It’s one thing to change an idea based on new facts or evidence. It’s something completely different to flip-flop back and forth when the facts have remained the same the entire time. However, that’s exactly what seems to be occurring in India. After stating in November that there was a possibility that all private cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin Core (BTC) and Bitcoin BCH, could be banned, the country is reportedly going to introduce a draft of crypto regulations as early as this December.
A report by Quartz released yesterday asserts that India’s finance ministry had given a task group the responsibility of creating regulatory norms and policies for crypto trading, as well as for blockchain technology. That group is expected to present its report next month.
The possibility of the draft first appeared in a statement issued by the country’s government related to a Supreme Court case that is pitting cryptocurrency exchanges against the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its banking ban. The statement reads, in part, “[S]erious efforts are going on for preparation of the draft report and the draft bill on virtual currencies, use of distributed ledger technology in (the) financial system and framework for digital currency in India.”
Once the draft is ready, it will be distributed to members of the finance ministry. From there, a ministry committee will discuss the draft to determine how to proceed. It’s not yet known what the draft may contain, but India’s Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs and chair of the committee, Subash Chandra Garg, has said that the committee has “moved quite a lot” in drafting regulations. That progress comes despite the committee routinely missing deadlines on the draft.
Whether or not this will be a good thing for the crypto industry in India or not remains to be seen. The country has seemingly been more anti-crypto than pro recently, taking several actions that seemed not only to suppress the space, but could also be considered illegal – at the very least, draconian.
Last month, police seized the first crypto ATM, which had been installed by the founders of the Unocoin exchange. The founders were also arrested in conjunction with the seizure. The excuse given was that the ATM violates current fiat laws. However, the teller only allowed users to conduct crypto-to-crypto transactions, which, according to Indian law, is not illegal.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post India could introduce crypto regulations in December appeared first on Coingeek.
India’s position on cryptocurrency continues to slide downhill. At the beginning of the year, the country was relatively warm toward the industry, but when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instituted a ban on its banks that prohibited them from working with crypto companies, things got a little worse. Most recently, the founders of the Unocoin exchange were arrested and police seized the country’s first crypto ATM, which only allowed users to buy or sell cryptocurrencies with no fiat support. Now, the country is considering making it illegal to use cryptocurrencies completely.
During the recent 19th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), the subject of cryptocurrencies came up, with some arguing that “private” cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin BCH and Bitcoin Core should not be allowed.
The country’s Press Information Bureau, on behalf of the country’s Ministry of Finance, released a statement, stating that a working group has been reviewing the topic. Another group, an inter-governmental committee that was formed to propose legal guidelines for crypto went the other direction and has suggested that a complete ban is the best course of action.
According to the press release, “The Council also deliberated on the issues and challenges of Crypto Assets/Currency and was briefed about the deliberations in the High-level Committee chaired by the Secretary (Economic Affairs) to devise an appropriate legal framework to ban use of private crypto currencies in India and encouraging the use of Distributed Ledger Technology, as announced in the Budget 2018-19.”
Per the government’s words, banning the “use of private crypto…” would mean that they could not be legally traded or be used as a form of payment. Initial coin offerings would no longer be allowed and any startups looking to get into the crypto space would be breaking the law. However, it might not prevent crypto enthusiasts from owning crypto – they simply wouldn’t have any way to spend it.
RBI’s banking ban has already taken a toll on the industry in the country. Several exchanges shut down, while others decided to move offshore. Last month, some exchanges restarted limited operations that saw users being able to purchase and sell cryptocurrencies through the platforms’ peer-to-peer services, but the latest from the government would seem to indicate that all exchanges will soon be looking at make a move out of the country.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post India could ban everything crypto appeared first on Coingeek.
Digital payments is coming to India, a country considered to be one of the largest cash dependent nations in the world.
This week, Hitachi Payments announced that it has entered into a joint venture with the State Bank of India (SBI) to establish “a state-of-the-art card acceptance and future ready digital payments platform for India.”
Under the deal, Hitachi Payments will invest 26% to SBI Payment Services Pvt. Ltd., and will also provide SBI with innovative solutions using its Internet of Things (IoT) platform Lumada.
Hitachi has been SBI’s technology provider for card and digital services since 2011. The new partnership between the two companies is going to oversee the development of a nationwide digital payments platform. The platform will be geared towards solutions for ecommerce and mass transit in India integrated with Point-of-Sale (POS) solutions.
Bharat Kaushal, managing director of Hitachi India explains, “India is progressing towards becoming a knowledge economy with technology as the pivot. Hitachi is aiding in the development of India’s social infrastructure as well as giving a fillip to the economy. This mutually beneficial partnership with the financial giant SBI will allow us to widen our footprint pan India.”
Hitachi’s Lumada platform was implemented as the base platform for Mizuho Financial Group, a Japanese firm last year. The Lumada platform functions over a blockchain proof-of-concept (POC) network. Hitachi reportedly has about 55,000 ATMs and 850,000 point of sale (POS) devices under management in India. Hitachi is also a part of the multi-project open source collaborative effort hosted by The Linux Foundation.
On the other hand, SBI is a founding member of BankChain, a blockchain for banking research consortium. SBI has also been developing a blockchain solution since 2017 for managing know-your-customer (KYC) protocols. SBI is the largest commercial bank in India and has a 23% market share of assets market. The bank also serves over 420 million customers and maintains over 6 million POS terminals across the country.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Hitachi, State Bank of India to develop ‘future ready’ digital payments platform appeared first on Coingeek.
The Indian government must release its finding on cryptocurrencies within two weeks, as ordered by the country’s Supreme Court that is currently hearing petitions against the present ban on cryptocurrency-related companies dealing with banks.
Cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx CEO Nischal Shetty was reported by news.bitcoin.com as saying, “Supreme Court has asked govt. to file an affidavit related to the findings of the crypto committee set up by them. They’re supposed to submit this within two weeks.”
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) banking ban was contested at the Supreme Court by some of the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges as unconstitutional. The committee assigned to draft the report was supposed to submit it last September. No indication has been given as to whether it would maintain the RBI’s position that cryptocurrencies were not money.
Shetty said, “We don’t know what the committee report contains as of now… What we can expect is much more clarity about crypto from a government point of view. That’s a good step forward.”
As popular as cryptocurrencies have become in India, the local industry remains uncertain about its future. Cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin had just set up the country’s first cryptocurrency ATM last week, but authorities soon after shut it down and confiscated the machine, as well as arrested co-founder Harish B.V. India’s Central Crime Branch said that Unocoin had no permission to install the machine and that the company was “dealing in cryptocurrency outside of the remit of the law.”
While some countries’ governments have expressed the same concerns about purchasing cryptocurrencies, such as that it encouraged illegal transactions or made people vulnerable to scams, not all of them have implemented prohibitions or severely inhibited related business operations. Still, increased regulation is becoming more a matter of course, for the purpose of consumer protection.
Japan’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), for example, is considering rules for the management of customers’ assets, such as limitations for margin trading with cryptocurrencies.
The UK is deliberating regulations that would put the cryptocurrency industry under the purview of its Financial Conduct Authority. The UK Parliament’s Treasury committee has warned of the volatility of cryptocurrency prices, and its possible use for illegal activities.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post India Supreme Court directs gov’t to give position on cryptocurrency appeared first on Coingeek.
That didn’t take too long. The keypad on India’s first crypto ATM wasn’t even broken in and the money machine has already been removed. According to a report by the Times of India, police have seized the ATM and arrested the co-founder of the Unocoin crypto exchange, which had installed the device in Bangalore.
Harish B.V., the 37-year-old co-founder of Unocoin, was taken into custody by police this past Tuesday, only four days after news broke that the ATM had been installed. The other co-founder, Sathvik Viswanath, has not suffered the same fate as his partner and no information pertaining to the arrest was available.
The ATM was seized because the country’s Central Crime Branch claimed the company did not have permission to install the machine and because it is “dealing in cryptocurrency outside the remit of the law.” Law enforcement officials also took two laptops, a cell phone, five debit and three credit cards, a passport, cash and other items.
The machine was installed, but not operational. In a tweet from October 20, Unocoin indicated, “Our Machine didn’t go well with few mainstream media reports who projected it under a negative light. The machine is still under final testing mode and it will be up and running in the upcoming week. The machine has been temporarily moved from its original place of installation.”
Our Machine didn't go well with few mainstream media reports who projected it under a negative light. The machine is still under final testing mode and it will be up and running in the upcoming week. The machine has been temporarily moved from its original place of installation.
— Unocoin (@Unocoin) October 20, 2018
There is still a lot of debate regarding cryptocurrencies in India. Some individuals—unfortunately those that are wielding the power—have tried to prevent cryptocurrency from coming to the country. The Reserve Bank of India has banned banks from working with entities in the crypto space and has continued to do its best to portray the currency in a bad light.
Crypto is not legal tender in India—the same as in most countries—but the recent actions against Unocoin should be worrisome to everyone for their dictatorial nature. The ATM was not designed to allow users to buy or sell crypto—they could only withdraw or deposit.
To that end, there is absolutely no reason law enforcement should have gotten involved. As a trading tool, cryptocurrency is not banned by any government statutes or policies. Since the ATM would not have dispensed cash, or allowed cash to be exchanged for crypto, the arrest and seizure are completely without merit.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Police seize India’s first crypto ATM, arrest Unocoin co-founder appeared first on Coingeek.
The cryptocurrency industry in India is thriving despite the central bank’s rigid stance against it. On Oct. 14, the South Asian country had its first crypto ATM installed in Bengaluru’s Kemp Fort Mall. The crypto teller machine was launched by cryptocurrency exchange, Unocoin, for the exclusive use of its customers.
Unocoin has plans to launch 30 more of such ATMs across the country. Its next stop might be Mumbai and New Delhi, according to Quartz. Unodax’s customers started using the ATM on Monday, October 15th. To use the ATM, you must have a Unocoin account. The ATM, which offers fiats transactions only, allows users to deposit cash into their Unocoin account and then withdraw the funds from the account.
Complying with the countries regulations, the minimum limit on deposit or withdrawal of funds has been set at INR1,000 ($13.55) per transaction, while the maximum amount per transaction is capped at INR10,000 ($136). To use the crypto ATM, a customer will first have to validate his user ID, and then type in a one-time-password sent to his registered mobile number. If the customer wants to deposit money he can do so and the updated balance in the Unocoin account will be displayed. The process for withdrawal is similar, but if the user wishes to purchase cryptocurrencies he will have to use Unocoin’s website or mobile application.
The crypto ATMs are seen as a means of circumventing the crackdown of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) on the crypto industry. In July, the RBI ordered banks to cut off business ties with local cryptocurrency traders and exchanges. However, Unocoin claims that it has not violated any of the laws of the RBI as its ATMs have nothing to do with India’s banking system. Sathvik Vishwanath, Unocoin’s CEO explained, “The ATMs deployed by us do not need any banking partnerships. These are stand-alone machines that can accept and dispense cash.”
Since the clash between the cryptocurrency and regulators in India began, exchanges have taken quite a hit. Unocoin wasn’t spared, and according to Vishwanath, “At present, the volume (of transactions) has become one-tenth of what it used to be (before the RBI crackdown). We believe that after we have deployed it in many other cities and it becomes popular than demand should come back.”
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post First crypto ATM appears in India despite central bank clampdown appeared first on Coingeek.
After suspending its trading operations in India, cryptocurrency exchange Zebpay is reportedly setting its sights on “global domination.”
Zebpay has yet to make an official announcement about its overseas operations plans. However, Indiabits tweeted last week that the Indian crypto company has set up entities in Singapore and Malta, which reportedly will enable it to “provide cryptocurrency exchange and OTC services to 20 countries in Europe.”
@Zebpay is not shutting down, it is setting up for global domination
CC @mahingupta @AjeetK @GoenkaSandeep pic.twitter.com/ZPkoyQWDmD
— IndiaBits (@indiabits21) October 12, 2018
On its website, Zebpay identified Awlencan Innovations Malta Ltd., a Maltese registered company, which owns and operates the Zebpay VFA Exchange Platform in Malta. Awlencan Innovation Pte. Ltd., meanwhile, is a Singapore-based blockchain company that was formed in May 2018.
Zebpay is planning to offer cryptocurrency exchanges services and OTC services to 20 countries in Europe, according to Indiabits. These countries include Belgium, Malta, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Slovenia, Portugal, Poland, Netherlands, and Latvia.
Zebpay will not extend its services to restricted jurisdictions, especially those sanctioned by the United States like Iran and Venezuela. The company will also not offer its services to the customers in U.S. and Japan.
For its new operations, Zebpay stated that it would exercise strict know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering processes. All customers will be allowed to have only one account. Any accounts with same identification details will be closed.
The decision to increase its global reach comes two weeks after the company announced that it would be shutting down its cryptocurrency exchanges in India. According to reports, Zebpay closed shop in India following the Reserve Bank of India’s ban on all crypto-related businesses.
At the time, Zebpay stated that they were unable to continue their operations in India as they could not find reasonable ways to run their services without drawing the ire of the authorities. Despite being one of India’s largest cryptocurrency, the current crypto situation forced Zebpay to look for better markets. Many entities in the country have challenged the RBI ban. The matter has been taken to the Supreme Court and is yet to be resolved.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post India’s Zebpay sets up overseas operations appeared first on Coingeek.
Authorities in India have finally caught up with a prolific cryptocurrency scam artist, alleged to have been involved in a number of scams affecting dozens of investors in the country.
In a major coup for law enforcement agencies, Asif Ashraf Malkani was finally arrested after several months on the run, following complaints to police from aggrieved investors in his cryptocurrency scams, Times of India reported.
The first, known as Kassh Coin, was launched two years ago at a lavish function, where Malkani hired models and dancers to entertain guests—including notable Bollywood celebrities. The air of credibility, however, was short lived after investors soon began complaining of a lack of the returns they were promised for investing in the project.
Over the last few weeks, authorities identified Malkani had moved to Uttar Pradesh, where he had been involved in running similar alleged scam—this time around a new cryptocurrency, dubbed V-flix.
Investigators said Malkani was also found to have been soliciting investment for a “commercially viable” video streaming service he had called V-Tube when authorities tracked him down. According to their findings, Malkani had also been involved in sending substantial bank transactions through his fake company, Puneet Enterprises.
After the initial success of their launch event, Malkani set up a number of satellite events across India and into Nepal, including “youth seminars,” designed to stoke interest from younger investors.
However, after Malkani and his co-conspirators withdrew their funds and disappeared, anger had been mounting amongst those caught up in his latest scam. His previous career track record looks equally dubious, with known involvement in several other scams and high profile frauds, including around real-estate and chain-marketing scams.
His arrest was confirmed by senior officers earlier this week. The case is just the latest example of a scammer turning to the crypto sector to cash in on unsuspecting investors.
The case shows the difficulties for investors in largely unregulated crypto markets, with countless instances of unsuspecting individuals being caught out by investment frauds linked to the sector.
Coupled with the threats inherent in older cryptocurrencies, perhaps most prominent with BTC, the case shows safety should still be a priority for anyone looking to get involved in investing in cryptocurrency.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Indian authorities track down prolific ‘Kassh coin’ crypto scammer appeared first on Coingeek.
At the end of August, rumors surfaced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had secretly created a division that was involved in the research and creation of regulations for emerging technologies, including blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The fact that the central bank would be involved in cryptocurrencies was somewhat shocking, given that it has taken a staunch anti-crypto approach to allowing banks to work with businesses in the industry. Now—more than a month after the news first circulated—RBI has stepped forward to deny the rumors.
Financial news outlet The Economic Times first mentioned the new division in August, noting that RBI had already been operating the unit for about a month based its information on two sources close to the Indian central bank.
RBI has rejected the claims, stating that it has no crypto-focused unit. The rejection came as a response to a “right to information” (RIT) request made by Coin Crunch’s Naimish Sanghvi.
The rejection is made even more puzzling by the fact that RBI stated shortly after the story was published in the Economic Times that it had, in fact, formed an “inter-departmental group” designed to “study and provide guidance on the feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency.” It would appear that RBI executives aren’t sure what is going on inside their own bank.
In the early part of 2017, the research arm of RBI published a report on the benefits of blockchain technology in banking. That department, the Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology, asserted that blockchain technology had “matured enough” to allow for the digitization of the rupee.
About a year later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly spoke about the positives of the blockchain, stating that he would like to see “rapid adaption” of the technology.
The current ban implemented by RBI has caused serious damage to the crypto industry in the country. While a couple of exchanges have been able to figure out ways to legal sidestep the order, others have suffered irreparable harm. Zebpay, formerly one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, has now permanently closed its doors because of the ban.
The debate over RBI’s authority to prevent banks from working with crypto companies has been taken to the country’s Supreme Court. However, the court has twice delayed hearing arguments, only exacerbating the situation further. At this rate, India could become the weakest country in the cryptocurrency world in relatively short order.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Reserve Bank of India refutes claims of crypto, blockchain probe appeared first on Coingeek.
One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, Zebpay, has called it quits.
Last week, Zebpay announced that it is ceasing all digital currency-related trading on its platform, effective Sept. 28. The exchange cited the “extremely difficult” conditions that crypto-related businesses had to operate in recently as the reason behind its shutdown.
In a blog post, the exchange explained, “The recent apst has been extremely difficult. The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customer’s, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business.”
We are stopping our exchange. At 4 PM today, we will cancel unexecuted orders & credit your coins to your Zebpay wallet. No new orders will be accepted. The Zebpay wallet will work even after the exchange stops.
Read more: https://t.co/W8ygzPIYz1 pic.twitter.com/tPWCnyu7Yu
— zebpay (@zebpay) September 28, 2018
The announcement comes several months after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered banks across the country to stop offering financial services to crypto exchanges.
It has been three months since the RBI issued a deadline to the banking industry in the country. Despite the ban, Zebpay said it has continued serving customers in the hope that things would turn around. They did not want people in the country to miss opportunities in digital currencies; however, due to the hard conditions, they have had to stop their operations.
Since its launch in 2015, Zebpay has made a name for itself in India. It was currently among the few crypto exchanges that had managed to survive after the government crackdown on crypto exchanges in the country. At one point Zebpay was the most downloaded app hitting 200,000 downloads and with an annual turnover of INR500 crore.
The cryptocurrency exchanges community in India has suffered tremendously over the last couple of months. Many have moved to fight RBI’s ban, but the Supreme Court in India has yet to make a final decision on the matter. While waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision, exchanges in the country have turned to other alternatives, like offering crypto-to-crypto only trading, just stay afloat.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Zebpay trading shuts down amid regulatory pressure in India appeared first on Coingeek.
