Crypto assets Financial News

The genesis and use of cryptocurrency has been a controversial topic for both Indian investors and the government. If initially the government’s stance towards virtual digital assets (VDAs) was ambiguous, later it became clear through its policies that the government was not in favour of these assets which have the potential to earn immense profits.

The presence of a boomer comedian pitchman, though, is just the latest sign that crypto has left behind its bleeding-edge roots. Institutional investors are pouring billions into digital tokens, athletes and mayors are taking part of their salaries in cryptocoins, and you may have already run into a bitcoin ATM at your grocery store. And then there are bitcoin's FOMO-inspiring, albeit insanely volatile, price movements: After peaking near $69,000 on Nov. 9, it was recently trading at about $39,300 — still almost five times its value in March 2020, according to Coinbase.

ConsenSys, blockchain software technology player, has raised $450 million in its Series D funding round at valuation of $7 billion. The raised funds will be converted into Ethereum (ETH), the company said. The fundraising was led by ParaFi Capital, who took part in the previous fundraising too. It was joined by new investors, including Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures. Other Series C investors, including Third Point, Marshall Wace, True Capital Management, and UTA VC, United Talent Agency’s venture fund also participated in this round.

crypto bandwagon amid the rising volatility in the global cryptoverse. According to a Knight Frank report, about 18 per cent of Indian ultra high-net worth-individuals (UHNIs) now own cryptocurrencies or tokens, and 11 per cent have invested in NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Earlier this week, IT major Tech Mahindra announced the launch of TechMVerse, its Metaverse practice to deliver interactive and immersive experiences in the Metaverse for its customers.

budget to address the lack of clarity on how income from such transactions is to be taxed and it doesn't necessarily confer legitimacy on such products, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj said in an interview. The budget announcement had been regarded as recognition of crypto assets such as digital coin, in the absence of explicit legislation on the matter.Assessing Officers' Call till March 31

MUMBAI: Legal experts are divided over regulating crypto assets. While one section is advising the government not to take a hasty decision without understanding the use cases, the other is against continuing the status quo despite the difficulty in defining crypto. ICICI Bank’s group general counsel Pramod Rao has said, “The government’s pause (on introducing the crypto bill in Parliament) is a good thing for us to wait and watch, and decide whether we need a separate regulator, which can transcend into all use cases.” However, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas partner Anu Tiwari said that it will take a few years for a new regulator to attain maturity — which is too long a time for crypto. According to Tiwari, Sebi is the practical choice for regulating crypto despite challenges like identifying issuers of tokens. Presented ByDid you Know?Sunny Leone too

Nirmala Sitharaman, who will table the Union Budget on February 1. Currently, there is no legislation, act or law to govern, regulate or prohibit dealing in crypto assets in India. Therefore, it is not illegal to sell, purchase, deal or mine cryptocurrencies or set up a cryptocurrency exchange in the country. However, the demands from the industry players, investors and other stakeholders are likely to reach the government, who may finally give heed to clear the clouds of ambiguity and may steer to the way ahead for the future.

crypto bill has taken a back seat. That said, it is highly unlikely that the crypto industry will go unnoticed by the Finance Ministry. Domestic exchanges have some major demands they wish to be acknowledged by the government. Majority of exchanges have demanded clarity about the taxation over the income earned from the crypto assets and GST rules implemented on the trading platforms to ease the operations for all the parties involved.

Dubai World Trade Centre will set up a specialised crypto zone

Duvvuri Subbarao has said the central bank could lose control over money supply and inflation management if cryptocurrency is allowed in the country. Speaking at a webinar organised by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business, Rao also said India's case for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) may not be strong as there are capital controls.

It now has a market capitalisation close to $26 billion, more than that of Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Avalanche, Polygon and Crypto.com Coin. It could overpower Polkadot, which has a market cap of nearly $29 billion. Terra has been one of the best performing cryptocurrencies in 2021. The digital token has rallied more than 15,000 per cent in the last one year. It hit an all-time high of $75.56 from less than half a dollar a year ago.

cryptocurrency market is going through tough times. Investors got spooked on Saturday and this brought down their investment by as much as 35 per cent this weekend.

Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Infosys

cryptocurrencies need to be regulated like any other financial asset and it would be unwise for India to ban private crypto assets when it has the ability to capitalise on it, a study released by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) said on Tuesday. The Indian crypto asset industry has witnessed exponential growth over the last five years.

By Vildana HajricBitcoin is staging a comeback along with other riskier assets on Monday, bouncing back from its Black-Friday lows. The largest digital asset rose as much as 3.4% during the session to trade around $58,266. Other coins also posted snap-backs, with the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index adding 5.5% at one point. So-called alternative coins like Polkadot and Dogecoin gained too.

founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Thursday said cryptocurrency is here to stay and it is fundamentally based on cryptography, the study of secure communications techniques. Speaking at an interactive session organised by ICC virtually, Sharma said crypto is Silicon Valley's answer to Wall Street. «

A typical crypto could include cryptocurrencies, virtual assets and digital currencies, among others. However, for the purpose of this discussion, I am focussed on crypto coins, tokens and their derivatives that are cryptographically secured.