India
Coinbase CEO cites ‘informal pressure’ for withdrawing UPI payments in India
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says the exchange faced informal pressure from the RBI to retract its UPI option in India Armstrong holds an even more bullish stance, notwithstanding Coinbase’s reported $430M net loss in Q1 Last month, Coinbase launched UPI payments for Indian crypto users, but before the product could even take off, it was withdrawn as an option, with the crypto exchange offering users no explanation for the rollback. UPI is a widely-used payments infrastructure built by an internetwork of banks. The decision to withdraw the offering had been preceded by a caution by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages the UPI. The organisation denied being aware of “any crypto exchange” using UPI payments. Informal pressure from the RBI Addressing th...
Indian central bank’s ‘informal pressure’ disrupted payments: Coinbase CEO
Just three days after debuting in the Indian market, United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase abruptly stopped using United Payments Interface (UPI), the most popular payment service in the region. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong later revealed that the service disruption was due to an “informal pressure” from India’s central bank. During Coinbase’s 2022 Quarterly Earnings call, Armstrong spoke about the company’s global expansion plans while acknowledging Coinbase’s role in starting the conversation with regulators related to crypto adoption. When asked about the impact of the recent disruption related to offering payment services in India, Armstrong stated: “So a few days after launching, we ended up disabling UPI because of some informal pressure from the Reserve Bank of Indi...
India’s lead depository adopts blockchain for securities and covenants
India’s NSDL and CDSL will control maintenance nodes for the new decentralised network Elsewhere, a council responsible for indirect taxes in India is considering a 28% tax on crypto-related activity Celebrating its 25th anniversary at the end of last week, the National Securities Depository (NSDL), based in Mumbai, launched a blockchain-based or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform for debenture covenant monitoring. The platform was created as a product of collaboration between the NSDL and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to enhance securities and covenant monitoring. In effect, it should help bring more clarity and discipline to the market. It will expand to involve other regulators The DLT platform will function by providing an immutable trail of transact...
Weekly Report: BitMEX founders fined, California hunting first-mover advantage in Web3, and more
Here are this week’s top stories from the cryptocurrency space: Pantera Capital aims to boost its presence in India with scaled investments Argo Blockchain’s Helios Facility is now energised and set to start mining next week The three BitMEX co-founders have each been ordered to pay a $10 million civil monetary penalty Rapper Ice Cube supports Dogecoin and spurs the largest commercial transaction of DOGE in an NFTs purchase California aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for Web3 technology Pantera Capital doubles down on crypto firm funding in India Cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund Pantera Capital has divulged that it’s enhancing its investment push in India. According to Paul Veradittakit, a partner at the firm, Pantera has closed around ten deals in India, notably the...
Binance to drive crypto and blockchain awareness among Indian investors
Crypto exchange Binance announced the parallel launch of three key educational initiatives to fast-track educating Indian investors and students about the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem. While recognizing the importance of investors’ awareness of crypto and blockchain, Binance highlighted that Indian regulators and policymakers cite the lack of education as an area of concern, which currently hinders the widespread adoption of crypto. Primarily targeting the student demographic in India, one of the three educational initiatives launched by Binance involves the initiation of the ‘Blockchain for Good’ Ideathon, a platform for college students to come up with solutions for making crypto more accessible and inclusive. Binance also partnered with India-based crypto influencers and educ...
Brain drain: India’s crypto tax forces budding crypto projects to move
India’s 30% crypto tax came into law on March 31 and was effective April 1, despite warnings from several stakeholders about its possible ill impact on the budding crypto industry. As predicted, within just a couple of weeks of the new crypto tax law coming into effect, trading volume across major crypto exchanges dropped as much as 90%. The decline in trading activity was attributed to traders either moving their funds away from centralized crypto exchanges or adopting a holding strategy over trading. Many crypto exchanges were hoping that a crypto tax would at least offer some form of recognition to the crypto ecosystem and help them get easy access to banking services. However, the effect has been the opposite. On April 7, the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) issued a ...
Crypto exchange CoinDCX raises $135M funding to support Indian Web3
Crypto exchange CoinDCX became India’s first crypto business to complete a Series D funding round, raising $135 million in support of various Web3 and crypto initiatives in the country. The latest funding round resulted in CoinDCX doubling its valuation to $2.15 billion, which was led by Pantera and Steadview and saw participation from prominent investors including Kingsway, DraperDragon and Republic. Existing investors such as B Capital Group — a venture capitalist firm from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin — Coinbase, Polychain and Cadenza also joined in on the oversubscribed funding round to increase their investments in the crypto exchange. Excited to share that CoinDCX has raised over USD 135 million, in our latest Series D funding round. Another step closer to our dream of m...
Indian crypto exchanges’ volume plunges down as 30% tax goes into effect
Fresh data on Indian crypto exchanges’ trading volume reveals a significant decline in trading practices among Indians just ten days after the tax rule implementation. India’s new 30% crypto tax rule came into effect on April 1, despite many stakeholders and exchange operators warning against its ill effects. A research data report shared by Indian blockchain analytic firm Crebaco with Cointelegraph shows that trading volume on top Indian crypto exchanges has declined as high as 70% in the past 10 days. Crypto Trading Volume on Major Indian Exchanges Source: Creabaco The trading volume on WazirX, the leading crypto exchange in India, declined from $47.8 million on April 1 to $13.2 million on April 10. CoinDCX’s trading volume dropped from $12.16 million to $5.76 million, ...
Museums in the metaverse: How Web3 technology can help historical sites
Metaverse events at ancient and historical sites could soon shape up to be an alternate future for tourism. Owners of physical castles and villas who have drafted up augmented reality blueprints of their properties think their ambitious plans to attract visitors in the metaverse will work, as virtual events can help them pay the hefty maintenance bills for their aging properties and also offer a chance to change historical narratives. The metaverse tourism model was expedited by downturns in tourism brought about by COVID-19, but the industry may have already been heading that way. Currently, major metaverse platforms are clunky, difficult to use and waiting for more “real estate” development, but firms are concentrating on what could be. Brands seem to be entering the metaverse en m...
How to Get Tickets to Diljit Dosanjh’s 2022 Tour
Indian superstar musician and actor Diljit Dosanjh will tour the US and Canada for the first time in three years in Summer 2022. Dosanjh’s “Born to Shine World Tour” features 10 North American concerts taking place in June and July. Get tickets here, and read on for more info including pre-sale details. What Is Diljit Dosanjh’s Next Tour? Advertisement Related Video Diljit Dosanjh’s “Born to Shine World Tour” features 10 North American dates, beginning at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on Sunday June 19th. Additional dates include stops in Winnipeg, MB; Toronto, ON; Newark, NJ; Fairfax, VA; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Los Angeles, CA; and Oakland, CA. “It has been more than 2 years since I performed live with my last live show taking place in Mumbai early 2020, so I am incredibly excited for this t...
Indian state gov’t uses Polygon to issue verifiable caste certificates
The Government of Maharashtra, one of India’s state governments, has started issuing caste certificates over the Polygon blockchain to citizens residing in Etapalli village, Gadchiroli district, as a part of the Digital India campaign. In partnership with LegitDoc, a blockchain-based application, the Maharashtra state government is in the process of rolling out 65,000 caste certificates to aid the process of delivering governmental schemes and benefits. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Shubham Gupta revealed that the Indian government is always on the lookout to implement disruptive technologies that can help democratize citizen services, adding: “Web3 takes the concept of democratization to a whole new level, whereby, data/informatio...
Law Decoded: Crypto taxes and taxes on crypto, March 21–28.
It was relatively quiet in the digital asset policy department last week, as regulators and lawmakers in most key jurisdictions retreated to their offices to do the necessary homework. In the U.S., federal agencies got on with the various reports that President Joe Biden’s recent executive orders directed them to produce. Over in the United Kingdom, both the central bank and the Financial Conduct Authority also dropped position papers on crypto-related issues. After thorough deliberation, Thailand’s financial authorities spoke out against using crypto as a means of payment, while rumors of potential legal tender adoption of crypto emerged and died in Honduras. One theme that has been conspicuous throughout the week is the relationship between digital assets and taxation. Few would argue th...
