crypto awareness | Business Upturn

Check out the Q1 Investments that helped crypto firms bag $2.6 billion in 2023

Kashvi Basu — Mon, 15 May 2023 16:43:19 +0000

After a set of 353 funding rounds, it fetched $2.6 billion (nearly Rs. 21,390 crore) towards start-ups working in the crypto sector in the first quarter of 2023 which is amidst January and March. If we look closely at both the figures, the investment rounds and the capital raised, have shown a decline of 78 percent and 64.4 percent, respectively, from last year’s first quarter. This shows that the crypto sector still remains appealing enough for venture capitals to pour hefty finances in related companies, but the slow paced second half of 2022 has affected the incoming funding into this particular sector.

The finance centred firm, Pitchbook, in its recent report claimed that the first quarter of 2023 became the fourth consecutive quarter of declining investment activity. This essentially means that between April 2022 and March 2023, fundings directed towards crypto concerned projects have remained comparatively low than the previous years.

“After the collapse of FTX and a wobbly few months of fluctuating valuations, crypto has stabilised. But Q1 2023 also marked the lowest amount of capital invested in the vertical since Q4 2020,” was said in the Pitchbook report. In the second half of 2022, over $200 billion (roughly Rs. 16,33,290 crore) was cleared off the global crypto market after promising projects like Terra and FTX crumbled due to the sheer lack of liquidity. Ever since 2021, the valuation of the crypto sector has also fallen from its highest point of $3 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,46,86,250 crore) to its current capitalisation of $1.14 trillion (roughly Rs. 93,54,177 crore), as per the reports of CoinMarketCap.The 2023 Q1 investments have raised by, around 33 percent in crypto startups as compared to the same month frame last year.PitchBook’s report had also mentioned that late rounds of investments grew by a higher margin of 209 percent between January and March this year, as compared to the same time last year.

The chances of securing an investment is still huge for crypto firms, especially those targeting privacy, data management, and security for Web3 protocols. Bitget, a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, as part of the investment pool has decided to invest $100 million (roughly Rs. 819 crore) in promising Web3 initiatives emerging from Asian nations. Companies like Solana, Binance, and Animoca also followed it’s part, resulting in heavy funding in the sector.

Crypto Broker Genesis cuts staff by 20%; Promotes insider as interim CEO

Yakita Somani — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 12:45:31 +0000

Genesis Trading, based in New York, has nominated chief operating officer Derar Islim as interim CEO and announced a 20% workforce reduction.

Islim will succeed Michael Moro, who will leave down as CEO on Wednesday.

Genesis is the latest company in the cryptocurrency field to be affected by the so-called “crypto winter,” which has forced a number of high-profile companies to reduce their workforce in recent months.

Genesis employed up to 260 individuals prior to the layoffs. Genesis stated in July that it has exposure to the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, another casualty of the waning interest in digital assets.

Outgoing CEO Moro stated at the time that the firm had minimised its losses when Three Arrows failed to pay a margin call, adding that Genesis parent Digital Currency Group had taken some of the crypto broker’s liabilities.

Tom Conheeney, the former president of former hedge fund SAC Capital and its successor Point72 Asset Management, has also joined Genesis as a senior advisor.

Moro will advise the company during the transition, Genesis said, adding that it has initiated the hunt for a full-time CEO.

Cryptos fell again on Wednesday, with Bitcoin and Ether both falling for the fourth day in a row.

Has the government made cryptocurrency legal in India?

Malvika Choudhary — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 14:13:04 +0000

Commencement of Digital currency in the Indian economy is at a stone’s throw after Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Feb 1 presented the Union Budget 2022-23. Among many key highlights of the presentation, the digital currency managed to get on the list.

The finance minister declared that the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will introduce a digital currency in the next financial year using blockchain and other supporting technology. Currently, cryptocurrency is not being regulated and it is not considered legal tender in India. Legal tender is a legally recognized payment instrument used to fulfil a financial commitment. In other words, it is an economic medium that is accepted by the legal system.

Sitharaman also stated that the central government is imposing a 30 per cent tax on virtual digital assets, bringing cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) beneath a tax quagmire.

As of now, there is no regulation or any ban on the use of cryptocurrencies in the country. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) order banning banks from funding crypto transactions, was inverted by the Supreme Court order of March 2020.

Industry estimations indicate there are 15 million to 20 million crypto investors in India, with total crypto holdings of around 400 billion rupees ($5.37 billion). No official data is available on the size of the Indian crypto market.

“A high-level Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Economic Affairs) to study the issues related to virtual currencies and propose specific actions to be taken in the matter recommended in its report that all private cryptocurrencies, except any virtual currencies issued by the state, will be prohibited in India,” Finance Minister Sitharaman said in Rajya Sabha on February 9.

The Congress leader asked Sitharaman a burning question after this declaration to clarify three key questions regarding the Centre’s outlook towards digital tokens pointing out that the cryptocurrency-related bill has to get approved by the Parliament before the government can consider imposing a tax on cryptocurrencies.

Reacting to the announcement, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala asked the finance minister to elucidate whether cryptocurrency has been made legal now.

Sitharaman also said casualties from their sale could not be counteracted against other income, delivering another disincentive to trading and investment in digital assets besides placing earnings from cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in India’s highest tax band.

Earlier, RBI released another circular, regurgitating its concerns with virtual coins as banks continued to allow transactions on cryptocurrency exchanges on February 1, 2017. And by the end of 2017, a warning was issued by RBI and the finance ministry clarifying that virtual currencies are not legal tender.

At the same time, two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were filed in the Supreme Court, one for a ban on dealing in cryptocurrencies in India, the other asking for them to be regulated. In November, the government formed a committee to study issues around virtual currencies and propose actions.

Speculations on Cryptocurrencies regulation not healthy: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Aviyukta Adlakha — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 15:32:11 +0000

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that the speculations on the Cryptocurrencies regulations are unhealthy. She said that a well-consulted bill will be coming after the Cabinet nod, at the HT Leadership Summit.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, is present in the Lok Sabha Bulletin-Part II for the introduction in the ongoing Winter Session.

But for something as dynamic as crypto, such speculations are considerably not healthy. The objective of the bill is the creation of official digital currency to be issued by RBI as per the Bulletin. At the same time, seeking to prohibit all private cryptos in India.

Speaking about the misleading advertisements regarding the crypto she says, “The guidelines of Advertising Standards Council of India are being studied and their regulations are also being looked into so that we can take, if necessary, some kind of a position or a decision to see how we are going to handle it”.

She mentioned that the government, RBI, and Sebi have been warning people about cryptocurrencies and the degree of risk involved in it. She confidently spoke in the economical aspect that India would emerge as the fastest-growing large economy in the world.

India ranks #1 in the world in terms of Cryptocurrency owners: Report

Cheryll Jain — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 09:36:13 +0000

The Indian cryptocurrency market is on course to become even more fructuous as the country has recorded the highest number of crypto owners in the world, standing at 10.07 crore according to BrokerChooser, an independent broker discovery and comparison platform.

In a study conducted by the portal’s annual crypto proliferation index, the US was down to the second place with a huge margin, recording a crypto owning population of 2.74 crores. Russia and Nigeria followed with having an estimated 1.74 crores and 1.30 crores crypto owning population respectively.

The data further analysed the number of crypto owners in comparison to the total population of the country. India placed fifth on the ranking with a percentage of 7.30 of the population engaged in cryptocurrency trading.

Meanwhile, Ukraine ranked first with 12.73 per cent of its population owning crypto. Ukraine was followed by Russia with 11.91 per cent, Kenya with 8.52 per cent and the US with an 8.31 per cent crypto owning population.

Speculating the potential reason for the global increase in crypto owning demographic, Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin stated that the digital assets have garnered so much attention “not only because it has emerged as the best asset class of 2021 but also because other asset classes are not able to fulfil the aspiration of the smart investors who want their money to grow in tandem with global growth rate.”

The study conducted by BrokerChooser also offered a glimpse at the internet trends pertaining to the global cryptocurrency market, disclosing the data around total crypto searches and the global crypto adoption index.

Based on the global search results and other factors in the last 12 months, India is termed as the seventh most ‘crypto-aware’ country with a score of 4.39 out of 10 while Ukraine topped the chart with a 7.97 score followed by Russia, the US, Kenya, South Africa, and the UK.

Subsequently, India had the second-highest number of total crypto searches, around 36 lakhs, within the last 12 months while the US saw the highest number of crypto searches at 69 lakhs.

Earlier this year, India had been placed second out of 154 countries on the 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index by Chainalysis, suggesting that the cryptocurrency market in the country continues to flourish despite being shrouded with unclarity regarding its legal status.

CoinDCX signs Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador to raise Crypto awareness

Ayisha Farah — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 13:09:44 +0000

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been roped by Crypto exchange, CoinDCX, as its first-ever brand ambassador. Through this, CoinDCX will raise awareness about crypto and generalise it as a growing asset class.

Bachchan will be the newest face of a campaign that will focus on familiarising crypto as an asset class. According to the startup, Indians have been interested in investing in crypto. Regardless, the need for raising awareness is needed on safe crypto investments.

CoinDCX will be conveying through Bachchan that it is at the lead regarding the safety of its users and complying with the regulations. Additionally, the brand strives to educate users about the crypto area.

“We are honoured to have Bachchan as our brand ambassador. Being a crypto investor himself and having recently launched his own NFT (non-fungible token), Bachchan is well-versed in the crypto space. His knowledge will prove valuable in building trust and credibility amongst new users. We are certain that his association with CoinDCX will help bring greater visibility to the world of crypto and develop a strong brand recall for us,” said Sumit Gupta, co-founder and chief executive officer, CoinDCX.

In India, the crypto industry has been receiving well, slowly growing over the years, with millions of Indians appearing as early adopters of the crypto asset class.

To improve the faith and reliability of India’s quickly growing cryptocurrency and digital asset industry, In August, CoinDCX joined the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a self-regulating voluntary organisation based on the advertising industry.

After raising $90 million in its Series C funding round, the exchange recently became India’s first crypto unicorn, led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group and other investors.