Tag: cryptocurrencies

All banks will soon consider offering crypto trade, says former Citi CEO Vikram Pandit, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Vikram Pandit, the Indian-born former CEO of Citigroup Inc and co-founder of Orogen Group, has said that banks and traditional financial institutions will soon start thinking of offering cryptocurrencies.

Pandit aired his view on the future of cryptocurrencies in an interview at a Singapore Fintech Festival. Vikram Pandit noted that in a few years to come large banks and other financial institutions will start offering crypto services directly to their customers.

“In one to three years, every large bank and, or securities firm is going to actively think about ‘shouldn’t I also be trading and selling cryptocurrency assets?”, he asked.

Vikram Pandit is a popular investor and a long-time admirer of cryptocurrencies, he has previously largely invested in one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase.

The investor expects the introduction of digital assets to be an upgrade to the paper-based banking system to make the exchange process more suitable.

Banks bet on crypto

Meanwhile, banks and other financial institutions are already taking steps and seeking ways to enter the crypto industry.

As per a recent report, banks are now paying a 50% premium to employ crypto talents. The banks are making this move because they risk losing their customers to other banks or financial institutions that offer these crypto services.

According to data collected by Revelio Labs, a workforce intelligence company, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and Morgan Stanley are among the companies hiring these crypto talents.

Coinfomania reported last week that Australia’s Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is set to become the first banking institution in the country to offer crypto services to its clients.

The bank noted that it will allow its customers the ability to buy, sell and hold digital assets, directly via the CommBank app.

With the country’s financial watchdog looking into the regulatory implications of the bank’s move, CBA has said it would welcome clear regulatory guidelines for crypto assets.

However, while these traditional financial systems are offering clients exposure to crypto assets, none of them has decided to trade crypto directly to their clients, and that is about to change soon, according to Pandit.



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Bitcoin, ether scale new peaks as flows pour in to crypto, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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SYDNEY – Bitcoin and ether made record peaks in Asia trade on Tuesday, with enthusiasm for cryptocurrency adoption and worry about inflation driving momentum and flows into the asset class.

Bitcoin rose as high as $68,564 in Asian afternoon trade and ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market value, earlier hit $4,825.

Both have more than doubled since June and added nearly 70% against the dollar since the start of October.

“We’re getting the feeling that the market has shifted,” said Matthew Dibb, chief operating officer at Singapore-based crypto asset manager Stack Funds, pointing to a sharp pick up in demand from large investors and even pension funds.

“People are now figuring out that not having any exposure, even a small amount, is probably not a good thing moving forward, so they’re having to allocate at this price,” he said.

Market momentum has been gathering since last month’s launch of a futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States raised expectations of flow-driven gains.

Inflows into bitcoin products and funds have hit a record $6.4 billion so far this year, data from digital asset manager CoinShares showed, and totaled $95 million last week.

Other pieces of positive news have also helped, including plans by Grayscale, the world’s largest digital currency manager, to convert its flagship bitcoin trust into a spot-bitcoin exchange traded fund. Last week Grayscale also applied to list a “future of finance” fund that would track companies involved in the growing digital economy.

“Crypto is where the fast money is at,” said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone. “(Ether) is trending like a dream and I’d be long and strong here,” he added.

“Clients are net long, with 79% of open positions held long, and I can sense the $5k party could get going soon.”

Others flagged cause for some near-term caution on bitcoin, however, as the cost of funding long positions has crept higher in recent days, according to trading platform BitMEX – sometimes a precursor to a pullback.

Still, the moves so far have carried the token more than 1680% higher from its March 2020 lows and helped lift the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies above $3 trillion, according to crypto price and data aggregator CoinGecko.

CoinMarketCap put it slightly lower at $2.94 trillion. Either way true believers, or “hodlers” in crypto markets terminology, have felt vindicated and remain bullish.

“They threw everything at the beast and still it moves,” said payments strategist and sometimes host of the Around the Coin podcast, Brian Roemmele, on Twitter. “Next stop: #Bitcoin $72000.”

(This story corrects spelling to Roemmele in final paragraph)



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Blockchain-based platform SportZchain raises $4,00,000

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Blockchain-based fan engagement platform SportZchain has raised $4,00,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Darq Capital. Jagadeesh Atukuri, Director of Comply Dot, and SHISAN Investments (co-founded by EX-COO of Goldman Sachs) among others also participated in the round.

The funds will be utilised to build the platform’s alpha version of an interactive blockchain-based web app and implementing branding & marketing initiatives to drive awareness around its unique offerings.

Also read: Bollywood stars, Indian celebrities launch NFTs amid global craze

Ideated in March 2021, the Singapore-based SportZchain was founded by Siddharth Jaiswal with the belief that sports fans deserve a basic right to be heard by their favourite sports teams, help them make the right decisions by voting on official binding polls, and reap financial gains by owning branded sports token.

The company is backed by Ajeet Khurana (Ex-CEO of Zebpay and Head of Blockchain & Crypto Committee, India), Suhail Chandok (Star Sports TV Presenter, Analyst & Commentator – IPL, ICC Cricket, World Cups, Pro Kabaddi, Wimbledon, etc.), Oksana Belousova (CEO of Fenix Technology), to name a few.

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Many Indian expats turn to crypto to remit money, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Abir Roychaudhary, a 39-year-old engineer working in Qatar, has transferred around ₹2 lakh to his family based in Mumbai every month using traditional cross-border, cross-currency players.

In October for the first time, Roychaudhary bought cryptocurrencies worth half that amount – ₹1 lakh – and his wife who has access to his wallet could use the sum when needed.

Roychaudhary like many Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Filipino expats are increasingly experimenting with cryptocurrencies to remit money to their families back home and save on commissions charged by wire transfer companies and other middlemen.

Industry trackers say that the sudden growth in the crypto investments even in smaller towns across India has also led to people exploring various uses.

“The process of remittances through cryptocurrencies into India is a lot more efficient and faster than the conventional process, and all transactions are visible on the blockchain network from a regulatory point of view,” said Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, a Global Crypto Investing Platform.

“Looking at current hype in crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, United Farmers Finance and Grain, it should be easy to remit money to India and anywhere in the world, more over you can earn more from this crypto by staking or by providing liquidity in our ecosystem,” said Santhosh Bhhandarii, co-founder, United Farmers Finance, a crypto farming platform.

Remittances in India are pegged at about $80 billion which are mainly transferred through banking or other financial channels.

Industry trackers say that the way Indians are warming up to crypto assets as well as decentralised finance, remittances through crypto assets is only set to grow, especially because transferring smaller amounts can be expensive through the traditional services.

Globally, several blockchain startups like Satoshi Citadel in the Philippines have started offering services to facilitate bitcoin remittances in a user-friendly way.

There are close to 1.5 crore crypto investors in India holding digital assets worth ₹15,000 crore. All the large cryptocurrency exchanges saw at least 100% increase in their trading and investment in the last few months.

Experts say that though Bitcoin was the preferred choice for remittances but its transaction costs are rising, currencies like Ripple and Dash are good replacements due to substantially lower fees.

Cryptocurrency remittances became a lifeline for Afghans after Western Union ceased operations for some time after the US withdrew from Afghanistan.

Experts also say that crypto is becoming popular in places with high inflation like Lebanon, Turkey and Venezuela.

Experts point out that remittances in crypto are finding favour because people want to protect themselves against hyperinflation.

Most of those looking to remit money are doing so through some of the less volatile crypto assets such as Stablecoins, say industry trackers. “While remitting money, users would want the value to remain as intended, unhindered by market volatility. Stablecoins pegged to the US dollar are the preferred choice for doing such transactions. Users mostly use stable currencies like USDT/USDC to do these transfers,” said Patel.

The RBI has had a faceoff with cryptocurrency exchanges in the past. It had asked banks to stop dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges, but had to back off following a Supreme Court order.

The government is planning to define cryptocurrencies in the new draft bill and could treat it as an asset/commodity for all purposes, including taxation.
Many Indian expats turn to crypto to remit money



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Crypto bourses block accounts as red flags rise, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Indian cryptocurrency exchanges have started reporting and blocking trading accounts, which undertake suspicious trades after government agencies raised red flags over cryptocurrencies being used for money laundering.

The self-regulation comes at a time when India is yet to come out with any regulations around cryptocurrencies or the way to tax them. Industry trackers say investigators including cybercrime officials, the Enforcement Directorate and the income tax department, had raised red flags in the past few months.

Also, top crypto exchanges are getting requests from foreign investigators regarding certain suspicious accounts.
For instance, WazirX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, recently declared the numbers in what it calls a “transparency report”.

Between April and September this year, the exchange got 377 requests from legal enforcement agencies, out of which 38 requests were from foreign law enforcement agencies. The crypto exchange locked about 1,500 accounts.

In all, the exchange locked 14,469 accounts, although most of them were after customers asked them to stop services or there were some other payment issues.

“Initiatives such as the transparency report add credibility to the ecosystem and make the crypto world look more appealing to outsiders,” Nischal Shetty, CEO and founder, WazirX. “We aim to look at the bigger goals like positive regulations and consider ourselves paving the way to it through innovative approaches.” Many regulators in India had raised red flags around certain cryptocurrency transactions.

Exchanges have said they have developed a strong internal anti-money laundering policy as well.

“In India, we are bringing our four years of robust policy with our technologies to make sure we build products and services which help in crypto adoption but at the same time minimise the risk of money laundering,” said Kumar Gaurav, founder & CEO, Cashaa.

The exchanges waking up to money laundering and other regulators also come at a time when India is planning to come out with a cryptocurrency regulation.

There has always been regulatory scepticism around cryptocurrency and whether it can be used for illegal activities from buying drugs to money laundering.

The exchanges have always claimed that if the cryptocurrency is based on a blockchain technology, all the records are permanent and, in fact, it would be easier to discover the exact nature of the transactions.

“The report and the think tank is part of our efforts to bring more clarity and build transparency for our users and policy makers in India around everything crypto,” said Aritra Sarkhel, director of public policy at WazirX. Most of the large exchanges have seen between 100% and 400% jump in their volumes and value of trade that happen on their platforms amidst the global rally and some hope on the domestic regulatory front.



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Crypto assets pose financial stability challenges: IMF report

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The rapid growth of the crypto ecosystem presents new opportunities, the IMF has said, but also cautioned that the digital currency assets pose financial stability challenges. Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

“The rapid growth of the crypto ecosystem presents new opportunities. Technological innovation is ushering in a new era that makes payments and other financial services cheaper, faster, more accessible, and allows them to flow across borders swiftly,” it said in a chapter of its latest report Global Financial Stability Report.

Innovative financial services

Crypto asset technologies have potential as a tool for faster and cheaper cross-border payments. Bank deposits can be transformed to stable coins that allow instant access to a vast array of financial products from digital platforms and allow instant currency conversion, said the IMF in its chapter titled The Crypto Ecosystem and Financial Stability Challenges.

Decentralised finance could become a platform for more innovative, inclusive, and transparent financial services, it added.

Volatile currency

“Despite potential gains, the rapid growth and increasing adoption of crypto assets also pose financial stability challenges,” the IMF said.

In a recent interview with PTI, Tobias Adrian, the Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of IMF, said that Bitcoin could lead to instability because it is extremely volatile. It was trading above 65,000 earlier this year, and then it came down to below 30,000.

“It might go back up, it might go back down. So if you’re a merchant, and you’re quoting in Bitcoin, you’re exposed to this massive volatility. It is much more volatile than equities or commodities or even exchange rates. It’s a very, very volatile asset, and that is introducing instability,” he said.

“It’s fine as an investment asset. But as a monetary aggregate, it just doesn’t have the right properties,” he added.

Also see: Indian cryptocurrency market likely to reach up to $241 million by 2030: Nasscom

“And let me just add two more problems with that. One is that transaction costs can be fairly expensive and compared to digital money, as it’s the case in India for example, where you have a real-time gross settlement payment system, it’s actually slow because it’s a distributed ledger, and to know that the transaction has gone through, it has to be verified on all of these different computers. So, it’s not that instantaneous, and it can be expensive to transact and it’s extremely volatile. It doesn’t have the properties that you want money to have,” Adrian said.

Destabilise capital flows

The IMF in its report said that challenges posed by the crypto ecosystem include operational and financial integrity risks from crypto asset providers, investor protection risks for crypto-assets and DeFi, and inadequate reserves and disclosure for some stable coins.

“In emerging markets, the advent of crypto assets has benefits but can accelerate cryptoisation and circumvent exchange and capital control restrictions. Increased trading of crypto-assets in these economies could destabilise capital flows,” it said.

Need for regulation

“Policymakers should implement global standards for crypto-assets and enhance their ability to monitor the crypto ecosystem by addressing data gaps. As the role of stable coins grows, regulations should correspond to the risks they pose and the economic functions they perform. Emerging markets faced with cryptoisation risks should strengthen macroeconomic policies and consider the benefits of issuing central bank digital currencies,” the report said.

Also see: China declares all cryptocurrency transactions illegal

In a joint blog post, three IMF officials Dimitris Drakopoulos, Fabio Natalucci, and Evan Papageorgiou wrote that as crypto assets take hold, regulators need to step up.

“Crypto-assets offer a new world of opportunities: Quick and easy payments. Innovative financial services. Inclusive access to previously “unbanked” parts of the world. All are made possible by the crypto ecosystem,” they wrote. “But along with the opportunities come challenges and risks,” it added.

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Indonesia to regulate cryptocurrencies and not prohibit it like China, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The Indonesian minister for trade, Muhammad Luthfi confirmed to the local media Berita Satu about tightening cryptocurrencies regulations rather than prohibiting it like China. He said that Indonesia will focus on making cryptomarket less susceptible to illegal activities, Bitcoin.com reported

The statement from the Indonesian minister comes in the wake of stupendous growth registered by local exchanges in the first half of the year owing to the flourishing cryptocurrency market for 1 and a half years.

  • The report shows a 40 percent hike in transactions from 13 crypto exchanges in the first 5 months of 2021.
  • These crypto exchanges are regulated by the Futures Exchange Supervisory board.
  • The transaction volume reached $4.5 billion in 2020.
  • Crypto trading users also increased to 6.5 million in May 2021 from 4 million in 2020. This is more than the investors in Indonesia stock exchange (IDX) at just 5.37 million in May, according to Jakarta post.

China’s continued campaign against crypto trading and the final ban on 24th September affected Indonesian crypto prices too Currently Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin are legalized assets and commodities in Indonesia which can be traded by the citizens but can’t be used as a means of payment.

Major Indonesian exchange Luno Indonesia‘s manager expressed confidence in future growth of the customer base from the current 70,000 users.



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China’s decision to declare crypto illegal sparks panic sales in India, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Mumbai: Several Indian investors rushed to square off their positions in smaller cryptocurrencies while others took refuge in safer names like Bitcoin and Ethereum as the asset class tumbled on Friday and Saturday after the Chinese central bank declared all cryptocurrencies illegal.

Transaction volumes surged nearly 50% at top Indian exchanges in the past two days, industry trackers told ET. In most cases, exchanges dealing in such assets saw a rush to sell smaller crypto currencies. Industry trackers said veteran investors were relatively calm, but those new to the cryptocurrency market reacted to the news flow from Beijing.

“The largest sell-offs we’ve seen are in the biggest gainers as investors are likely to cash out their investments in assets like Cardano, Solana, Matic and the like,” said Shivam Thakral, chief executive, BuyUcoin, a cryptocurrency exchange. Industry trackers said that while even Bitcoin witnessed a sell-off, only a small percentage of investors lightened positions.

In some cases, some investors switched to Bitcoin and Ethereum from smaller crypto assets.

Until the beginning of this year, most Indians were putting a large chunk of their money in Bitcoin. That changed lately as many new age investors entered the cryptocurrency market.

Exchanges dealing in such assets expect the China impact to be temporary, although the next few days may see more panic selling before the dust settles.

George Zarya, chief executive at digital asset brokerage and exchange Bequant, said, “China has been known to go to extremes with either very assertive statements and prosecutions or complete radio silence.”

‘China Will Not Support’
“This time, the point was made very clear, that China will not support cryptocurrency market development as it goes against its policies of tightening up control over capital flow and big tech,” said Zarya of Bequant.

“For the institutional crypto industry, it won’t change much as those who could leave have already left and those who couldn’t have either closed or gone under the radar. The retail market, most likely, has gone under the radar and will continue to support market volumes,” he added.

China is the biggest player in bitcoin mining but the majority of the Chinese Bitcoin mining firms and individuals had moved their operations out of China into crypto-friendly countries.

China recently announced it will soon launch its own digital currency. Experts are hoping Beijing will not take more extreme steps. “The Chinese central bank has been lobbying against crypto for a very long time. This recent move wasn’t a surprise to many people as everyone saw it coming,” said Thakral of BuyUcoin. “But we hope China will reconsider its decision and create a healthier environment for crypto enthusiasts moving forward.”



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Bitcoin rallies past $40,000 level to highest since mid-May, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The largest cryptocurrency gained Sunday for an 11th day in the past 12 and traded up to $42,606, its highest since May 18. Market watchers have pointed to $40,000 as an important inflection point. It was up about 0.5% at $41,739 as of 6:13 a.m. New York time on Sunday.

“A run like this certainly suggests some flow backing,” said Jonathan Cheesman, head of over-the-counter and institutional sales at crypto derivatives exchange FTX, in a note Saturday. “Of course, it now needs to stabilize here — and above the high from May 20 would be further confirmation.” Bitcoin traded as high as $42,541 on May 20.

Bitcoin, which for weeks trended downward from its mid-April record near $65,000, has now spent more than a week building back as supportive comments from Elon Musk and Cathie Wood helped bump it out of a declining trend. Digital-asset-related job postings by Amazon.com Inc. and resulting speculation helped as well.

Edward Moya, senior market analyst for North America at Oanda Corp., a offered a note of caution about the recent run.

“Retail interest is strong, while institutional interest is somewhat lagging and needing fresh endorsements,” he said in a note on Friday. “Bitcoin volatility might remain elevated over the weekend and traders should not be surprised if a spike occurs toward the $42,000 level during some illiquid times.”

Still, the cryptocurrency has risen over the past week back above its 50- and 100-day moving averages, with the 200-day at about $44,700 in sight.

“It won’t be surprising to see Bitcoin expand the $30,000 to $42,000 trading range on the upside and attempt $45,000,” Pankaj Balani, chief executive officer of crypto derivatives exchange Delta Exchange, said in a note July 27.

“However, breaking above $50,000 will take some doing for Bitcoin. Only a conclusive break above $50,000 would attract fresh flows and signal a change in the broader direction for the market.”



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Bitcoin slides below $30,000 level for the first time in a month, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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By Eric Lam

A selloff in Bitcoin accelerated Tuesday, pushing it below $30,000 for the first time in about a month.

The largest digital coin fell as much as 4.1% and was trading at about $29,700 as of 7 a.m. in London. Other virtual currencies also retreated, including second-ranked Ether. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index was down about 4%.

Some traders had viewed $30,000 as a key support that might open the way to more losses if breached. Further big declines from here could rattle the cryptocurrency market and even exacerbate a wider flight from risk assets such as stocks. Global equities are falling due to fears of slowing economic growth and the relentless spread of the delta variant of Covid-19.

“We’re going to need to form another base first before resuming another bull trend,” said Vijay Ayyar, head of Asia Pacific with cryptocurrency exchange Luno in Singapore. “We are going to be ranging between $20,000 and $40,000 for the rest of the year.”

Narratives that had propelled Bitcoin to a mid-April record of almost $65,000 are now being questioned. Some had argued the digital asset could act as a hedge against inflation due to its limited supply. But Bitcoin’s 2% advance this year lags behind the S&P 500’s 13% advance.

“Investors who are allocating to crypto know that volatility is going to be part of it,” Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein said in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

Bitcoin has been hit by many setbacks of late, including China’s regulatory crackdown — partly over concerns about high energy consumption — and progress in central bank digital-currency projects that could squeeze private coins.

The creator of meme-token Dogecoin recently lambasted crypto as basically a sham, and the appetite for speculation is generally in retreat.

Officials around the world are also intensifying scrutiny of cryptocurrencies. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushed top U.S. financial regulators to accelerate their consideration of new rules to police so-called stablecoins.



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