Indian Crypto Miner

The Indian state of Telangana looks primed as a blockchain technology forerunner in the subcontinent. On July 26, 2018, state officials signed MoUs with various blockchain startups and consultants to augment the use of the burgeoning technology in administrative services. Bringing Transparency to State Administration As  reported  by  Business Standard , Telangana’s I.T. and Industries head Jayesh Ranjan noted the implementation of blockchain technology in “six or seven” government applications. Earlier, the state had piloted blockchain-based land registry and pension platforms to bring transparency and mitigate fraud in the two middlemen-dominated businesses. Rajan revealed migrating to blockchain-based platforms helps omit the opacity of governmental sectors by assisting citizens in tracking sensitive information and pinpointing the progress of essential applications. However, Rajan did not name any area of implementation yet, rendering any presumptions as ...

Supply and demand is the most important determinant of cryptocurrency prices. This is a basic economic principle. If a cryptocurrency has a high token supply with little demand from traders and users, then the cryptocurrency’s value will drop. Conversely, if the supply of a particular cryptocurrency is limited and the demand is high, then the value of the coin will increase. This is linked to the scarcity element that drives up prices and is one of the factors that saw the price of Bitcoin climb to its highest levels. The supply of Bitcoin is capped at 21 million BTC — which is relatively low compared to other tokens — while the demand has soared in recent years. The media or public sentiment also has a big influence over the price of cryptocurrencies. If a token or platform gets some negative publicity, you would generally see the price of that coin take a dip. While, if the same coin were to get high profile support and good media coverage, the price would almost c...

The cryptocurrency market is still considered very new and, beyond hearing the term “cryptocurrency,” most people are still very much unfamiliar with the industry. Nascent markets have a number of qualities that make them inherently volatile. Limited liquidity exists within the market if you compare it to more established markets like traditional economies, including the foreign exchange market. To put it into perspective, the total value of all the money in the world is more than $90 trillion, while the total cryptocurrency market cap is hovering around $250 billion — a 36,000 percent difference. Daily cryptocurrency trading volumes are around the $14 billion mark, while daily forex trades are closer to $5 trillion. The spread — the difference between the buy and sell price — on foreign currency trades will be a few pennies at the most, while spreads on cryptocurrency trades can be as high as a few dollars. All this points to a very thin market...

1. How do cryptocurrency prices compare to fiat currencies? Neither is backed by a commodity like gold or anything with an underlying value. The biggest difference between cryptocurrency values and fiat money is that fiat currencies are backed by central governments and declared as legal tender. Its value is basically derived from the fact that the central government has stated that it has value and two parties in a transaction put their trust in that value. Most countries today operate in a fiat currency system, where central banks and monetary reserves control the supply of money and, as such, indirectly control inflation. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are not controlled by a central government or authority, and most regions do not accept them as legal tender. Cryptocurrencies will also generally have a fixed supply and, therefore, the devaluation of cryptocurrencies through inflation is mostly nonexistent. Other than that, both fiat and cryptocurr...

The cryptocurrency ecosystem in India may have just found a lifeline, albeit an unlikely one. According to a legal report released in July 2018, the country’s lawmakers are considering legalizing the multi-million dollar sports betting industry – naming cryptocurrencies as a legally acceptable payment method akin to credit and debit cards. India Explores Cryptocurrencies in Sports Betting Titled “ Legal Framework: Gambling and Sports Betting including Cricket in India ,” the  report  explores the usage of digital payment mechanisms, including crypto currencies, as the country prepares to legalize the sports betting sector. The report stems after police investigations into million-dollar betting allegations during the popular Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches revealed fan-favorite celebrities and politicians used “black money” for placing their bets, superseding the government’s widespread, yet ineffective, crackdown on betting circles. After observing t...

An RTI response from Department of Economic Affairs around cryptocurrency says ‘Relevant policy [around Virtual currencies] is currently under formulation stage’, reaffirming the reports that cryptocurrency regulations may soon be a reality in India.  Yusuf Rampurawala, a lawyer and crypto enthusiast from Mumbai filed an RTI application in May directed towards the Reserve Bank of India which was then forwarded to the Ministry of Finance (DEA). Rampurawala’s intention behind the RTI was to get a response from Reserve Bank of India/Government about any Inter Disciplinary committee setup for regulation of cryptocurrency. He received details about the committee setup back in March 2017. In its response, the DEA declined to share the report prepared by the committee in 2017 citing reason The report of the committee contains policy issues of strategic importance and relevant policy is currently under formulation stage. Hence the query attracts Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act...

As the implications of the invention of have become understood, a certain hype has sprung up around blockchain technology. This is, perhaps, because it is so easy to imagine high-level use cases. But, the technology has also been closely examined: millions of dollars have been spent researching blockchain technology over the past few years, and numerous tests for whether or not blockchain technology is appropriate in various scenarios have been conducted. Blockchain technology offers new tools for authentication and authorization in the digital world that preclude the need for many centralized administrators. As a result, it enables the creation of new digital relationships. By formalizing and securing new digital relationships, the blockchain revolution is posed to create the backbone of a layer of the internet for transactions and interactions of value (often called the 'Internet of Value', as opposed to the 'Internet of Information' which uses the client-se...

"The practical consequence […is…] for the first time, a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer. The consequences of this breakthrough are hard to overstate." - Marc Andreessen From a cruising altitude, a blockchain might not look that different from things you're familiar with, say Wikipedia. With a blockchain, many people can write entries into a record of information, and a community of users can control how the record of information is amended and updated. Likewise, Wikipedia entries are not the product of a single publisher. No one person controls the information. Descending to ground level, however, the differences that make blockchain technology unique become more clear. While both run on distributed networks (the internet), Wik...

“Deposits/Withdrawals Notice ,” came the post title from popular Indian cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin this week. “As per orders from RBI,” the exchange explained, “bank INR withdrawals and INR Deposits have temporarily been disabled. Once an alternative method of funding is identified and deployed, we will resume the deposit and withdrawal services.” India Crypto Exchange Unocoin Suspends Withdrawals and Deposits to Comply with Central Bank Orders Ahead of an anticipated regulatory move and potential clarification by the government of India on the subject of cryptocurrencies, popular exchange Unocoin suspended fiat deposits and withdrawals,  noting  “Cryptoasset(coin) deposits and withdrawals are ON @ Unocoin & Unodax; Using INR Balance Buy and Sell of BTC/ETH is ON @ Unocoin; Crypto-rupee and crypto-crypto pair trading are ON @ Unodax.” RBI is the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank; INR is the international short expression for the India rupee...

In a first, India’s central bank has called for the regulation of the domestic cryptocurrency sector during Friday’s hearing at the Supreme Court, weeks after enforcing a banking ban against crypto companies. Earlier in April, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)  issued a circular  that forbade all financial institutions – banks included – from offering services to businesses in the cryptocurrency sector. Furthermore, the policy also mandated banks to stop customers from purchasing cryptocurrencies using fiat funds in their banking accounts. A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in India’s Supreme Court calling for regulation of the cryptocurrency sector saw the central bank  absolve itself of any responsibility  in framing a policy, claiming it was a policy matter requiring legislation through India’s Parliament rather than a subject of debate among courts. Amazingly, the RBI then admitted that it – as a central bank responsible for framing monetary polic...

The Indian government is expected to issue detailed cryptocurrency guidelines by September, a senior official from the country’s Ministry of Finance reportedly said. Consultations with all stakeholders including the central bank have already begun. This announcement is independent of the supreme court’s hearing of petitions relating to crypto regulation in India. Regulation Expected by September The Indian government has reportedly finished drafting the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The New Indian Express wrote on Saturday that the government is “likely to issue guidelines on cryptocurrency by September.” Subhash Garg. This news follows the  statement  last month by the country’s Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Garg, confirming that the draft law would be ready by mid-July. Citing that stakeholders include the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an ...

The Supreme Court will pass a verdict on RBI's crypto ban on 11th Sept. No worries, 👉Garg Committee's still working on #crypto regulation plan Keep the crypto fire burning! #isupportcrypto

The  Reserve Bank of India  (RBI), which admitted last month that it clamped down on cryptocurrencies without much discussion, has expanded on its objections, as a government panel considers a draft of regulations. The central bank instructed banks in April to close cryptocurrency accounts in the first week of July. The concerns include the currencies’ insufficient intrinsic value, investor protection and anonymous transactions, the central bank recently explained to the Internet and Mobile Association of  India  (IAMAI), a group that includes bitcoin exchanges, according to  Quartz . Exchanges Offer Regulatory Suggestions IAMAI members have suggested regulations to the RBI and take objection to all of the central bank’s concerns. Some bitcoin exchanges legally challenged the central bank after it instructed banks in April to close cryptocurrency accounts. In May, the country’s supreme court responded to that challenge by instructing the excha...