Shivam Thakral, 22, was so fascinated by bitcoin that, while studying for his undergraduate degree, the young entrepreneur decided to launch a cryptocurrency exchange in India in 2016.
"Cryptocurrencies have been gaining a lot of traction in India because people who have invested have doubled, tripled their investment," says Mr Thakral, the co-founder of BuyUcoin, based in New Delhi, which provides a platform to trade cryptocurrencies including bitcoin.
Despite mounting concerns expressed by authorities, the cryptocurrency frenzy in India seems to be showing no signs of abating. Several cryptocurrency companies have started in India, while existing firms are moving in on the rising interest in virtual currencies. Demand for this new money has gathered pace in the subcontinent amid surging prices generating worldwide interest. Demonetisation in particular has helped to fuel demand in India.
But, increasingly, authorities in the country have been trying to repress investment in cryptocurrencies, citing financial and security risks, which has prompted some Indian banks in recent weeks to block transactions related to exchanges such as BuyUcoin.
This comes as governments globally are becoming more concerned about speculative investments in virtual currencies. The South Korean state said last week it plans to ban local cryptocurrency exchanges, which triggered a 12 per cent slump in bitcoin rates to US$12,801. Last year, regulators in China took steps to block such exchanges.
"There are pros and cons of investments in cryptocurrency – cryptocurrencies display a tendency to oscillate between high-value returns and substantial value reductions," says Vinay Kalantri, the founder of the Mobile Wallet, an online payment solution company based in Mumbai.
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Read more:
Indian Fintech scene poised for further growth momentum in 2018
Demand for bitcoin grows in India
Reliance Communications shares surge on debt restructure plan
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The Indian government has not yet revealed measures as aggressive as some of its Asian peers, but is has been very outspoken of its negative stance on the trend. India's finance minister Arun Jaitley, warned that cryptocurrencies are not "legal tender". The finance ministry recently issued a statement describing the currencies as a "Ponzi scheme", stating that virtual currencies "don't have any intrinsic value and are not backed by any kind of assets" and their prices are purely driven by speculation, making them highly volatile.
Taxation around the currencies has also become an area of concern and is still to be clearly defined. The income tax department last month moved in on exchanges and individuals in connection with these tokens, sending notices to traders and conducting surveys of exchanges across several major cities.
The central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, has issued a series of warnings to the public.
RBI says it has not issued "any licence or authorisation to any entity or company to operate such schemes or deal with bitcoin or any virtual currency". The RBI added "that dealing with virtual currencies came with "potential economic, financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks". Local media reports suggest the RBI has informally requested banks in the country to steer clear of virtual currency exchanges, and this has led to a number of banks blocking transactions.
"This has resulted in deposit and withdrawal related bottlenecks across all the Indian exchanges," says Vikram Pandya, the director of the fintech programme at SP Jain School of Management, which also has a campus in Dubai.
“What we require is the proper framework and regulations to govern these projects. If one bans deposit and withdrawal from banks, people may start exploring other routes to do these transactions, which defies the purpose because through the bank it is at least traceable. While some of the currencies are utter nonsense there are currencies which have really good potential.”
Mr Thakral says the move by the banks to avoid cryptocurrencies has impacted his business. "It has caused a little bit of a drop," he says, but he expects the negative impact to be temporary and believes interest in cryptocurrencies among investors is actually growing because of the backlash against them.
“More and more people are becoming aware of cryptocurrencies because of the comments by the government and the RBI,” Mr Thakral says.
Ultimately, he thinks the government will move towards issuing a set of regulations to govern exchanges such as his rather than trying to ban the trading of the currencies.
Reliance Jio, a telecom company, which is part of the billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries conglomerate, is reportedly planning to create its own cryptocurrency to capitalise on the trend, according to Mint, an Indian business daily.
“With Reliance Jio planning to launch their own coin, I assume very soon we can expect regulations around such tokens,” says Mr Pandya. “India has always taken wait and watch stance for regulations around new technologies.”
With countries including Singapore coming up with their own guidelines and framework around virtual currencies, he says he expects the RBI to eventually follow suit.
The Indian government's demonetisation move – in which it suddenly banned the two highest value banknotes in November 2016 – has played a significant role in the rise of cryptocurrencies in India, with people prompted to look for alternatives to cash. There have been some allegations that this has led to black money flowing into virtual currencies.
Prime minister Narendra Modi is eager for India to move towards a more transparent digital economy. Ironically, while the government is wary of cryptocurrencies, its broader policies have helped boost demand for them.
Some businesses in the country are starting to accept bitcoin, in some restaurants, for example, as cash liquidity has reduced following demonetisation.
"In India, the culture towards digital money has been pushed by the government itself and cryptocurrencies are another form of digital money," says Arjun Chakraborti, the president of TrakInvest, a virtual equity stock platform headquartered in Singapore and with operations in India, which last month launched its own cryptocurrency.
He says that India forms one of the biggest portions of the company's business and this interest is being driven by "the new millennial" who is attracted to these currencies.
“Millennials in Asia want opportunities to earn money, they do speculate and they use technology, and these are all the factors that have driven the adoption.”
Mr Chakraborti says individuals, however, need to be made aware of the risks and understand "socially responsible trading" and that, globally, the market needs to be "pushed in a mature direction … otherwise it becomes a one-time frenzy, people will lose their money and the bubble will burst".
But Mr Thakral believes virtual currencies are here to stay.
“In spite of the government and RBI saying “don't invest”, people are attracted to cryptocurrencies and the technology behind them,” he says.
"Cryptocurrencies are not going to go anywhere.”
Points about the fast fashion industry Celine Hajjar wants everyone to know
- Fast fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions
- Fast fashion is responsible for 24 per cent of the world's insecticides
- Synthetic fibres that make up the average garment can take hundreds of years to biodegrade
- Fast fashion labour workers make 80 per cent less than the required salary to live
- 27 million fast fashion workers worldwide suffer from work-related illnesses and diseases
- Hundreds of thousands of fast fashion labourers work without rights or protection and 80 per cent of them are women
Company%C2%A0profile
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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SPECS
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
If you go
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
more from Janine di Giovanni
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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The biog
From: Upper Egypt
Age: 78
Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila
Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace
Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace