll be the first to acknowledge that we still have issues, whether it\u2019s customer service or server downtime. But I believe we\u2019ve got the right mindset to tackle them head-on. And the reality is\u2014we\u2019re seeing long term trends on pretty much everything getting better.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2020-growth\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2020_Growth\"><\/span><strong>2020 Growth<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, we saw a 270% increase in trading volume and registered users from quarter to quarter, a 218% increase in number of users trading, and 143% increase in app downloads\u2014this, without accounting for the explosive growth buoyed by the Bitcoin rally in our fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But more than any number, the most gratifying change I\u2019ve seen this year is the change in customer sentiment. When we first came back, I definitely felt the heat on Twitter. I tried to shrug it off and focus on my work as much as possible, but in many ways, people were right. They were complaining because they loved the brand and felt betrayed. A big part of that was because a couple of years ago, ZebPay had become the dominant player. They would charge roughly 1% to buy or sell, so they made a lot of money. And that\u2019s why a lot of people felt that ZebPay was doing great during the bull market, but during the bear market, we left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we worked hard to win them over. We launched with low fees and have continued lowering them as much as possible. In November, we dropped our fees by 50%. We want to be the highest quality, lowest cost service provider in the world, eventually getting the cost of trading in Bitcoin down to zero.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the year went by, we saw a drastic change in our community engagement to the point where now, our members really see us for who we are. They see us innovating, they see us lowering fees with new VIP fee tiers. And not only are they not complaining, they\u2019re becoming evangelical about ZebPay and recommending us to their friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In January, I thought my challenge for 2020 would be keeping ZebPay alive in a hostile environment. It wouldn\u2019t be a stretch to say that the growth we\u2019ve achieved is beyond my wildest imagination. But if 2020 has taught me anything, it\u2019s that dreaming big pays off. And so I\u2019m not happy to stop here. More people are entering the crypto space than ever before, and unless we\u2019re scalable, we\u2019re going to fall flat on our faces. 2021 is going to be the year of exponential growth in crypto and at ZebPay, and we\u2019re more than ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2021-goals\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2021_Goals\"><\/span><strong>2021 Goals<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve got three big projects slated for early next year that we\u2019re really excited about. First, we\u2019re launching a new app called <a href=\"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/buy-bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bitcoin by ZebPay<\/a>. We already have 4 million customers. How we get to the next 40 million is by making Bitcoin even more simple, to a degree we\u2019ve never seen before\u2014think one-tap buying and investing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second: the Zebra token and Project Dazzle, a marketplace where you can buy and sell non-fungible tokens. The Zebra token will give our members unique discounts, promotions, and deals within the ZebPay ecosystem. Not only will it work internally to lower the cost of our services for members, but also give them access to exciting deals from large consumer brands and services. I think at some point NFTs will be even bigger than fungible tokens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our third and most ambitious project is to build new financial services. We want to slowly move away from being just an exchange to offering financial services like SIP, earning passive income on your crypto, and being able to borrow crypto against the crypto you have deposited.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-challenges\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Challenges\"><\/span><strong>Challenges<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two major challenges that I foresee for 2021. We like to use the word collaborators rather than competitors. Our collaborators are all very confident, well-funded and strong. They\u2019re doing great work, and we have to adapt with them. We\u2019re very cognizant that if we\u2019re not constantly improving, our customers should go somewhere else. The challenge there is that working in the time of COVID, it\u2019s hard recruiting people. But we\u2019re doing our best and I\u2019m very happy with the progress we\u2019ve made.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second big challenge is, of course, the regulatory framework. For our part, we\u2019re in talks with policymakers and government officials. We\u2019re trying our best to educate them about blockchain and prove that bitcoin does a lot more good for the world than bad. We\u2019ve seen the media adapting to this fact as well. A lot less people are making the same old arguments of Bitcoin being a fraud or a bubble. A lot more are talking about it as a real asset class. What I see happening over the next year is larger and larger institutions and government officials recognizing that this is a real trend, and being more open to a friendly, honest, and transparent regulatory framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-india-and-bitcoin\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"India_and_Bitcoin\"><\/span><strong>India and Bitcoin<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/buy-bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bitcoin<\/a> is a lot like digital gold, and I think people understand this now. India has always had a love affair with gold, and we\u2019re seeing most of our investors using Bitcoin as a savings product. We have about 2,50,000 members who have positive balances at any one time with us, out of which 60,000 of them trade every month. The other 160,000 of them buy and HODL\u2014and they might skip a month, but then they buy next month. There\u2019s a clear trend of Indian investors looking at Bitcoin as a store of value and holding on to it for the long term. And we love that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If most of our investors buy just 100 rupees of Bitcoin every single month and pay zero membership fees, it would make me the happiest. It sounds odd because of course our profitability would go down, but I think the long term benefits for our members would be worth it. We\u2019re working with the team to try and figure out the best way to make this happen. India has huge potential in this respect. Indians as a whole probably own less than 1% of the world\u2019s supply of Bitcoin. The sooner we can get Indians to invest in Bitcoin, the more they can enjoy the rewards when the rest of the world gradually catches up. Because if you think Bitcoin is expensive now at 14 lakhs, you have no idea what\u2019s coming. I\u2019m not kidding around when I say it\u2019s going to be worth 1 crore by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the start of this year, I set one goal for myself\u2014make 2020 the year of ZebPay. I\u2019ve been in the blockchain space for almost 9 years now. I called last year my year of Ethereum. I started buying 1 ETH every single day, and still do. When I took over as CEO of ZebPay in January, I didn\u2019t expect any change in the RBI\u2019s directive to banks for several years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_ayudawp_aiss_exclude":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30535,"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12484\/revisions\/30535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zebpay.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}