#wazirx deposit problem

[thepause]

WazirX Faces Government Heat | The Daily Forkast

WazirX Faces Government Heat | The Daily Forkast

Malaysian police nab members and machines of a Bitcoin mining syndicate. India’s WazirX is being investigated over crypto transactions amounting to over US$380 million. More on those stories and other news shaping the cryptocurrency and blockchain world in this episode of "The Daily Forkast." #cryptocurrency #digitalfinance #finance #bitcoin #crypto Subscribe to CoinDesk on…

[cryptocoinguides]

Is This The #1 Ethereum Solution ?

While Ethereum struggles to find a layer 2 solution with the delay of Optimism’s rollups and Ethereum 2.0 nowhere near the horizon, one project is live with its own layer 2 solution using optimistic rollups with interactive dispute resolution that’s continuing to solidify itself as a top competitor. One that not only helps the scalability of Ethereum but other blockchains as well. But it’s not just about scalability as you’ll learn.

It’s about mass adoption and ease of use for developers. Find out what it is and let’s find out if I’m optimistic on it. Let’s get it! BitSwap is the hottest new way to trade tokens. Crawling all the top decentralized exchanges, BitSwap will get you the very best price and value for your trades. BitSwap is changing the game.

Try it now at bitswapdex.com. Welcome to BitBoy Crypto! The largest crypto channel in all the Interwebs. My name is Ben.

Everyday on this channel, I show you how to make money in cryptocurrency.

If you like money and crypto, make sure to hit that subscribe button for your chance to win a full Bitcoin. Details down below. Today, we are going to talk about one of our favorite partner projects, Cartesi. It isn’t just a second layer scaling solution, it provides massive computational scalability and allows developers for the first time to code smart contracts with any language on mainstream software components running on a Linux OS.

Compared to other optimistic rollups like Optimism, Cartesi can provide much better computation scalability, effectively allowing for tens of thousands of heavier computational tasks, because of the interactive dispute that’s missing on solutions like Optimism.

ZK-Rollup’s team are working hard to be able to provide generic programmable environment for developers. Even when all research complexities are finally solved and implemented, ZK-Rollups will struggle with heavy computational tasks as they become a victim of off-chain computational scalability problems where Cartesi or other interactive dispute resolution solutions will exceed. Other scalability solutions like Plasma, sidechains and state channels by themselves would succumb to serious compromises in terms of both programmability and security of smart contracts.

Cartesi can provide much higher computation scalability. It effectively allows smart contracts to leverage computations that are thousands of times heavier than one supported on-chain. As Charles Hoskinson of IOHK often points out, there are only a few thousand smart contract developers in the world currently due to having to learn Solidity, which is an unfriendly coding language, fewer developing applications for blockchains because they need to learn new skills and new blockchain languages like Solidity that they just don’t yet understand.

Cartesi closes the gap with its Descartes machine. Cartesi will enable mainstream developers to use the software, tools, languages and components they’re already used to to create smart contracts in a way that will be similar to building traditional desktop or web applications for coders. This will open the doors of adoption for millions of developers in the world to start creating decentralized applications. Not only that, even those already familiar with Blockchain application development will be able to create systems that would be very hard or impossible to do without the computation scalability and the real operating system that Cartesi brings to blockchains.

Cartesi is a key piece in the puzzle creating a decentralized future. And don’t underestimate that statement. One that’s going to bridge the power of 50 years of the traditional software infrastructure with the existing blockchains and DLTs like Ethereum, Avalanche, and a blast from the past, IOTA.

With the missing puzzle piece in place, they intend to promote a massive explosion of decentralized systems built on its blockchain and using Descartes. Speaking of Descartes, Cartesi recently released its 1.1 of its Descartes SDK for developers. Without getting into the technical jargon, the SDK provides developers with important new features and technology updates according to Cartesi’s Medium.

Even if Cartesi’s scalability solution seems superior, it’s important to note that Cartesi isn’t in competition with other scalability solutions as much as you might think. In fact, Cartesi and Polygon, formerly Matic, recently partnered to build a decentralized poker app built by Cartesi and running on Polygon.

The poker app is to demonstrate and showcase how Cartesi and Matic can be combined for things that simply were not possible before. Cartesi also announced some interesting partnerships, partnering with IOTA, Travala, and integration with Binance Smart Chain and Injective Protocol. Cartesi is integrating with Injective Protocol to push mainstream developer adoption of the Injective Chain.

Cartesi and Injective will also begin a research collaboration exploring how to integrate Cartesi’s tools into the Injective ecosystem. The goal here is to allow developers to utilize existing programming tools from Linux, unlocking tremendous smart contract capabilities offered by the highly interoperable and flexible Injective Chain.

All enabled by Cartesi.

The main objective of this initiative is to enhance the programmability on the Injective Chain, giving Injective’s developers more opportunities than ever to launch new applications on top of their chain thanks to Cartesi. This can include new front end interfaces as well as new trading mechanisms for derivatives such as an AMM according to the announcement.

Cartesi has additionally now integrated with the Binance Smart Chain. Binance has also enabled deposits and withdrawals for CTSI on Binance.com as a wrapped BEP-20 token on the Binance Smart Chain. CTSI is further enabled on the Binance Bridge, which will introduce a safe, fast and secure way to bring cross-chain assets to the Binance chains in the future. If that’s not enough, Cartesi has further partnered with IOTA as discussed above.

In regards to the IOTA partnership, Cartesi states the two companies will support the research and development of new distributed ledger technologies including the IOTA Tangle, with both organizations and communities working together to expand the user base of popular decentralized finance use cases, such as automated market makers, gaming, non-fungible tokens and oracles, while seemingly strengthening IOTA’s ability to offer decentralized technologies to corporations with their technology stacks.

Cartesi’s Linux-based virtual machine, IOTA Oracles and IOTA Smart Contracts, the two groups will bring non-blockchain-based use cases and businesses into the world of decentralized finance, gaming, NFTs and industrial IoT. All that being said, Cartesi’s objective is not only about improving the scalability of smart contracts.

Cartesi provides a Linux operating system for the development of smart contracts. Running an operating system is only possible because of the huge computational scalability it allows for and the VM tech the team has developed. That is what makes Cartesi a very unique project compared to other scalability solutions and why BitBoy Crypto research team and myself feel that Cartesi will be one of the biggest winners in the scalability race and potentially one of the largest winners in this bull run. That’s exactly why we partnered with them.

I’ve said it once and I don’t want to sound like a broken record, Cartesi is the future for smart contracts and blockchain. I implore you guys to explore what these guys at Cartesi are doing. Make sure to do your own research to decide for yourself. No one else out there is involved and doing what Cartesi is. As such, we believe Cartesi is a gem kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. We’re starting to see huge partnerships made by Cartesi.

And this is only just the beginning. Cartesi recently expanded its team onboarding several new engineers to develop and scale with solution. Cartesi is also continuing to hire talented blockchain Solidity developers and backend engineers to work on its products. You can pick up a bag of Cartesi looking for the token ticker symbol CTSI on Binance, WazirX, Bilaxy, 1inch, Uniswap and Gate.

io.

But let me know what you think about this project. Are you still bullish on CTSI? Make sure to drop your comments down below so we know. Also, smash the like button if you enjoy these project-focused videos. That’s all I got. Be blessed. BitBoy out..

Read More: Best Crypto Gem in History Cartesi Hands Down

The post Is This The #1 Ethereum Solution ? appeared first on Crypto Coin Guides.

via Is This The #1 Ethereum Solution ?

[preciousmetals0]

Binance Launchpad Reveals WazirX Sale Results

Binance Launchpad Reveals WazirX Sale Results:

Binance Launchpad, as the name suggests, is Binance’s token launch platform, which has just announced WazirX’s token sale results. It is the first token sale of this year.  

According to a Feb. 4 press release from Binance, there were 10,000 winning tickets held by a total of 9,033 winners. More than 20,000 users participated to try to win the lottery. Eventually, more than 136,000 tickets were claimed. Chances of winning for all the participants are at 44 percent and this also puts the percentage of winning tickets at 7.31%.  

The WazirX token sale was conducted through a single session where participants purchased WazirX (WRX) tokens using BNB. In the session, all 100,000,000 WRX tokens were sold to Launchpad participants who drew and claimed winning lottery tickets. 

Binance Launchpad also said that the winners’ BNB balances would be deducted according to the number of tickets that they won within 24 hours.

WazirX is India’s leading bitcoin exchange with an auto-matching peer-to-peer engine. WazirX advertises itself as working to solve the fiat-to-cryptocurrency conversion problem and simplifying the process of depositing and withdrawing fiat. WazirX (WRX) will be listed on Binance starting tomorrow. It will open trading for WRX/BNB, WRX/BTC and WRX/USDT trading pairs at 2 am UTC on February 5.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier last year that the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced major changes to the format of its Launchpad token sale in a post on its blog published on March 24.

Per the announcement, the company “will use a new lottery format for the next project on Binance Launchpad.” Previously, the system functioned on a first-come, first-served basis, which left many users who joined high-demand sale queues without tokens.

[goldira01]

Binance Launchpad, as the name suggests, is Binance’s token launch platform, which has just announced WazirX’s token sale results. It is the first token sale of this year.  

According to a Feb. 4 press release from Binance, there were 10,000 winning tickets held by a total of 9,033 winners. More than 20,000 users participated to try to win the lottery. Eventually, more than 136,000 tickets were claimed. Chances of winning for all the participants are at 44 percent and this also puts the percentage of winning tickets at 7.31%.  

The WazirX token sale was conducted through a single session where participants purchased WazirX (WRX) tokens using BNB. In the session, all 100,000,000 WRX tokens were sold to Launchpad participants who drew and claimed winning lottery tickets. 

Binance Launchpad also said that the winners’ BNB balances would be deducted according to the number of tickets that they won within 24 hours.

WazirX is India’s leading bitcoin exchange with an auto-matching peer-to-peer engine. WazirX advertises itself as working to solve the fiat-to-cryptocurrency conversion problem and simplifying the process of depositing and withdrawing fiat. WazirX (WRX) will be listed on Binance starting tomorrow. It will open trading for WRX/BNB, WRX/BTC and WRX/USDT trading pairs at 2 am UTC on February 5.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier last year that the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced major changes to the format of its Launchpad token sale in a post on its blog published on March 24.

Per the announcement, the company “will use a new lottery format for the next project on Binance Launchpad.” Previously, the system functioned on a first-come, first-served basis, which left many users who joined high-demand sale queues without tokens.

[bowsetter]

How Indian Cryptocurrency Users Avoid Banks Closing Their Accounts

Banks in India have been closing the accounts of customers they believe have made transactions involving cryptocurrencies. The majority of crypto users in the country, however, have reportedly found a way to avoid their accounts being closed by their banks which are complying with the crypto banking ban imposed by the country’s central bank.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

Avoiding Problems With Banks

Reports of banks in India closing customer accounts with cryptocurrency-related transactions have been on the rise. Banks cite compliance with the circular issued by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), that bans them from providing services to customers and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies.

A spokesperson for local cryptocurrency exchange Instashift told news.Bitcoin.com that banks have been closing the accounts of customers when they find any cryptocurrency-related words such as “bitcoin” in transaction remarks. He clarified that if a customer’s bank account “comes under scrutiny and the bank officers read the crypto keywords in remarks” then the bank account will be closed.

The CEO of crypto exchange Wazirx, Nischal Shetty, shared with news.Bitcoin.com on Tuesday that the:

Majority of the people understand not to enter such terms in the remarks. So simply avoiding entering anything related to crypto in the payment remarks is more than enough to avoid any problems from banks. There’s no other way for banks to know if a P2P transaction was done to transact in crypto.

Other Indian crypto users agree with this strategy. Twitter user Cryptomaniac advised, “Use P2P without writing anything related to crypto in remarks. And don’t do heavy transactions.” P2P is the exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer style of trading which has been growing in popularity since the RBI ban. Most crypto exchanges in India offer this type of trading. Another Twitter user, Vivekmacha, agreed and wrote that “If we use P2P they can’t track us,” emphasizing the importance of not writing any crypto-related terms such as bitcoin or BTC in remarks when making transactions.

The Instashift spokesperson explained that crypto users that have their bank accounts closed just “open a fresh account in another bank” and continue to trade without “using any crypto terms for transactions,” emphasizing:

It’s easy to open a new account for a person in India & banks also welcome people to open accounts.

He noted that “no matter how many accounts you open, all bank accounts get linked with your PAN card” which he said is similar to the social security number used in the U.S.

More Banks Closing Accounts of Crypto Users

Many banks in India have been closing customer accounts showing evidence of cryptocurrency transactions. Two major banks in the country — Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank — have recently gained more attention for doing so when Twitter user Indiancryptogirl posted letters she claimed to have received from them. Digibank is powered by DBS, a major Asian financial services group. “We have observed few transactions in your account with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies,” the letter reads, adding:

Since these types of transactions are not permitted in India, we are constrained to place a credit freeze in your account. Further as per the extant guidelines, we are required to exit such relationships where transactions with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies are observed.

A credit freeze, the bank explained, means that customers “will not be able to deposit any funds” into their accounts. The bank proceeded to inform that “Hence 30 days from the date of this communication your account will be closed by the bank.”

Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank are not the only ones taking a hostile approach toward customer accounts showing crypto transactions. Twitter user Pushpendra Singh wrote, “So many Indian banks doing the same thing,” claiming that one of them is UCO Bank. Another Twitter user, Bluecrypto, said the “same happened with me and my HDFC account got closed.”

Another bank with a similar policy is Standard Chartered bank which requires customers opening an account in India to agree to this statement: “I confirm that this account will not be used for settling transactions or dealing in virtual currencies, including but not limited to bitcoins.”

However, Twitter user Yatharth Vashishth pointed out that banks are only following RBI’s order. “Kotak Bank is acting as per regulations by the RBI. All banks are instructed to shut accounts of all entities dealing in crypto. Not a big deal.”

What do you think of how Indian crypto users respond to banks closing their accounts? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post How Indian Cryptocurrency Users Avoid Banks Closing Their Accounts appeared first on Bitcoin News.

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[coin-river-blog]

Finance

Banks in India have been closing the accounts of customers they believe have made transactions involving cryptocurrencies. The majority of crypto users in the country, however, have reportedly found a way to avoid their accounts being closed by their banks which are complying with the crypto banking ban imposed by the country’s central bank.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

Avoiding Problems With Banks

Reports of banks in India closing customer accounts with cryptocurrency-related transactions have been on the rise. Banks cite compliance with the circular issued by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), that bans them from providing services to customers and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies.

A spokesperson for local cryptocurrency exchange Instashift told news.Bitcoin.com that banks have been closing the accounts of customers when they find any cryptocurrency-related words such as “bitcoin” in transaction remarks. He clarified that if a customer’s bank account “comes under scrutiny and the bank officers read the crypto keywords in remarks” then the bank account will be closed.

The CEO of crypto exchange Wazirx, Nischal Shetty, shared with news.Bitcoin.com on Tuesday that the:

Majority of the people understand not to enter such terms in the remarks. So simply avoiding entering anything related to crypto in the payment remarks is more than enough to avoid any problems from banks. There’s no other way for banks to know if a P2P transaction was done to transact in crypto.

Other Indian crypto users agree with this strategy. Twitter user Cryptomaniac advised, “Use P2P without writing anything related to crypto in remarks. And don’t do heavy transactions.” P2P is the exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer style of trading which has been growing in popularity since the RBI ban. Most crypto exchanges in India offer this type of trading. Another Twitter user, Vivekmacha, agreed and wrote that “If we use P2P they can’t track us,” emphasizing the importance of not writing any crypto-related terms such as bitcoin or BTC in remarks when making transactions.

The Instashift spokesperson explained that crypto users that have their bank accounts closed just “open a fresh account in another bank” and continue to trade without “using any crypto terms for transactions,” emphasizing:

It’s easy to open a new account for a person in India & banks also welcome people to open accounts.

He noted that “no matter how many accounts you open, all bank accounts get linked with your PAN card” which he said is similar to the social security number used in the U.S.

More Banks Closing Accounts of Crypto Users

Many banks in India have been closing customer accounts showing evidence of cryptocurrency transactions. Two major banks in the country — Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank — have recently gained more attention for doing so when Twitter user Indiancryptogirl posted letters she claimed to have received from them. Digibank is powered by DBS, a major Asian financial services group. “We have observed few transactions in your account with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies,” the letter reads, adding:

Since these types of transactions are not permitted in India, we are constrained to place a credit freeze in your account. Further as per the extant guidelines, we are required to exit such relationships where transactions with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies are observed.

A credit freeze, the bank explained, means that customers “will not be able to deposit any funds” into their accounts. The bank proceeded to inform that “Hence 30 days from the date of this communication your account will be closed by the bank.”

Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank are not the only ones taking a hostile approach toward customer accounts showing crypto transactions. Twitter user Pushpendra Singh wrote, “So many Indian banks doing the same thing,” claiming that one of them is UCO Bank. Another Twitter user, Bluecrypto, said the “same happened with me and my HDFC account got closed.”

Another bank with a similar policy is Standard Chartered bank which requires customers opening an account in India to agree to this statement: “I confirm that this account will not be used for settling transactions or dealing in virtual currencies, including but not limited to bitcoins.”

However, Twitter user Yatharth Vashishth pointed out that banks are only following RBI’s order. “Kotak Bank is acting as per regulations by the RBI. All banks are instructed to shut accounts of all entities dealing in crypto. Not a big deal.”

What do you think of how Indian crypto users respond to banks closing their accounts? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

[joshuajacksonlyblog]

India: Crypto Ban Sees First Casualties as ZebPay Closes Doors

ZebPay officially announced that it was forced to stop activity due to legal and regulatory obstacles. 

‘Curb on Bank Accounts … Crippled Our Ability’”

Indian exchange Zebpay’s announcement came via Medium less than a month after they informed customers they will halt fiat transactions.

On September 4th, the exchange’s blog relayed that the company will refund users the amounts they deposited on Zebpay accounts. The announcement also expressed regret that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chose to disrupt the cryptocurrency market of India.

The exchange has long fought the pessimism about cryptocurrencies in India, as the company hoped to change the future of cryptocurrencies in the second largest country (by population) in the world. The blog notes:

Despite regulatory and banking problems along our journey, we continued to look for solutions as we did not want India to miss the bus of digital assets that power the public blockchain.

So did other cryptocurrency companies such as Nucleus Vision, who hosted the largest blockchain conference in the country at the beginning of this month.

Bitcoinist reported that the conference included over 200 government representatives. However, this did not effectively change attitudes towards crypto.

The War Over “Digital Tokens”

A ban initiated by the RBI on July 5th of this year prohibits cryptocurrency companies’ access to banking services while closing down all related accounts.

As early as April, RBI’s official statement declared that the financial institutions regulated by RBI should not provide — or cease to provide — their services to entities related to the sale of cryptocurrencies, saying that “virtual currencies… raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering, among others.”

The companies concerned later challenged this decision in court claiming that it was founded on a lack of understanding of the underlying technology.

Ironically, the RBI started researching its own ways to implement crypto — or “digital tokens” — into their own system to streamline payments and reduce costs.

In turn, cryptocurrency-related companies, including exchanges, are forced to halt their activity in India, while the national bank is looking for a way to possibly monopolize the market itself.

Zebpay’s fight may be lost, but numerous Indian cryptocurrency exchanges continue to work without interruption and seek new solutions (e.g. P2P transactions).

These companies include WazirX, Koinex, LocalBitcoins, Unocoin, and many others. Meanwhile, Zebpay adds it will continue to find solutions that work in the best interest of their users.

What are your thoughts on Zebpay’s decision? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post India: Crypto Ban Sees First Casualties as ZebPay Closes Doors appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

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[jacobhinkley]

India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating

The RBI Circular was intended to put a pause button on cryptocurrency activity in India, but as the mandate that restrained banks to be involved in this space goes through debate, protests, and court pit-stops, beneath the surface a lot has transpired. It is in the trenches where it can be shown why it is not exactly so easy to curb bitcoin action. People, like stubborn wild flowers growing on a curb, have found ways to stay sunny and continue bitcoin activity.

Also read: What happened in Iran when regulator allowed mining?

Will finds a Way

It was not the tourniquet it was intended to be. At least, not without some spills and spillovers. The RBI circular that prohibited banks and financial institutions from providing services in context of cryptocurrencies has created some confusion and hesitance, but no outright suspension of market activity in the last few months. Enthusiasts and panicked people alike have found ways to take a detour.

Having accounts in the US is one such option. Optimists like Vikash P, a practitioner of cryptocurrency who uses such means, say they will keep investing in it because they see intrinsic value and feel that’s why bitcoin has climbed so much since its inception. People are also considering Moneygram, local websites that supposedly allow local currency conversion against bitcoins, and face-to-face cash deals, as ways to trade bitcoins while the ban continues.

Then, there is a much more pervasive alternative in the form of P2P trade where the buyer and seller deal via escrow accounts held by an exchange.

Wazirx shares that it had announced P2P as a solution before the RBI ban came into effect. “So our users knew they had a way of cashing in and out of crypto post 6th July. The demand for P2P crypto trading has turned out to be way more than anyone in the industry expected it to be. We’re overwhelmed by the massive response from all our users for Wazirx P2P.” its CEO explains.

The exchange sees more than 1 trade per minute on Wazirx P2P and calls it the highest P2P trading velocity in India. To add to that, now there is Coin Recoil that has launched in India claiming zero withdrawal fees and trading pairs with TrueUSD (which it calls a price-stable cryptocurrency backed by US Dollars). It aims to offer a fiat-to-crypto platform once necessary regulatory approvals come by.

Cathy Z from Digi Finex (that has a lot of Indian citizens in its platform’s community) feels that as long as citizens are not banned from dealing with cryptocurrencies, one can always use foreign exchanges or local exchanges that pack their bags for countries like Singapore. “Making a law is one thing and executing is a different thing altogether. Exchanges can move overseas, open services to Indian citizens and foreign players can provide services to Indian citizens. For sure, the intention of government is to protect people and not to put everyone behind bars. It is hard to trace individuals anyway. People will find ways to trade in this currency. They can try different exchanges, different VPNs and different identities too.” Staying invested is not a problem if the ban continues as Ajeeth K from Zebpay has also opined.

Bulls and Blinkers

That does not mean that the ban on INR deposits and withdrawals did not hamper trade in India. An investment player in Ahmedabad tells of how the hype has come down, and the fear of income tax department notices to some bitcoin players has also created a ���pause’ mode in the market. People who do not understand the technology underpinnings well are the ones who easily get disoriented with its vague nature and initial media notoriety. Mohit G, a finance professional from New Delhi, also observes that volumes have been affected in India.

Fresh investments have definitely gone southwards as Sidharth S, founder of CREBACO, seconds. “Activity has dropped significantly but P2P and cash transactions are supporting people who want to cash out.” He, however, cautions that this is not what the government would have aimed at, as now it would be difficult for tax authorities to figure out a lot of movements in people’s accounts given the difficulty of grabbing the exact value of bitcoin on a particular time and day.

Hold Their Hands

“I started very late in this space anyways. I will keep investing in it,” says a confident Vikash who notes that finance sector in India is still trying to define it. Since there is no way to track the money and it is an instant transfer, it is understandable that regulators would be wary of the flight of money abroad. But with strong KYC elements in place at many exchanges, that should not be a worry anymore, he contends.

Crypto markets are reaching around US$250 billion in Sep 2018, and could touch US$1 trillion by 2020, as per some estimates. With trading volumes as huge as US$12-14 billion worth of trades per day, there is need for guidance and balance for investors interested in a virtual currency. Ponder over these worries from Mukesh C, a cyber forensics expert, “An investor in this space has to be ‘always’ alert about regulatory swings. If tomorrow, a foreign country where s/he has an account, changes its stance on cryptocurrency; and the account and money is frozen out of the blue, what respite or recourse does an investor have?”

Sidharth S does not mince any words here. “The government has to act really fast. We cannot afford to make policies at the pace we did for software industry. The cryptoworld is too quick for bureaucracy. Government should regulate it at the right time. They cannot stop it for sure. They also cannot afford to lose revenue because the industry is moving out to other crypto-friendly regions.”

There are good and bad people in any space, Cathy Z reminds. “The good ones want to play by rules. Eventually, governments won’t be able to kill crytocurrencies. So banning something will not give regulators the results they want to achieve. Guidance and deadlines to comply will.”

 How have you dealt with the Crypto Winter? Let us know your experience and opinion in the comments section below.

Images – courtesy of Shutterstock

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating appeared first on Bitcoin News.

India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating published first on https://medium.com/@smartoptions

[coin-news-blog]

Indian Crypto Trading Volumes Accelerate on Positive Sentiments

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/news/indian-crypto-trading-volumes-accelerate-on-positive-sentiments

Indian Crypto Trading Volumes Accelerate on Positive Sentiments

Indian Crypto Trading Volumes Accelerate on Positive Sentiments

Cryptocurrency trading volumes in India have accelerated despite regulatory uncertainty and banking restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Global trading platforms and service providers have also been expanding their operations to serve Indian users.

Strong Trading Volume Growth

Banking services may be restricted and the government may be considering a bill to ban cryptocurrencies, but Indians continue to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Trading volumes on some exchanges in the country have been rising significantly.

Paxful has reported steady growth in BTC trading in INR on its peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace. For the week ending Oct. 26, 85 BTC were traded, a 13% increase from the 75 BTC traded the previous week. In comparison, only 7 BTC were traded in the week ending Oct. 27 last year on the platform. Competing P2P marketplace Localbitcoins reported 146 BTC traded in the week ending Oct. 26 and 143 BTC the previous week. Bitcoin.com’s P2P marketplace for bitcoin cash is also growing in popularity among Indian traders.

Weekly BTC trading volumes in INR on Paxful.

Nischal Shetty, CEO of local crypto exchange Wazirx, is also seeing an encouraging trend on his platform. Trading volume has “grown really well this month,” he told news.Bitcoin.com on Monday, adding that “It has accelerated in the last week due to the positive sentiments around crypto.” He further shared that the top coins traded this month on his exchange are BTC, ETH, XRP, TRX, LTC, XLM, MATIC, BCH, BAT, and BTT.

Regarding trader sentiment in India, “It’s been very positive ever since the China news of President Xi Jinping announcing that China should get into accelerated blockchain development,” Shetty opined. “India and China share a very competitive relationship. This means we’re going to see positive crypto announcements in India as well very soon.”

The CEO continued: “The last couple of months were relatively slower compared to Q2 this year. But that’s been the situation throughout the crypto sector globally. Indian markets have always been on par with global crypto markets in terms of trader sentiments and excitement. However, the China news has created tremendous positive outlook in the last week.”

Sumit Gupta, CEO of local crypto exchange Coindcx, believes that “Trader sentiment has considerably improved in India lately, mainly because of the market reversal,” he told news.Bitcoin.com on Monday. “In 2019, change in market sentiments brought an inflow of new traders and new users (hodlers),” he added, emphasizing that “strong gains and volatility have attracted traders” this year.

Diwali Festival and Crypto Trading

India is currently celebrating a very popular five-day Hindu festival called Diwali or the Festival of Lights which began on Oct. 25. It “marks the beginning of a new year for businessmen who believe it to be an auspicious day which brings in wealth and prosperity throughout the year,” Coindcx explained. “Goddess Laxmi showers her blessings on the occasion of Diwali and therefore, any buy or sell trading brings a good fortune in the upcoming year.” To mark the importance of this festival, a number of crypto exchanges are running specials and giveaways.

U.K.-based banking services platform Cashaa also picked the start of this festival to launch its crypto service for Indian users, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. The company has since provided additional details of its service.

“On the occasion of Diwali, a festival for wealth and prosperity, we are announcing the launch of INR deposits with buy and sell of bitcoin, ether, and Cashaa for Indian residents, up to 1 crore INR [~$141,128] per month. Min deposit amount is 25,000 INR up to 10 lakh INR in a single transaction,” Cashaa detailed. The company explained that it “was able to find a stable P2P solution through its vast network of traders and brokers in India” to launch the service. “Our system will solve the problem of liquidity and speed using a P2P engine at the backend which does all the complex work and makes buying and selling simple for average users.”

Indian Crypto Bill and Regulation

The Indian government has been sitting on a draft bill that seeks to ban all cryptocurrencies except state-issued ones since February. The government has indicated to the country’s supreme court that this bill may be introduced in the next session of parliament.

The Indian crypto community believes that the bill is flawed and has been actively campaigning for the government to reexamine the bill. Shetty himself has been running a social media campaign called “India Wants Crypto,” which is only a few days short of its one year anniversary. He shared with news.Bitcoin.com that “the campaign has led to us meeting a few elected representatives of the Indian parliament,” emphasizing:

We’ll continue the campaign and we’re sure our elected representatives will hear our demands and help the crypto sector in India.

Meanwhile, the banking restrictions imposed by the central bank are still in effect. The ban has been challenged in the supreme court, which is expected to resume hearing the case on Nov. 19.

Source: news.bitcoin

[cryptswahili]

How Indian Cryptocurrency Users Avoid Banks Closing Their Accounts

Banks in India have been closing the accounts of customers they believe have made transactions involving cryptocurrencies. The majority of crypto users in the country, however, have reportedly found a way to avoid their accounts being closed by their banks which are complying with the crypto banking ban imposed by the country’s central bank.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

Avoiding Problems With Banks

Reports of banks in India closing customer accounts with cryptocurrency-related transactions have been on the rise. Banks cite compliance with the circular issued by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), that bans them from providing services to customers and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies.

A spokesperson for local cryptocurrency exchange Instashift told news.Bitcoin.com that banks have been closing the accounts of customers when they find any cryptocurrency-related words such as “bitcoin” in transaction remarks. He clarified that if a customer’s bank account “comes under scrutiny and the bank officers read the crypto keywords in remarks” then the bank account will be closed.

The CEO of crypto exchange Wazirx, Nischal Shetty, shared with news.Bitcoin.com on Tuesday that the:

Majority of the people understand not to enter such terms in the remarks. So simply avoiding entering anything related to crypto in the payment remarks is more than enough to avoid any problems from banks. There’s no other way for banks to know if a P2P transaction was done to transact in crypto.

Other Indian crypto users agree with this strategy. Twitter user Cryptomaniac advised, “Use P2P without writing anything related to crypto in remarks. And don’t do heavy transactions.” P2P is the exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer style of trading which has been growing in popularity since the RBI ban. Most crypto exchanges in India offer this type of trading. Another Twitter user, Vivekmacha, agreed and wrote that “If we use P2P they can’t track us,” emphasizing the importance of not writing any crypto-related terms such as bitcoin or BTC in remarks when making transactions.

The Instashift spokesperson explained that crypto users that have their bank accounts closed just “open a fresh account in another bank” and continue to trade without “using any crypto terms for transactions,” emphasizing:

It’s easy to open a new account for a person in India & banks also welcome people to open accounts.

He noted that “no matter how many accounts you open, all bank accounts get linked with your PAN card” which he said is similar to the social security number used in the U.S.

More Banks Closing Accounts of Crypto Users

Many banks in India have been closing customer accounts showing evidence of cryptocurrency transactions. Two major banks in the country — Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank — have recently gained more attention for doing so when Twitter user Indiancryptogirl posted letters she claimed to have received from them. Digibank is powered by DBS, a major Asian financial services group. “We have observed few transactions in your account with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies,” the letter reads, adding:

Since these types of transactions are not permitted in India, we are constrained to place a credit freeze in your account. Further as per the extant guidelines, we are required to exit such relationships where transactions with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies are observed.

A credit freeze, the bank explained, means that customers “will not be able to deposit any funds” into their accounts. The bank proceeded to inform that “Hence 30 days from the date of this communication your account will be closed by the bank.”

Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank are not the only ones taking a hostile approach toward customer accounts showing crypto transactions. Twitter user Pushpendra Singh wrote, “So many Indian banks doing the same thing,” claiming that one of them is UCO Bank. Another Twitter user, Bluecrypto, said the “same happened with me and my HDFC account got closed.”

Another bank with a similar policy is Standard Chartered bank which requires customers opening an account in India to agree to this statement: “I confirm that this account will not be used for settling transactions or dealing in virtual currencies, including but not limited to bitcoins.”

However, Twitter user Yatharth Vashishth pointed out that banks are only following RBI’s order. “Kotak Bank is acting as per regulations by the RBI. All banks are instructed to shut accounts of all entities dealing in crypto. Not a big deal.”

What do you think of how Indian crypto users respond to banks closing their accounts? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post How Indian Cryptocurrency Users Avoid Banks Closing Their Accounts appeared first on Bitcoin News.

[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

[click2watch]

How a Bitcoin Exchange Is Surviving a Central Bank Crackdown in India

Indian regulators’ clampdown on cryptocurrency businesses is forcing the exchange startup Unocoin to experiment with stablecoins and ATMs to continue receiving fiat deposits from customers.

Unocoin co-founder Sunny Ray told CoinDesk his company hasn’t been able to transact through regular banking channels with its 1.3 million customers for several months, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned banks from working with crypto or crypto companies in April.

Most recently, Unocoin set up an ATM in a Bangalore mall where customers can deposit rupees to their exchange accounts without a bank or credit card. In the coming weeks, Unocoin will open a few more ATMs in Mumbai and Delhi.

“We’re essentially employing bank-grade ATM machines,” Ray said.

Also, some users are quickly transferring their rupees to the ethereum-based TrueUSD token, which Unocoin began supporting in August, then using it to purchase bitcoin or other assets down the line when the price feels right. As a so-called stablecoin, TrueUSD is designed to maintain parity with the U.S. dollar.

For customers outside Bangalore, support for stablecoins may provide an indirect way to add or hold value in their Unocoin accounts without quite as much volatility, albeit it falls short of a fiat on-ramp. However, that transaction volume is still less than a few thousand TUSD per day.

“We never even considered that [stablecoins] before,” Ray said. “That’s more just like a stop-gap solution. It’s not like an actual, final solution to everything.”

As Unocoin investigates how to scale compliant ATMs, Ray said the team is also looking to expand to Malta and Canada, in case operating in India becomes impossible altogether, all while exploring the options for listing several new stablecoins.

Stepping back, an ongoing legal battle to overturn or alter this ban hasn’t yielded any results to date. Meanwhile, the ban is having a disastrous impact on India’s crypto community, with the popular exchange startup Zebpay abruptly shutting down late last month.

As Kashif Raza, a co-founder of Crypto Kanoon, an Indian regulatory news startup, told CoinDesk:

“The crypto community is suffering from this ban as there have been instances where the bank accounts of individuals have been closed who were found to be dealing in cryptocurrencies.”

The crackdown has been so severe that Raza said it has created a misconception in India that bitcoin itself is outlawed, even though the ban only applies to entities governed by RBI.

“From a regulatory perspective there hasn’t been any real clarity,” Ray said. “We as a company are working on a couple of solutions.”

Silver lining

None of this should imply that Indian crypto startups are now operating in a black market. To the contrary, Raza said exchange accounts can sometimes require more know-your-customer (KYC) paperwork than opening a new Indian bank account. Many see the ban as an inconvenient pause, not a death knell.

“Given the fact that the Indian government seems to be in favor of the technology behind virtual currencies, the crypto community is quite hopeful that [banking crypto companies] will be regulated in future,” Raza said.

Plus, Unocoin’s ATMs allow for regulation-conscious investors like Karthik Reddy of Blume Ventures, who praised the new ATMs in a press statement, to keep detailed records of their crypto portfolios while still depositing fiat currency as needed.

On the other hand, the ban has certainly invigorated peer-to-peer trading. Indeed, the P2P exchange WazirX reached a new daily trading volume peak of 50 BTC in September 2018. At the same time, the global P2P exchange LocalBitcoins reached nearly $1.5 million in weekly Indian trading volume at least three times since August.

And there’s even silver lining for Unocoin, which has seen up to 500 new account registrations every day ever since Zebpay closed its doors.

“It’s almost kind of freeing in a way because there are a lot of people in India that don’t have online banking,” Ray said. “Almost everybody in India uses cash, so it might in an odd way open us up to an even bigger market.”

Still, speaking to how restricting crypto companies that seek to serve a country of 1.3 billion could affect global adoption, Ray concluded:

“Innovation is being squashed in a country where one in seven people live.”

Unocoin’s Bangalore ATM image via Unocoin.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin for cryptocurrency is best. 

The run had in Apr directed all of the banks to prevent handling people and firms dealing in virtual currencies in next three months - the time limit complete on July 5.a day when the banking company of India’s virtual foreign cash point complete, some crypto-exchanges in Asian country have declared peer-to-peer model to retain virtual forex trade - that could be a clean cut evasion of the principal bank’s circular. the run had in Apr directed all the banks to forestall handling people and organizations dealing in virtual currencies in next 3 months - the time limit complete on July 5. however, earlier of the apex bank’s time limit, some cryptocurrency exchanges that embody wazirs and koine loop had commenced engaged on the peer-to-peer device to facilitate digital foreign cash amendment without the utilization of normal banking channels.

Every week before the rbi’s ban kicked-in, wazirs business executive nischal Shetty distinguished peer-to-peer switch device during which the humans can purchase and promote crypto right now with each different while not any problem. “in p2p model, the buyer Associate in Nursing provider will address each completely different instantly while wazirx acts as a written agreement account for holding the cryptos throughout the dealing so as that neither celebration cheats the other,” he said. Nischal Shetty conjointly explained however peer-to-peer technique can paintings. he explicit the alternate can initial connect the person trying to shop for crypto for rupee with someone World Health Organization is trying to sell crypto for the rupee. then the vendor can deposit the digital forex with the trade. thenThe purchaser can have to be compelled to pay rupee to the seller directly. and as presently because the trafficker receives the fee and confirms to the trade, the crypto-alternate can unharness the foreign cash to the client.

[bowsetter]

Indian Supreme Court Gives Government Two Weeks to Submit Cryptocurrency Report

India’s supreme court has brought up the case against the cryptocurrency banking ban by the Reserve Bank of India after one-and-a-half months of delay. The court has reportedly asked the government to submit a report of the findings from the committee it had set up to understand the crypto space and recommend regulatory measures.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Supreme Court Hearing

The Supreme Court of India originally planned to hear the petitions against the cryptocurrency banking ban imposed by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Sept. 11. After repeatedly postponing the case, the court finally brought it up on Thursday, Oct. 25.

“The matter came up for hearing today briefly. So some progress in the case finally,” Nischal Shetty, the CEO of Indian crypto exchange Wazirx, told news.Bitcoin.com. He described:

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 2 weeks.

He elaborated, “The government of India had set up a crypto committee previously to understand this space. The supreme court has asked the government to submit the committee report.”

“We don’t know what the committee report contains as of now,” Shetty continued, adding that either the government will submit the report in court for all to see or they will “just inform the court about what they will be doing for crypto in India.”

“So regardless, what we can expect is much more clarity about crypto from a government point of view. That’s a good step forward,” he concluded.

The head of the committee, Subhash Chandra Garg, had previously said that the crypto guidelines would be ready in September. However, subsequent reports suggest that they will not be finalized before the year’s end.

Crypto India Marches On

The RBI issued its infamous circular on April 16, banning financial institutions under its control from providing services to crypto businesses. Soon after the circular was issued, a number of industry participants filed petitions against the ban, which went into effect in July. Banks subsequently closed the accounts of crypto exchanges.

A number of local exchanges have come up with their own solutions to bypass the banking ban including exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer (P2P) services. Several of them claim they are seeing rapid growth in trading volumes on their P2P platforms.

Last week, a major crypto exchange in the country, Unocoin, launched its INR deposit and withdrawal kiosk. However, police soon seized the machine and arrested two founders of the company, including the CEO.

Meanwhile, Zebpay halted its exchange activities in India due to the banking problem on Sept. 28 and proceeded to set up operations in Malta. On Oct. 18, Silvio Schembri, Malta’s Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation, tweeted in response to the news of Zebpay moving to his country. “Welcome to #Malta. I look forward for the 1st of November for the Maltese regulators to start accepting applications for licensing.”

What do you think of the Indian supreme court asking for the government’s crypto findings? Do you think RBI’s banking ban will be lifted soon? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Indian Supreme Court Gives Government Two Weeks to Submit Cryptocurrency Report appeared first on Bitcoin News.

READ MORE http://bit.ly/2O48ao8

[bowsetter]

India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating

The RBI Circular was intended to put a pause button on cryptocurrency activity in India, but as the mandate that restrained banks to be involved in this space goes through debate, protests, and court pit-stops, beneath the surface a lot has transpired. It is in the trenches where it can be shown why it is not exactly so easy to curb bitcoin action. People, like stubborn wild flowers growing on a curb, have found ways to stay sunny and continue bitcoin activity.

Also read: What happened in Iran when regulator allowed mining?

Will finds a Way

It was not the tourniquet it was intended to be. At least, not without some spills and spillovers. The RBI circular that prohibited banks and financial institutions from providing services in context of cryptocurrencies has created some confusion and hesitance, but no outright suspension of market activity in the last few months. Enthusiasts and panicked people alike have found ways to take a detour.

Having accounts in the US is one such option. Optimists like Vikash P, a practitioner of cryptocurrency who uses such means, say they will keep investing in it because they see intrinsic value and feel that’s why bitcoin has climbed so much since its inception. People are also considering Moneygram, local websites that supposedly allow local currency conversion against bitcoins, and face-to-face cash deals, as ways to trade bitcoins while the ban continues.

Then, there is a much more pervasive alternative in the form of P2P trade where the buyer and seller deal via escrow accounts held by an exchange.

Wazirx shares that it had announced P2P as a solution before the RBI ban came into effect. “So our users knew they had a way of cashing in and out of crypto post 6th July. The demand for P2P crypto trading has turned out to be way more than anyone in the industry expected it to be. We’re overwhelmed by the massive response from all our users for Wazirx P2P.” its CEO explains.

The exchange sees more than 1 trade per minute on Wazirx P2P and calls it the highest P2P trading velocity in India. To add to that, now there is Coin Recoil that has launched in India claiming zero withdrawal fees and trading pairs with TrueUSD (which it calls a price-stable cryptocurrency backed by US Dollars). It aims to offer a fiat-to-crypto platform once necessary regulatory approvals come by.

Cathy Z from Digi Finex (that has a lot of Indian citizens in its platform’s community) feels that as long as citizens are not banned from dealing with cryptocurrencies, one can always use foreign exchanges or local exchanges that pack their bags for countries like Singapore. “Making a law is one thing and executing is a different thing altogether. Exchanges can move overseas, open services to Indian citizens and foreign players can provide services to Indian citizens. For sure, the intention of government is to protect people and not to put everyone behind bars. It is hard to trace individuals anyway. People will find ways to trade in this currency. They can try different exchanges, different VPNs and different identities too.” Staying invested is not a problem if the ban continues as Ajeeth K from Zebpay has also opined.

Bulls and Blinkers

That does not mean that the ban on INR deposits and withdrawals did not hamper trade in India. An investment player in Ahmedabad tells of how the hype has come down, and the fear of income tax department notices to some bitcoin players has also created a ‘pause’ mode in the market. People who do not understand the technology underpinnings well are the ones who easily get disoriented with its vague nature and initial media notoriety. Mohit G, a finance professional from New Delhi, also observes that volumes have been affected in India.

Fresh investments have definitely gone southwards as Sidharth S, founder of CREBACO, seconds. “Activity has dropped significantly but P2P and cash transactions are supporting people who want to cash out.” He, however, cautions that this is not what the government would have aimed at, as now it would be difficult for tax authorities to figure out a lot of movements in people’s accounts given the difficulty of grabbing the exact value of bitcoin on a particular time and day.

Hold Their Hands

“I started very late in this space anyways. I will keep investing in it,” says a confident Vikash who notes that finance sector in India is still trying to define it. Since there is no way to track the money and it is an instant transfer, it is understandable that regulators would be wary of the flight of money abroad. But with strong KYC elements in place at many exchanges, that should not be a worry anymore, he contends.

Crypto markets are reaching around US$250 billion in Sep 2018, and could touch US$1 trillion by 2020, as per some estimates. With trading volumes as huge as US$12-14 billion worth of trades per day, there is need for guidance and balance for investors interested in a virtual currency. Ponder over these worries from Mukesh C, a cyber forensics expert, “An investor in this space has to be ‘always’ alert about regulatory swings. If tomorrow, a foreign country where s/he has an account, changes its stance on cryptocurrency; and the account and money is frozen out of the blue, what respite or recourse does an investor have?”

Sidharth S does not mince any words here. “The government has to act really fast. We cannot afford to make policies at the pace we did for software industry. The cryptoworld is too quick for bureaucracy. Government should regulate it at the right time. They cannot stop it for sure. They also cannot afford to lose revenue because the industry is moving out to other crypto-friendly regions.”

There are good and bad people in any space, Cathy Z reminds. “The good ones want to play by rules. Eventually, governments won’t be able to kill crytocurrencies. So banning something will not give regulators the results they want to achieve. Guidance and deadlines to comply will.”

 How have you dealt with the Crypto Winter? Let us know your experience and opinion in the comments section below.

Images – courtesy of Shutterstock

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating appeared first on Bitcoin News.

READ MORE http://bit.ly/2MkyLw6

[jacobhinkley]

India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating

The RBI Circular was intended to put a pause button on cryptocurrency activity in India, but as the mandate that restrained banks to be involved in this space goes through debate, protests, and court pit-stops, beneath the surface a lot has transpired. It is in the trenches where it can be shown why it is not exactly so easy to curb bitcoin action. People, like stubborn wild flowers growing on a curb, have found ways to stay sunny and continue bitcoin activity.

Also read: What happened in Iran when regulator allowed mining?

Will finds a Way

It was not the tourniquet it was intended to be. At least, not without some spills and spillovers. The RBI circular that prohibited banks and financial institutions from providing services in context of cryptocurrencies has created some confusion and hesitance, but no outright suspension of market activity in the last few months. Enthusiasts and panicked people alike have found ways to take a detour.

Having accounts in the US is one such option. Optimists like Vikash P, a practitioner of cryptocurrency who uses such means, say they will keep investing in it because they see intrinsic value and feel that’s why bitcoin has climbed so much since its inception. People are also considering Moneygram, local websites that supposedly allow local currency conversion against bitcoins, and face-to-face cash deals, as ways to trade bitcoins while the ban continues.

Then, there is a much more pervasive alternative in the form of P2P trade where the buyer and seller deal via escrow accounts held by an exchange.

Wazirx shares that it had announced P2P as a solution before the RBI ban came into effect. “So our users knew they had a way of cashing in and out of crypto post 6th July. The demand for P2P crypto trading has turned out to be way more than anyone in the industry expected it to be. We’re overwhelmed by the massive response from all our users for Wazirx P2P.” its CEO explains.

The exchange sees more than 1 trade per minute on Wazirx P2P and calls it the highest P2P trading velocity in India. To add to that, now there is Coin Recoil that has launched in India claiming zero withdrawal fees and trading pairs with TrueUSD (which it calls a price-stable cryptocurrency backed by US Dollars). It aims to offer a fiat-to-crypto platform once necessary regulatory approvals come by.

Cathy Z from Digi Finex (that has a lot of Indian citizens in its platform’s community) feels that as long as citizens are not banned from dealing with cryptocurrencies, one can always use foreign exchanges or local exchanges that pack their bags for countries like Singapore. “Making a law is one thing and executing is a different thing altogether. Exchanges can move overseas, open services to Indian citizens and foreign players can provide services to Indian citizens. For sure, the intention of government is to protect people and not to put everyone behind bars. It is hard to trace individuals anyway. People will find ways to trade in this currency. They can try different exchanges, different VPNs and different identities too.” Staying invested is not a problem if the ban continues as Ajeeth K from Zebpay has also opined.

Bulls and Blinkers

That does not mean that the ban on INR deposits and withdrawals did not hamper trade in India. An investment player in Ahmedabad tells of how the hype has come down, and the fear of income tax department notices to some bitcoin players has also created a ‘pause’ mode in the market. People who do not understand the technology underpinnings well are the ones who easily get disoriented with its vague nature and initial media notoriety. Mohit G, a finance professional from New Delhi, also observes that volumes have been affected in India.

Fresh investments have definitely gone southwards as Sidharth S, founder of CREBACO, seconds. “Activity has dropped significantly but P2P and cash transactions are supporting people who want to cash out.” He, however, cautions that this is not what the government would have aimed at, as now it would be difficult for tax authorities to figure out a lot of movements in people’s accounts given the difficulty of grabbing the exact value of bitcoin on a particular time and day.

Hold Their Hands

“I started very late in this space anyways. I will keep investing in it,” says a confident Vikash who notes that finance sector in India is still trying to define it. Since there is no way to track the money and it is an instant transfer, it is understandable that regulators would be wary of the flight of money abroad. But with strong KYC elements in place at many exchanges, that should not be a worry anymore, he contends.

Crypto markets are reaching around US$250 billion in Sep 2018, and could touch US$1 trillion by 2020, as per some estimates. With trading volumes as huge as US$12-14 billion worth of trades per day, there is need for guidance and balance for investors interested in a virtual currency. Ponder over these worries from Mukesh C, a cyber forensics expert, “An investor in this space has to be ‘always’ alert about regulatory swings. If tomorrow, a foreign country where s/he has an account, changes its stance on cryptocurrency; and the account and money is frozen out of the blue, what respite or recourse does an investor have?”

Sidharth S does not mince any words here. “The government has to act really fast. We cannot afford to make policies at the pace we did for software industry. The cryptoworld is too quick for bureaucracy. Government should regulate it at the right time. They cannot stop it for sure. They also cannot afford to lose revenue because the industry is moving out to other crypto-friendly regions.”

There are good and bad people in any space, Cathy Z reminds. “The good ones want to play by rules. Eventually, governments won’t be able to kill crytocurrencies. So banning something will not give regulators the results they want to achieve. Guidance and deadlines to comply will.”

 How have you dealt with the Crypto Winter? Let us know your experience and opinion in the comments section below.

Images – courtesy of Shutterstock

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating appeared first on Bitcoin News.

India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating published first on https://medium.com/@smartoptions

[jacobhinkley]

India Cryptocurrency Winter Survivors: We Were Not Sleeping, But Hibernating

The RBI Circular was intended to put a pause button on cryptocurrency activity in India, but as the mandate that restrained banks to be involved in this space goes through debate, protests, and court pit-stops, beneath the surface a lot has transpired. It is in the trenches where it can be shown why it is not exactly so easy to curb bitcoin action. People, like stubborn wild flowers growing on a curb, have found ways to stay sunny and continue bitcoin activity.

Also read: What happened in Iran when regulator allowed mining?

Will finds a Way

It was not the tourniquet it was intended to be. At least, not without some spills and spillovers. The RBI circular that prohibited banks and financial institutions from providing services in context of cryptocurrencies has created some confusion and hesitance, but no outright suspension of market activity in the last few months. Enthusiasts and panicked people alike have found ways to take a detour.

Having accounts in the US is one such option. Optimists like Vikash P, a practitioner of cryptocurrency who uses such means, say they will keep investing in it because they see intrinsic value and feel that’s why bitcoin has climbed so much since its inception. People are also considering Moneygram, local websites that supposedly allow local currency conversion against bitcoins, and face-to-face cash deals, as ways to trade bitcoins while the ban continues.

Then, there is a much more pervasive alternative in the form of P2P trade where the buyer and seller deal via escrow accounts held by an exchange.

Wazirx shares that it had announced P2P as a solution before the RBI ban came into effect. “So our users knew they had a way of cashing in and out of crypto post 6th July. The demand for P2P crypto trading has turned out to be way more than anyone in the industry expected it to be. We’re overwhelmed by the massive response from all our users for Wazirx P2P.” its CEO explains.

The exchange sees more than 1 trade per minute on Wazirx P2P and calls it the highest P2P trading velocity in India. To add to that, now there is Coin Recoil that has launched in India claiming zero withdrawal fees and trading pairs with TrueUSD (which it calls a price-stable cryptocurrency backed by US Dollars). It aims to offer a fiat-to-crypto platform once necessary regulatory approvals come by.

Cathy Z from Digi Finex (that has a lot of Indian citizens in its platform’s community) feels that as long as citizens are not banned from dealing with cryptocurrencies, one can always use foreign exchanges or local exchanges that pack their bags for countries like Singapore. “Making a law is one thing and executing is a different thing altogether. Exchanges can move overseas, open services to Indian citizens and foreign players can provide services to Indian citizens. For sure, the intention of government is to protect people and not to put everyone behind bars. It is hard to trace individuals anyway. People will find ways to trade in this currency. They can try different exchanges, different VPNs and different identities too.” Staying invested is not a problem if the ban continues as Ajeeth K from Zebpay has also opined.

Bulls and Blinkers

That does not mean that the ban on INR deposits and withdrawals did not hamper trade in India. An investment player in Ahmedabad tells of how the hype has come down, and the fear of income tax department notices to some bitcoin players has also created a ‘pause’ mode in the market. People who do not understand the technology underpinnings well are the ones who easily get disoriented with its vague nature and initial media notoriety. Mohit G, a finance professional from New Delhi, also observes that volumes have been affected in India.

Fresh investments have definitely gone southwards as Sidharth S, founder of CREBACO, seconds. “Activity has dropped significantly but P2P and cash transactions are supporting people who want to cash out.” He, however, cautions that this is not what the government would have aimed at, as now it would be difficult for tax authorities to figure out a lot of movements in people’s accounts given the difficulty of grabbing the exact value of bitcoin on a particular time and day.

Hold Their Hands

“I started very late in this space anyways. I will keep investing in it,” says a confident Vikash who notes that finance sector in India is still trying to define it. Since there is no way to track the money and it is an instant transfer, it is understandable that regulators would be wary of the flight of money abroad. But with strong KYC elements in place at many exchanges, that should not be a worry anymore, he contends.

Crypto markets are reaching around US$250 billion in Sep 2018, and could touch US$1 trillion by 2020, as per some estimates. With trading volumes as huge as US$12-14 billion worth of trades per day, there is need for guidance and balance for investors interested in a virtual currency. Ponder over these worries from Mukesh C, a cyber forensics expert, “An investor in this space has to be ‘always’ alert about regulatory swings. If tomorrow, a foreign country where s/he has an account, changes its stance on cryptocurrency; and the account and money is frozen out of the blue, what respite or recourse does an investor have?”

Sidharth S does not mince any words here. “The government has to act really fast. We cannot afford to make policies at the pace we did for software industry. The cryptoworld is too quick for bureaucracy. Government should regulate it at the right time. They cannot stop it for sure. They also cannot afford to lose revenue because the industry is moving out to other crypto-friendly regions.”

There are good and bad people in any space, Cathy Z reminds. “The good ones want to play by rules. Eventually, governments won’t be able to kill crytocurrencies. So banning something will not give regulators the results they want to achieve. Guidance and deadlines to comply will.”

 How have you dealt with the Crypto Winter? Let us know your experience and opinion in the comments section below.

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