City Mumbai Financial News

Mumbai: The crypto industry has reached out to the finance ministry, seeking to either reduce or eliminate the 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) proposed on the proceeds of all crypto transactions, as the Finance Bill will be approved in the Parliament session that commenced Monday. Top crypto players are taking up the demand with the ministry through the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), which is part of the Internet and Mobile Association of India, and startup industry body IndiaTech. According to two people ET spoke to, these crypto platforms that are members of the BACC have recommended that the proposed TDS be reduced to 0.01-0.1%.

There’s been a sharp decline in interest for the “metaverse” keyword in Google search. However, while the hype may be waning, it seems that companies are still very keen on dipping their toes into the virtual world.

Mumbai: Days after the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) rolled out guidelines for the advertising of virtual digital assets, celebrities have started inserting indemnity clauses in their contracts with crypto exchanges. These celebrities have hired lawyers who are drawing out these indemnity contracts where any future liability or other penalty would be taken care of by the exchange. The indemnity clauses seek to insulate the celebrities from any future or even reputational risks, legal experts said.

Crypto exchange CoinDCX, on the occasion of International Women's Day, shared that the exchange has only 15 per cent female users, compared with 85 per cent male users, with much room for growth for the former. Further, 35 per cent of the women user base comes from Tier I cities, whereas the remaining 65 per cent hails from Tier II, Tier III and other smaller towns. Among metro cities, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata lead the charts in terms of numbers of female investors, whereas Jaipur, Patna and Lucknow have the highest concentration in non-metro cities.

Narcotics Control Bureau has decided to hire experts and companies dealing with financial data analysis and forensic audit to help it probe complex drug crimes that involve use of the dark web, cryptocurrencies and deals concealed through multi-layered transactions.

Mumbai: Most new crypto investors are in panic mode as the fourth correction in two months has set off fears of a ‘crypto winter’ after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in a major sell-off in cryptocurrencies on Wednesday night. The crypto markets were in a slump for most of 2018, what is now referred to as a «crypto winter.» In the last two months, Indian crypto investors have had to deal with regulatory ambiguity and the announcement of high tax rates on crypto gains on top of rising volatility in digital assets, which dragged their investments into the red.

Mumbai: The global cryptocurrency market plunged 11% on Thursday, as Russia sent troops to Ukraine in what it termed as a “special military operation” but widely condemned by Western powers as an outright invasion. The most valuable crypto assets have dropped between 10% and 18% since Wednesday as the geopolitical conflict escalated, sending tremors across global markets.Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since January 24 below $35,000 before inching slightly over that mark, according to market tracker Coingecko.com.

Mumbai: After Bollywood stars and sports celebrities, India’s top fashion designers are now looking at non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a credible source of income for their digital fashion collections. Designers including Manish Malhotra, Raghavendra Rathore, Anamika Khanna and Pankaj & Nidhi have already embraced blockchain technology in order to connect with more tech-savvy audiences. Most of them have seen their initial drops of digital artwork sell in minutes on NFT marketplaces. «Fashion NFTs have received great traction on our platform and in general as well. We are hoping to introduce new-age street brands in fashion onto the NFT bandwagon as these would be a perfect fit with the young NFT community,» said Vishakha Singh, vice president, WazirX NFT Marketplace.

Mumbai: The advertising industry’s self-governing body has put out guidelines for the promotion and advertisement of crypto and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), amid growing concerns over their sustained targeting of retail investors. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said on Wednesday that all virtual digital asset (VDA) products and services should carry the disclaimer: “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.” It further said such disclaimers should be prominent and unmissable to an average consumer. ASCI also specified how the disclaimer should look in the print, video, and audio format as well as social media posts and stories.

Mumbai: Cryptocurrencies crashed as the threat of Russia invading Ukraine escalated amid border skirmishes, resulting in the crypto investor community offloading their risky digital assets to protect portfolios against further price drops. On Friday, US President Joe Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine, and that a military strike could happen in days. On Saturday and Sunday, there were reports of shelling and multiple explosions in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, further driving fear into the crypto markets.

Mumbai: In a first for an Indian entity, several domestic as well as foreign crypto exchanges are in talks with CryptoWire, a Financial Technologies Group entity, to launch products based on its IC15 index. IC15, which tracks the top cryptocurrencies around the world in terms of their market capitalisation, is the first crypto index to come out of India. Several Indian and international exchanges have approached CryptoWire for licensing its IC15 index to launch products on their exchanges based on this benchmark, CryptoWire MD & CEO Joseph Massey said. IC15 index was launched on January 3 this year. It is a rule-based broad market index by market capitalisation that tracks and measures the performance of the top 15 widely traded liquid cryptocurrencies listed on leading crypto exchanges of the world, a company release had noted during its launch. Apart from introducing simple index-based products like exchange-traded funds, many other investment products are expected to be developed based on the IC15 index, officials said. Presented ByDid you Know?A statue honour

Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the use of the darknet and cryptocurrencies by India's most-wanted fugitive, Dawood Ibrahim, amid suspicion that the underworld don has turned to digital tools to deploy the proceeds of crime raised through money laundering to invest primarily in offshore real estate. Ibrahim has been found to be actively involved in various illicit businesses, including betting, drug trafficking and extortion, said people privy to the details of the probe. «A substantial amount of the proceeds of crime raised through these illegal businesses has been invested to buy cryptocurrencies and purchase real estate,» said one of the officials, who did not wish to be identified. «Money is routed to wallets through hawala transactions and then these wallets are used to purchase real estate. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the preferred destinations both for purchase of wallets and investing in real estate. D-Company (Ibrahim's criminal syndicate) has a strong hawala network to send money to the UAE.»

As the ETHDenver developer conference gets underway, the incubator ConsenSys Mesh told Cointelegraph that it's planning a Friday announcement regarding a new addition to its portfolio.

Mumbai: Tough talk by senior Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials on cryptocurrencies is making the Indian crypto community nervous. On Monday, RBI deputy governor T Rabi Sankar called for an outright ban on cryptocurrencies. Previously, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das had said in a monetary policy press conference that private cryptocurrencies were a threat to the macroeconomic and financial stability of the country, and investors should keep risks in mind as such assets have no underlying value whatsoever, «not even a tulip».

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor T Rabi Sankar Monday said that banning private cryptocurrencies is the best option for the country, reiterating its tough stand on the asset class. Sankar, who was speaking at the IBA Banking Technology Awards, told bankers that even the notorious early-20th century Ponzi schemes were better as the Ponzi plans invested in income earning assets while cryptos are just gambling instruments. “They (cryptos) threaten the financial sovereignty of a country and make it susceptible to strategic manipulation by private corporations creating these currencies or governments that control them,” Sankar said. “All these factors lead to the conclusion that banning cryptocurrency is perhaps the most advisable choice open to India.”

Mumbai: Global crypto exchanges looking at the Indian market are awaiting more clarity on crypto regulations to make entry and investment decisions even after the government announced a tax regime in the Budget. Industry executives said the global exchanges have seen the government teetering on crypto regulations in the past three years and that signals from the government have been confusing at best. While the government has said it is looking at regulating rather than banning cryptocurrencies and has announced taxation provisions in the Budget, senior government officials have said that all options are on the table.

Bidding for sale of non-core assets of state-run telecom Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has failed to gather “adequate response”, against an expectation of raising at least Rs 470 crore through land assets, Business Standard reported.

Mumbai: The industry body representing cryptocurrency exchanges has decided to reach out to relevant policymakers to brief them about complications arising out of the government’s move to levy a 1% TDS on all crypto transactions. The issue was discussed at the meeting of the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) on Saturday, where the overwhelming view was that this move would dent crypto trading volumes and drive small traders towards informal Person to Person (P2P) trading and decentralised exchanges (DEX).Crypto exchanges derive a large chunk of their revenues from traders who frequently trade and pay a small sum on every trade.

Lata Mangeshkar, who died at a Mumbai hospital at 92, was considered one of Indian cinema's greatest singers.

Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar passed away today after a prolonged illness due to Covid-19 complications. She was 92. The singer had tested positive for coronavirus with mild symptoms and was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai almost a month ago.

IndusInd Bank Limited has moved National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench claiming default of Rs 83 crore by Zee Entertainment.