The Leftover Bits 4/5/15: BitReserve Targets India, Melotic Exchange Shutting Down, Bitcoin Start up Win Hackathon

Melotic doesn't vanish. The company has backing from established investors, so leadership is pivoting. They're building a new product they plan to launch later. In March, Melotic announced a remittance service in partnership with Coinpip—a fellow company backed by 500 Startups—enabling money transfers between Singapore and China through the bitcoin blockchain. The service is currently in limited beta. Whether this remittance product connects to the secret initiative remains unknown.

The exchange will close signups and deposits in the coming weeks. Users can withdraw funds through May 15. Melotic will return any cryptocurrency left on the platform to the wallet addresses that originally deposited it.

India holds 1.2 billion people, making it the world's second-most populous nation. Experts project it will surpass China by population in 2028. The country also ranks as the global center for remittance activity. Couple that with widespread technological adoption and digital penetration, and India presents an obvious target for cryptocurrency companies, much like Kenya. BitReserve recognized this. The platform's CEO, Halsey Minor, told the Times of India: "After the US, UK and China, we want to now set up operations in India and we are talking to regulators and potential partners on a range of our internet-based finance offerings." BitReserve lets users convert bitcoin holdings into multiple fiat currencies or precious metals held by the company itself, then spend that converted value using BitReserve's system—with a modest transaction fee added.

TransferB, a startup building a bitcoin-based remittance app, won the 2015 Deloitte Top Technology Talent Competition in Ireland. The event showcases early-stage tech ventures and university student ideas. TransferB was founded by Claire Kelleher from the University of Limerick and Peter Nagle from University College Cork. The competition offered no monetary prize, but winners received expert coaching, media exposure, an all-expenses-paid visit to North America, and a six-week internship at Deloitte. TransferB aims to cut the standard 8 to 15 percent cost of international transfers to 2 percent while also reducing transaction times. The company hasn't revealed when or whether a public version will launch.