Bitbns expects its userbase to reach 10 million by the end of FY23; aims to clock revenue

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitbns aims to clock a gross revenue of around six-seven million dollars for FY23, Gaurav Dahake, CEO, Bitbns, told FE Digital Currency. The exchange claims to have a current userbase of 4.8 million. “We expect the strength of our userbase to reach 10 million by the end of FY23. Considering that certain taxation policies such as the one percent tax deductible at source (TDS) will be implemented, we expect a 20% decline in our gross revenue compared to last financial year,” Dahake said. In FY22, the exchange claimed to have recorded a gross revenue of eight million dollars. 

Currently, the exchange’s main revenue model revolves around the 0.1% fee that it charges users for trading on the platform. “If a user lends their cryptocurrency assets to another user, we charge a lending and borrowing fee of 15% on the interest generated out of the transaction,” Dahake said. Further, Dahake stated that the exchange recorded a net profit of one million dollars for FY22, and expects a net profit of $500,000 for FY23. Based in Bangalore, the exchange currently has about 70 staffers.

Apart from trading cryptocurrencies, the exchange claims to provide a systematic investment plan (SIP) service to its users. “With the SIP facility, people can invest in bitcoin without the need to worry about the volatility of cryptocurrencies. We also facilitate the lending and borrowing of cryptocurrencies,” Dahake said. The exchange claims to be bootstrapped in nature. “We haven’t raised capital from external investors,” Dahake said. 

According to Dahake, the exchange’s marketing strategy revolves around a referral system. “This referral system rewards customers with a 50% commission on the trade fees being paid by the customers to whom services of the exchange have been referred to. We have created channels on YouTube serving content on cryptocurrency in different languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, among others. The exchange has collaborated with food brands such as Behrouz Biryani as part of a marketing exercise,” Dahake said. He stated that 25% of the revenue generated by the exchange is invested in marketing. Moreover, the exchange claims to spend around 20% of net revenue on human resources and around 30% on technology.

Furthermore, the exchange claims to have a tie-up with e-commerce company Amazon for its web based services. “We also have a business partnership with international cryptocurrency exchange OKX. The exchange offers services to other cryptocurrency based entities for providing support to their fiat flow and regarding other aspects of trading,” Dahake said. The exchange claims that 50% of all the new cryptocurrency products launched in India use liquidity based services from it. Currently, the exchange claims to support trading of 400 different cryptocurrencies. “We charge a fee of 0.03-0.025% depending on the volume of trading per user,” Dahake said.