Cross Tower India will offer up to 40 different cryptocurrencies, with the first 1,000 customers receiving free BTC with a maximum value of INR 500.

CrossTower, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange and investment company, has launched a trading platform in India.

According to Reuters, the digital currency exchange has hired a team of 35 people as initial staff, with the goal of having up to 100 people working at CrossTower India over the next nine months.

CrossTower India “expertise, technology, regulatory knowledge and global safety standards in India “, said the exchange platform on its home page.

CrossTower’s entry into India follows that of large exchange platform Binance, which is looking to tap into the growing Indian crypto market. In addition to Binance, CrossTower India will face competition from local players such as Zebpay, WazirX and CoinDCX.

Indian investors and crypto traders who register and make their first trade on the new trading platform will benefit from a Bitcoin gift of up to INR 500. The offer will be available for the first 1,000 trades.

In addition to BTC, CrossTower India provides access to 40 different digital assets, including Ethereum (ETH), Maker (MKR) and Compound (COMP).

The company’s entry into India comes at a time when the country is experiencing a massive increase in the adoption of cryptocurrencies, despite the government’s unfavourable regulatory approach.

Recent statistics show that the Indian crypto-asset market exploded between April 2020 and May 2021, from $ 923 million to $ 6.6 billion. A global cryptocurrency adoption index released in August by Chainalysis showed India ranked second behind Vietnam in 2021.

In another survey, cryptocurrency growth in India saw about 9% of respondents say they used or owned cryptocurrencies, which is higher than some of the major global markets like China, the US, the UK, Japan and Germany.

Launched in the US in 2019, CrossTower was, in August of this year, ranked among the best cryptocurrency exchange platforms on the market, placing in CryptoCompare’s AA ranking alongside Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini and Bitstamp.