This sounds a little like CashApp. It let's you spend bitcoin at places that only accept rupees.

With 256D, people in India can spend up to 200 INR (Indian rupees) worth of bitcoin at any merchant, whether or not the merchant accepts bitcoin.

200 INR is about 2 USD, so it's not useful for large payments, but perhaps that will change with time.

256D is an interface between the Bitcoin Lightning Network and UPI.

UPI is a government-built payment system in India.

Walk into a tea stall in Mumbai or a vegetable market in Bengaluru, and you will find the same thing on the wall: a small printed QR code.

Scan it, confirm the payment amount, and voilà — you’ve made your purchase.

That is India’s UPI, a government-built system that links every bank account in the country to a single, instant payment rail. This is comparable to M-PESA in East Africa.

I do think that being able to spend bitcoin at lots of locations will make it much easier to convince non bitcoiners of its usefulness.

The recipient gets rupees and never even has to know what Lightning or Bitcoin is.

They just see money arrive on UPI, the same way it always does.

256D charges a 7 INR fee for all transactions and a premium that ranges from between 4% to 10%.

The fee seems high, especially given the low limit. So this seems like it is not aimed at natives as much as travelers.