How to Pay in India Using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network

Remember when I talked about the Thai service PlebQR? It lets you pay with Bitcoin in Thai shops.

It turns out there is a similar service in India as well. Here it is: app.256d.in

The idea is exactly the same as with PlebQR. If you want to buy something in India but do not have access to UPI - the payment system used by most Indian merchants - you can scan the payment QR code provided by the seller and pay with Bitcoin via the Lightning Network. The operator of 256d.in instantly receives your bitcoins and pays the merchant in Indian rupees via UPI using that QR code. They claim the payment is processed in about 10 seconds, and if that is true, the service should be extremely convenient to use.

The only real difference compared to PlebQR is that PlebQR can be used not only for payments, but also to earn. There, you can register as an executor: make payments from your own bank account and receive Bitcoin in return. Even if you do not earn much, this is still a way to buy Bitcoin at a favorable rate, which is attractive in itself.

256d.in does not offer this option. Apparently, the operator processes all payments in-house, without relying on crowdsourcing.

In my view, this is one of the most useful real-world applications of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. Services like 256d.in give people worldwide access to goods and services in countries where local payment systems dominate the market instead of international ones. And this is not just Thailand and India. There are quite a few such countries. Bitcoin can bring foreign customers to all of them. At the same time, local residents get an opportunity to buy Bitcoin slightly cheaper than on exchanges.

So if you need to buy something in India or Thailand, you know what to do. Go to rabbit.io, swap any cryptocurrency for Bitcoin on the Lightning Network, and pay with it in countries whose goods and services used to be out of reach for you.