TronWeekly

Crypto World News

You are here: Home / Archives for India

India

Indian Govt Decides To Levy 18% Tax On Bitcoin While Its Legality Remains Unclear

by

Even though cryptocurrencies have stayed in the globe for more than two decades now, Indian regulators and governments across the world still seem to be figuring out these assets. Unclear regulations have been a huge issue for users and lovers of crypto. While regulators of several countries have been trying to deal with crypto in their own way, India seems to be addressing the taxing of these digital assets even before assessing their legality.

Indian Crypto Lovers Continue To Live In A Dilemma

Indian crypto enthusiasts sighed with relief after the Supreme Court lifted the crypto ban insinuated by the RBI. However, the citizens of India continue to live in a dilemma as the Court nor the regulators have clarified the status of crypto in the country. Now that the price of Bitcoin [BTC] is rising without a hurdle, several governments seem to have intensified their probe with regard to the crypto market. The Times of India revealed that the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau [CEIB] had urged the Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs [CBIC] to acquire a whopping amount of Rs. 7,200 crores every year in light of Bitcoin trading.

The CEIB concluded that it intends to levy an 18% goods and services tax [GST] on transactions pertaining to Bitcoin. With this Bitcoin taxation, the government could procure a total of $970 million. Despite this tax imposition, the legality of these assets remains under the wraps. The CEO of Policy 4.0, a policy advisory platform, Tanvi Ratna took to Twitter to shed light on the same. The tweet read,

“#India govt mulls imposing #GST on #crypto. Sadly, this does not necessarily imply that crypto will be legal. Under Indian law, illegal income is also taxable & evading its tax counts as criminal activity.”

However, the news portal pointed out that the CEIB categorized Bitcoins as “intangible assets”. This category could further allow the government to impose GST on all BTC transactions.

Indian Man Receives Bitcoin To Carry Out Online Sex Chatting Racket

by

Despite the surge in the value of Bitcoin, the employment of the asset to carry out illicit activities seems to have found no end. Bitcoin has been fighting hard to steer clear of its association with the dark web, however, Bitcoin is caught up in yet another scandal. The officials of the country with the world’s largest democracy recently took down an online sex chatting racket that involved Bitcoin.

One Man, 30 Bitcoin Addresses

In the city of Vadodara, a man claiming to be Architect, Nilesh Gupta was nabbed by the police. Gupta allegedly ran a comprehensive virtual sex chatting and video racket in Akota. The police had received a tip-off that pointed towards the direction of Hardik Chambers, an old building in Akota. Acting on the basis of this information, the police set out to raid the building where Gupta and two women were found. Both these women were hired for the online sex chatting platform.

Gupta wasn’t the only one that executed this. Ami Parmar helped Gupta in hiring the women under the false pretense of offering them a job at Gupta’s architecture firm, Ray Design World. The women hired by the firm were recruited from several parts of the country including, Vadodara, Surat, Junagadh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. These women were further urged to chat with men online which would be further intensified to pornographic video chats. All these women were aged between 18-25 years.

Gupta acquired money by sharing his content with, Chaturbate, a European pornographic website. Gupta resorted to Bitcoin as the website had created a native token to secure the customer’s identity. Over the course of the racket, Gupta had acquired up to 9.5 Bitcoins which is approximately 159607 USD. Sandeep Chaudhary, the Deputy Commissioner of Police elaborated on the same and said,

“The website used to deduct its own share and allow Gupta to encash the tokens for Bitcoins. We found 30 Bitcoin addresses used by Gupta and seized a wallet containing 9.5 Bitcoins.”

While Parmar is still on the run, the police have managed to secure over 19 passports of women along with 11 laptops. Webcams, internet routers, mobile phones, sex toys, televisions along with Gupta’s car had also been taken away by the police. The police currently hope to secure the 19 women whose passports were found.

25-Year-Old Techie Nabbed For Hacking Websites, Carrying Out Bitcoin-Related Illicit Activities

by

Since the inception of Bitcoin, it has made it attractive to illicit online actors. Cryptocurrency’s latest rally and rise to popularity have once again made it highly lucrative for malicious actors. In recent developments, the Karnataka Police Central Crime Branch [CCB] arrested a 25-year-old software engineer for allegedly hacking websites to steal data and money and then converting them to bitcoins.

Kamal Pant, Commissioner of Police, during a press conference, stated,

“CCB has arrested Srikrishna alias Shreeki, aged 25 years, adept at computer programming and had done his Bachelors in Computer Science. He hacked many websites, online gaming portals, and made illegal gains. He also tried to hack into government websites.”

According to reports, the accused, who is known as Sri Krishna used peddle as well as consume drugs bought from the darknet. Earlier, he had allegedly hacked online poker games to win money and Bitcoins online. The authorities accused him of visiting hacking gaming websites and other sites to steal data, get information on credit/debit cards used by people who accessed the sites.

A CCB official also went on to say that Sri Krishna was approached by Suneesh Hegde who was looking to purchase hydro ganja through dealers on the darknet, to which Sri Krishna agreed to help them out. For the last two years, the duo would buy hydro ganja and other drugs from the darknet and pay with Bitcoins which Sri Krishna got by converting money by hacking accounts.

The drugs were couriered in consignments and the accused confessed collecting them at the foreign post office in Chamarajpet, Bengaluru.

Besides, he also happens to be the prime accused in the case of stealing Rs. 11 crores from the e-procurement website and has reportedly confessed to hacking the website of the Karnataka government back in August 2019.

OKEx Lifts Temporary Ban On P2P Trading For Its Asian Currencies

by

Several crypto exchanges were on the bad side of regulators this October. BitMEX and OKEx were one of the most popular exchanges that made a lot of news. While BitMEX was being slapped with more lawsuits, OKEx had commenced P2P trading for a few currencies.

Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese Currencies Find Leeway On OKEx

In a recent announcement titled, “Resumption of P2P Trading”, OKEx revealed that all trading activities would commence on the exchange from 21 October 2020 post 12:00 PM [UTC]. The platform revealed that the peer-to-peer trading wing for the Indian rupee, the Chinese yuan as well as the Vietnamese dong would be opened.

Just last week the exchange put a halt on its withdrawals following an investigation that was underway. The previous announcement suggested that a private key holder was working with a public security bureau and the exchange had reportedly been “out of touch” with the private key holder. While the details pertaining to the investigation was not disclosed by the exchange, OKEx suggested that the ban on withdrawals was temporary. This ban was enforced keeping in mind the security of the users.

Just yesterday, OKEx shared a tweet pointing out the ban of several accounts following security issues. The tweet read,

“Multiple accounts have triggered our risk management system. As a result, those accounts have been automatically banned for internal transfers. To ensure the safety of your assets, we’d like to remind users not to engage in unauthorized platforms.

Your funds are safe @OKEx”

Furthermore, the Head of Marketing who goes by the Twitter user name, Molly highlighted that certain users on the crypto exchange were persistent about taking their funds out. She added, “people been selling their USDT on OKEx with 15~20% price off. (the withdrawal is close, but transfer between OKEx users is still available.)”

Additionally, BitMEX seems to have taken its recent charges and arrests quite seriously as the exchange was implementing verification processes for its users that included KYC procedures. Users were reportedly required to complete the verification process before 5 November 2020. Users who fail to do so would be banned from withdrawing their funds after 4 December 2020.

India Cryptocurrency Scene in Turmoil; Govt Plans on Banning Crypto Trading

by

Just when India saw investors rushing back into the cryptocurrency trading scene, the country saw yet another setback with respect to regulations. In the latest development, the Indian government is reportedly planning to introduce a new law banning Indian cryptocurrency trading.

According to Bloomberg’s sources familiar with the matter, the bill in question is expected to be discussed soon by the federal cabinet before it is sent to the Parliament.

Blockchain, not Bitcoin

This is an often-heard stance across the digital asset space and the Indian government holds a similar sentiment. There is no doubt that the country’s government is a huge proponent of blockchain technology with several pilots and projects launched in favor of fledgling technology. More than half of Indian states have already initiated government-sponsored blockchain-based projects.

India still has a long way to go before it can call itself a hub of blockchain as despite these attempts to lure potential blockchain investments since the innovators in the country have a limited window of experimenting just with private blockchain as opposed to a more flexible global scenario.

At the same time, planning on an outright ban of cryptocurrencies in the country is a major blow to the crypto ecosystem in the country. This news comes after reports of the country’s finance ministry seeking inter-ministerial consultations on a potential ban surfaced earlier in June this year.

Blast from the past

The Reserve Bank of India had previously banned commercial banks from servicing to cryptocurrency traders and exchanges in 2018. This was responded with a lawsuit in the Supreme Court by cryptocurrency exchanges challenging the RBI ban in September 2019. The ban was overturned in the March of the following year bringing a respite for both investors as well as the crypto platforms.

Firms that had previously fled the country amid a lack of regulatory clarity to more crypto-friendly countries were looking to expand their footprint following the development. Soon after, the trading volumes on cryptocurrency exchanges servicing Indian clients also increased substantially.

Implication

While the ban materializes, it would not just be a huge traders/investors and existing cryptocurrency platforms, but it would also pose as a major hindrance to big companies seeking for the foray Indian market, and the country could potentially lose out on a lot of employment opportunities as other Asian countries have taken the route of regulating the space instead of outlawing them.

Existing cryptocurrency exchanges, on the other hand, is likely to register their companies abroad to skirt adverse legislation in India and not to forget the crypto assets worth thousands of millions owned by the people in the country that would have to be disposed off if the bill becomes a reality.

Indian IT Giant Tech Mahindra To Deploy Various Blockchain Solutions

by

Blockchain technology has gained colossal popularity amongst prominent companies as well as governments. Several platforms across the globe have been trying to incorporate blockchain technology into various industries. With almost every country exploring the prospects of blockchain tech, India decided to jump onto the bandwagon. The country’s prominent IT company recently revealed the onboarding of blockchain tech.

Tech Mahindra Partners With Amazon Web Services

On Monday, Tech Mahindra revealed that the IT company was collaborating with Amazon Web Services [AWS] to roll out blockchain technology-based solutions. The platform will reportedly utilize the potential blockchain solutions specifically in healthcare, telecom as well as aviation sectors. However, the Indian multinational tech company intends to deploy blockchain solutions for other services including finance, banking, manufacturing, oil, and gas along with retail.

As reported by The Economic Times, Tech Mahindra is said to look into the aforementioned projects in the next 12 to 18 months. Elaborating on the firm’s latest move, Rajesh Dhuddu, the Blockchain and Cybersecurity Practise Leader at Tech Mahindra pointed out the importance of the inclusion of blockchain tech particularly during the time of the ongoing pandemic. He detailed,

“Global businesses are facing sustained headwinds and struggling to collectively navigate and strategize in this new, unchartered territory and facilitate business continuity in the current COVID world. Ensuring supply chain continuity is paramount and needs more attention in the coming times.”

For the aviation sector, the IT firm plans on utilizing blockchain tech during the delivery procedure to track and trace kits. Furthermore, for the medical industry, blockchain solutions would mainly be used to track and verify deceitful medical materials like face masks, gloves, PPE kits as well as sanitizers.

Additionally, Rajesh Dhuddu highlighted the need for platforms to tackle the issues they face via blockchain tech. He added,

“Our collaboration with AWS will support future pandemic preparedness and accelerate an economic rebound post COVID-19 for organizations operating global supply chains and eliminate siloes.”

Tech Mahindra is not new to blockchain tech as back in July, the Indian IT giant rolled out a platform dedicated to the entertainment industry with blockchain-based digital contracts and rights, developed by IBM’s blockchain platform.

Hackers Demand Bitcoin Donations Via Indian Prime Minister’s Website Account

by

Back in July, many Twitter handles of prominent celebrities, officials, and even organizations were subject to a hack. The hackers sought Bitcoin and almost all the hacked accounts demanded prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and XRP. It seems like a new set of hackers have followed the footsteps of the former as the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was the latest victim of a similar attack.

History Repeats Itself

This time, however, the Twitter account of the Indian Prime Minister’s personal website was used to entice people into donating cryptocurrency. Earlier today, an array of tweets seeking Bitcoin specifically as a donation to the PM’s National Relief Fund for COVID-19.

 

68cdb541 5924 42d7 8eea 52bdbc7dc5e9

The addresses mentioned in the tweets were 0xae073db1e5752faff169b1ede7e8e94bf7f80be6 which consisted about 0.0000696969 ETH [$0.03] as the final balance annd the other address, 14DuwVLiHLcMqhtMqe4bRcfNGoYPcEaGYt had a total of 0.00006900 BTC [$0.78] as its final balance.

Unlike the previous attack back in July, the hacker here pointed out that the Prime Minister’s personal website account was hacked. The hackers that were carrying this attack out used the alias “John Wick.” The hackers further tweeted,

“Yes this account is hacked by John Wick ([email protected]). We have not hacked Patym Mall.”

The hacker reportedly tweeted this in light of the recent infringement that stirred Patym Mall. Cyble, a cybersecurity platform revealed that a group behind the Patym Mall operated under the name, John Wick. However, the hackers asserted that they weren’t behind the hack of the e-commerce platform.

While the aforementioned tweets have been taken down from the Prime Minister’s account, officials are still probing the matter.

After the Supreme Court of India lifted the ban on cryptocurrencies, the crypto industry started garnering more traction throughout the country. As the country is diving deep into digitalization, notable platforms across the globe have been viewing India as a comprehensive profitable market.

Several prominent personalities like the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, and several others were victims of the attack during July. The hackers caught the attention of the followers of these celebrities via a crypto giveaway. However, officials were quick enough to arrest three individuals behind the hack, while the fourth one is still on the run.

Indian Cryptocurrency Sees Resurgence as August Marks 6 Months Since Crypto Ban Was Lifted

by

The world of cryptocurrencies took a massive upswing in March when India’s Supreme Court reversed a ban imposed by Indian’s Reserve Bank back in 2018. Ever since the ban was lifted, several popular institutions who had lost interest in the subcontinent came flocking back to set up shop.

This increase has not gone without notice as many analyst companies outrightly claimed India’s importance in today’s burgeoning economy. The rebound in exchange trading has been accompanied by a rapid thaw in mainstream responses to cryptocurrency.

India’s population has always created a large user base that companies look at with massive interest. With over 600 million banked individuals, it only takes a momentary push to bring in a mainstream sentiment for the cryptocurrency world. Even former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan had said that the world of virtual assets would play a pivotal role in taking the fintech world to the next level. The acceptance level for crypto has reached such a level that even the International Monetary Fund recently released a video talking about the benefits of decentralized assets.

This marked improvement in the affairs comes a few years after a complete crypto shutdown in the country. When the RBI first instituted the ban, several high profile companies from India left the country and decided to explore options in other regions. Zebpay, a popular cryptocurrency exchange was one of the major examples in this crossfire with founder Ajeet Khurana once claiming that a return to India would be profitable.

His words seem to have come true as the crypto industry has grown by double digits in the country. Bitcoin and Ethereum trades are at an all-time high in the country and it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Even Arjun Vijay, the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Giottus Cryptocurrency exchange stated:

“It takes time to add beneficiaries and transfer money to peoples’ bank accounts. This can be anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. Most people don’t have the patience to trade like this. Volumes fell 90% when the RBI payments ban came into effect in August 2018.”

The Indian market will again see a resurgence when the price of Bitcoin goes up, a situation that has been on the rollercoaster for the past two months. Experts assume that the current support will maintain for some more time, which can provide sustenance for a continued bull run.

Drugs Ordered Online in Bitcoins Busted in India

by

Recently, the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau busted a drug trafficking racket in Bengaluru , India, confiscating 145 ecstasy / MDMA pills and more than 220k INR cash.

Narcotics Control Bureau Deputy Director [Operations] K P S Malhotra revealed,

“In follow up action, the team seized 96 pills of MDMA and 180 LSD blots at Nikoo homes in Bengaluru. Later, a lady drug supplier who had been the main kingpin of the case was intercepted and 270 pills of MDMA were recovered from her house at Dodagubbi, Bengaluru.”

Furthermore, the investigation also revealed that the accused had placed the order of MDMA pills online in exchange for Bitcoins.

MDMA, LSD, and cannabis are some of the most popular darknet drugs. The public appetite for it has continued to flourish even in times of crisis, and the Covid-19 pandemic is no exception. This was evident from the fact that online drug sales on the platform showed consistent growth.

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic growth in the sale of a variety of illicit substances, especially on the darknet drug marketplaces. Online sales are projected to rise exponentially due to several factors at play such as internet availability, evolving technology as well as the profusion of social media.

Since cryptocurrency enables direct and anonymous transactions without any oversight, online buyers and vendors were able to transfer funds anonymously without getting detected.

Seven years ago, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation agents busted into a San Francisco Public Library to arrest the mastermind behind Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht. Despite the modern darknet market’s shut down, the purchase of illicit drugs, weapons, and other illegal goods using Bitcoin continues.

While darknet markets are havens for software such as TOR which provides anonymous communication, law enforcement officials have, time, and again, successfully leveraged new techniques to identify buyers and sellers across these marketplaces.

Meanwhile, Chainalysis’s recent crypto crime report for 2019 revealed that the total darknet market sales grew 70% in 2019 to over $790 million worth of cryptocurrency. This was the first time when the sales have crossed $600 million. In addition, for the first time since 2015, darknet markets increased their share of overall incoming cryptocurrency transactions, doubling from 0.04% in 2018 to 0.08% in 2019.

11

Despite the rise, the total share of incoming cryptocurrency activity remains quite low at 0.08% but among the most vibrant underground economies that exist in darknet markets, drugs continues to rule the realm.

Indian Crypto Industry Worried of Alleged New Crypto Ban by Authorities

by

Five months ago, the Indian crypto industry was filled with hope and excitement as the Supreme Court lifted a ban on cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, the excitement and hope were once again overshadowed by uncertainty, after an anonymous government official allegedly reported that the government is drafting a new law to ban digital currencies.

According to the alleged government official, two ministries and the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) are proactively structuring the legal framework to outlaw cryptocurrencies for good in India. A report by the Indian news outlet, Moneycontrol, on August 4,  claimed some Indian authorities want to ban cryptocurrency trading in the country. The report suggests that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are deliberating on the structure of the law to ban digital assets.

New crypto ban scare in India

The news outlet quotes the anonymous official, saying, “Once Parliament resumes for the session, we are hoping to get [the law] ratified.” Indian lawmakers are expected to assemble again in late August or at the beginning of September. As per the official, the government wants to outlaw cryptocurrencies through a statutory structure, as opposed to other means such as RBI’s blanket ban. He adds, “It will clearly define the illegality of the trade.”Back in 2018, the Reserve Bank of India prohibited banks from offering their services to businesses involved with cryptocurrencies. However, the crypto ban was lifted by the Supreme Court back in March. Notably, the recent revocation of the blanket ban led to the rise of many new cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the subcontinent. Indian authorities are now threatening to introduce a law banning cryptocurrencies rather than RBI’s crypto ban.

Crypto is vital to Indians during coronavirus pandemic

Cryptocurrency exchanges across India have reported substantial growth in the last few months, as investors shift away from traditional assets. Notably, many parts of India are under strict movement restrictions since the government imposed a lock-down in March.

Indian-based crypto exchange platform, WazirX, saw a massive 80 percent growth in both March and April. Furthermore, CoinDCX, which is also based in India, saw ten times more new registrations the week after the crypto ban was lifted, than the average registrations before the repeal.