Giottus, a crypto exchange based in India, has bumped up the number of cryptocurrencies listed on its platform for trading. Cryptocurrencies related to decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols, real world assets (RWA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and memecoins have made it to Giottus’ refreshed list. The exchange claims that it caters to over one million users and the listing of these new tokens is a result of user requests that it has analysed in recent times.

In a statement shared with Gadgets360, Giottus claimed to have conducted analysis of each new token that have been added to the list. Asset quality, reliability, asset fundamentals, and history of market performance are among parameters that were examined, as per the exchange, before adding them to the list.

“The listing of new tokens has been driven by significant demand from our valued customers, particularly in light of the ongoing bull market. The tokens chosen for listing have undergone a rigorous due diligence process which evaluated aspects such as asset quality, reliability, asset fundamentals, and market performance,” the exchange founded in 2017 said.

As per CoinMarketCap, presently the crypto market is lush with over 2.4 million cryptocurrencies in circulation. Giottus alone, claims that it now has 300 cryptocurrencies listed on its platform.

Realising the trend of new tokens finding their ways onto crypto exchanges, the Bharat Web3 Association (BWA) recently laid out a bunch of self-regulatory guidelines for exchanges to follow before listing new tokens on their platforms. The guidelines suggest that all crypto exchanges establish minimum standards to review tokens that are in the pipeline to be listed for public engagement. The exchanges have also been instructed to create their own filtering framework for token listings.

Given that India is deploying regulations to make the crypto sector safe for user engagement, it is expected that more people may attempt to experiment with crypto assets, which despite being volatile in nature, lure-in investors who are looking to make quick money.

As of now, the Government of India has not released its own rulebook on token listings, but has instructed exchanges to complete the KYC formalities of all customers and report any suspicious activities identified internally.

Giottus claims to have registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) — which was recently mandated by the Centre to ensure that no firm was illegally exposing Indians to the volatile and financially risky crypto space.

“As a registered entity with the FIU and a reporting entity under the India Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (i4C), Giottus adheres to the highest standards of regulatory compliance and believes that such user-centric measures will boost crypto adoption among the masses with its stated aim of reaching five million users by end of 2024,” the exchange added to its statement.

Bitcoin price fell by 1.22 percent over the last 24 hours, while the values of several other cryptocurrencies also took a hit on Thursday. As a result, the price of Bitcoin has dropped to $65,255 (roughly Rs. 54.4 lakh) on international exchanges and to $70,540 (roughly Rs. 58.8 lakh) on national exchanges. Market analysts believe that if the price of BTC continues to fall in the same manner, it could eventually plummet to as low as $60,000 (roughly Rs. 50 lakh).

“BTC consolidated in a very narrow range yesterday with altcoins showing some strength after days of choppy markets. This comes as Bitcoin exchange reserves reach a three year low, which means there could be a supply shock on the cards with the unprecedented demand of Bitcoin ETFs,” the CoinSwitch markets desk told Gadgets360 on Thursday.

Ether, on the other hand, performed rather well as its value grew by 1.35 percent over the past day. With this, the price of ETH is now $3,576 (roughly Rs. 2.98 lakh) on foreign exchanges. As per Gadgets360’s crypto price tracker, ETH price in India is currently set at $3,130 (roughly Rs. 2.60 lakh).

Prices of most altcoins drop

Popular altcoins also saw their prices drop on Thursday, just like Bitcoin. These include Binance Coin, Solana, Ripple, Dogecoin, and Cardano.

Shiba Inu, Avalanche, Polkadot, and Leo also registered losses on Thursday.

The overall crypto market cap dipped by 0.17 percent in the last 24 hours. The total crypto market valuation, at the time of writing, stood at $2.38 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,98,55,804 crore), shows CoinMarketCap.

Relatively unknown cryptocurrencies that manged to perform better than their popular counterparts on Thursday include Tron, Chainlink, Uniswap, Polygon, Near Protocol, Litecoin, and Stellar registered profits.

Cosmos, Cronos, Neo Coin, and EOS Coin also saw a small increase in value.

“Ethereum-based tokens, including Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and Lido DAO (LDO), are also gaining strength, suggesting the potential for a significant upswing in the near future,” said WazirX Vice President Rajagopal Menon in a statement to Gadgets 360.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

Ahead of India’s final budget announcement for FY2024-2025, a policy paper has outlined the reasons why the government should consider revising the crypto tax laws in the country. The report has collectively been compiled by the Centre for Tax Laws, Hyderabad-based NALSAR University of Law, and some individual members of the crypto community in India. The report claimed that India could fetch Rs. 5,144 crores through capital gains by 2027, only if country revises its crypto laws.

India’s crypto tax laws

Since 2022, India has been levying 30 percent tax on all crypto gains. In addition, it deducts one percent TDS (tax deducted at source) on every crypto transaction. The Finance Ministry wishes to maintain a trail of all crypto transactions, that are otherwise largely anonymous.

About the 30 percent tax on crypto profits in India, the report said that it was the highest across comparative economies like Ukraine, Canada, and the US. Commenting on the TDS law, the report noted that no other nation with significant exposure to virtual assets imposed “such withholding tax”.

A reduction in this one percent TDS cut could decrease overall TDS refunds, increase government revenue through capital gains taxes, and improve transaction monitoring by the virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that are operating in India, the policy paper explained.

“The tax impact is particularly harsh considering that India does not allow set off and carry forward of losses, which is uniquely discriminatory, even when compared to other industry sectors in India,” the report noted.

The impact of these taxes on crypto activities has led to a drop in the number of users engaging with crypto exchanges in India. Time and again, exchanges have complained that they have had to take cost cutting measures to keep their businesses afloat because of reduced number of investors signing up on the platform.

The report has shown that the number of active users in India’s crypto space dropped by 81 percent in 2023 alone. Several are even moving to foreign exchanges to go around these laws.

Where does India stand on crypto tax regime?

As of now, the Indian government has not disclosed if it is even considering revising the crypto tax laws. Earlier this year, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the interim budget before India conducted its general elections, she skipped mentioning the crypto sector.

The government has thus far not addressed the crypto sector’s demand to reduce the taxes.

Meta is attempting to enhance and streamline its operations in the Web3 and wearables markets. The company has reportedly divided its Reality Labs team into two separate entities where one team will work on the metaverse-focussed Quest headsets and the other will dedicate its time to hardware wearables that Meta may launch in the future. As per a report that surfaced online recently, Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth announced this segregation in the Reality Labs team earlier this week.

What is Reality Labs, and what are Meta’s plans for it?

After Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook to Meta in 2021, he formed the Reality Labs unit formally in 2022. This division merged multiple initiatives that were already being worked upon within the company like Artificial Intelligence, virtual headsets, as well as CTRL Labs among others. Later, the Reality Labs unit of Meta also became the centre point of the company’s exploration into the metaverse technology.

According to a report by The Verge Bosworth conveyed details about the internal restructuring through at Meta througha memo. The website also reported that layoffs have also been announced for some members of the team. The exact number of people terminated remains unknown for now – but the report claims that it was a relatively small group.

Moving forward, all of Meta’s initiatives related to the metaverse technology will be reportedly handled by the newly separated Metaverse division. The Quest VR headset, its operating system called Horizon OS, as well as Meta’s social VR platform Horizon Worlds will be overseen by the Metaverse unit, as per the report. Horizon leader Vishal Shah will reportedly now monitor developments around the Quest headsets as well.

In 2022, Meta refreshed the Quest headset lineup with the ‘Meta Quest Pro’ that starts at the price point of $999 (roughly Rs. 83,520). In 2023, Meta unveiled the Meta Quest 3 priced at $499.99 (roughly Rs. 41,800). As of March 2023, Meta had reportedly sold 20 million Quest headsets.

Meanwhile, the company has not yet addressed the reported development publicly.

Meta’s Metaverse journey so far

Zuckerberg announced his big plans to venture into the metaverse industry when he rebranded Facebook to Meta in October 8, 2021. With Web3 technologies meeting with scrutiny around the world because of their links to volatile and risky digital assets, the growth of these technologies have been gradual.

Meta’s Reality Labs unit has been reporting losses constantly since the rebranding. Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion (roughly Rs. 1,12,200 crore) in 2022, whereas it suffered a loss of $46.5 billion while generating nearly $11 billion (roughly Rs. 91,744 crore) in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023.

In May 2023, Meta had commissioned a study that claimed that the metaverse could contribute as much as $760 billion (roughly Rs. 62,36,088 crore) or about 2.4 percent to the US annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035. Zuckerberg projects that his metaverse initiatives could see more losses in the coming times but he remains diligent about exploring its use cases.

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has imposed a fine of $2.25 million (roughly Rs. 18.8 crore) on Binance. The financial watchdog announced the development on Thursday, June 20. India has claimed that the crypto exchange, touted as the largest in the world, was not adhering to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), which is mandated for crypto firms to comply with in order to keep their operations running in the country.

India’s FIU explains fine on Binance

As per the official statement shared by the exchange, India had issued a notice questioning Binance on its service being provided to Indian citizens without complying with the PMLA laws.

“Notice dated December 28, 2023, was issued to Binance pursuant to Section 13 of the Act, compelling Binance to demonstrate why appropriate action should not be undertaken against it for its dereliction of duties under the Act, despite its status as a reporting entity owing to its operations as a Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider,” FIU’s statement said.

Binance was supposedly given both written and verbal communication about FIU’s concerns. The FIU has said that the charges regarding Binance having violated India’s legal requirements to operate its business here stand substantiated.

“Consequently, the Director FIU-IND vide order dated 19th June, 2024 in exercise of powers under Section 13 PMLA, imposed a total penalty of Rs. 18,82,00,000 (Rupees Eighteen Crore Eighty Two Lakh Only),” the financial authority noted.

The US-based exchange has been directed to ensure that it is diligently complying with India’s PMLA act as soon as possible. Binance as of now, has not responded to the development.

Binance Reacts

In a statement shared with Gadgets360, a Binance spokesperson said that the exchange is presently reviewing the order it has received from the FIU-IND.

“We wish to work with the FIU as a reporting entity and we are enthusiastic about reentering the Indian market to contribute positively, should we be able to do so in the near future. We remain dedicated to ensuring compliance with regulatory authorities,” the company spokesperson said. 

India’s crypto circle reacts

Talking to Gadgets360, the members of India’s crypto circle have asked other Web3 players in the nation to see this fining of Binance as a lesson of the consequences that firms could come face-to-face with for not complying with the laws.

“This significant penalty is a clear indication of the increasing scrutiny and regulation in the digital asset space. It’s essential to stay informed and aware of such developments to navigate this evolving landscape successfully,” Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin told Gadgets360. “I believe that the regulations are getting more organised for crypto currency exchanges, globally. The need for compliance is critical for user protection and to conduct business in a fearless environment.”

India’s crypto stakeholders realise that the nation has potential to become a leader in the Web3 space because of its big developer pool. Hence, they believe that complying with legal requirements is important to make the crypto sector, otherwise infamous for being risky and volatile, safer for the investor community to engage with.

“According to a research report, India is one of the top countries in terms of digital assets ownership. In such a large digital asset market, it is imperative to implement a regulatory framework for the protection of user funds and for providing a friendly environment for businesses,” Manhar Garegrat, Country Head India and Global Partnerships, Liminal Custody told Gadgets360.

Binance claimed that it registered with the FIU in India last month. The exchange did not want to lose the opportunity to amass India’s crypto community onto its platform.

The crypto exchange has previously had run-ins with the American and Nigerian authorities over alleged non-compliance of their respective rules overseeing the crypto sector.

Sam Altman’s controversial Worldcoin project is no longer under investigation in Kenya. An official notice issued by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kenya has claimed that an array of allegations related to Worldcoin’s user data collection were ‘expeditiously and objectively’ investigated. The file of this case has now been shut with the police being directed to take no further action against the Web3 project. As per Worldcoin’s official page, there are over 5.7 million unique humans on Worldcoin as of Thursday, June 20.

Kenya Lacks Reasoning Over Worldcoin’s Probe Suspension

Kenya’s decision comes across as abrupt because the DCI has not exactly given a reason why investigation on Worldcoin is being brought to a halt. The final decision was taken by Renson M. Ingonga, Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who has been serving as the chair since September 2023.

As per DCI’s notice, “the resultant investigation file was forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for an independent review and advice. Upon review of the file, the Director of Public Prosecutions concurred and directed that the file be closed with no further police action.”

Screenshots of DCI’s notice are circulating on social media.

Kenya was the first country in the world to have dragged Worldcoin under the investigative scanner last year. The project aims to provide blockchain-based universal proof-of-personhood to humans called ‘World IDs’. By giving this unique identity to humans, Worldcoin aims to eliminate the need for humans to give their personal details to interact with bots and the web.

As a mark of human identity, Worldcoin officials were collecting eye scans through an in-house device called the Orb – which raised concerns around user data privacy in many countries. What remains unclear for now is if Kenya has given a green flag to Worldcoin operations by shutting probe over it. This may impact the ongoing investigations into the project in other nations like South Korea, Germany, and Brazil. The project had faced scrutiny in India also last year and had to halt its iris scanning process.

Kenya releases instructions for WorldCoin

Kenyan authorities have decided to officially invite Worlcoin to register legally in the country. Registering with the Registrar of Business registry along with obtaining licences from the Office of the Data Protection Commission (ODPC) and the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) have been listed as immediate steps Kenya has instructed the Worldcoin team to take.

As per a CoinTelegraph report, Tools for Humanity, the foundation behind the Worldcoin initiative, is glad about this development.

“This welcome result is, however, not an end but a beginning. We will continue working with the government of Kenya and others and we hope to resume World ID registration across the country soon,” the report quoted Thomas Scott, chief legal officer at the Tools for Humanity as commenting on the development.

Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDCs, are picking up the pace in several nations around the world, and Iran is one of them. In the coming days, the country will gradually be deploying its ‘digital rial’ virtual currency into a public pilot phase. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is spearheading the trial phase for the digital rial. As part of this phase, the digital currency will be issued to banking users, as well as to tourists visiting the Kish Island to facilitate digital payments.

The digital rial pilot will be implemented June 21, an official release from the CBI said. For now, the trial will remain limited to the Kish Island.

“By scanning the barcode generated by the provided software, make your purchases with new methods or transfer money to the wallets of other customers,” the release said (translated from Persian).

CBDCs like the digital rial are blockchain-supported digital representations of fiat currencies, that let users process quick online payments. The use of CBDCs can result in the reduction of the dependence of central banks on cash notes, while also logging a permanent trail of the transaction history on the blockchain network.

As per the CBI, the digital rial will not require interbank settlements to facilitate fund transfer between the buyer and the seller. Instead, the funds will instantly be made available to the seller as soon as the purchase operation is completed.

“According to the measures taken, the digital rial facilitates the necessary capacities for the development of programmable or programmable money, which will be the driving engine for the formation of new business models, especially in the e-commerce space and the digital economy of the country.” the CBI said in the release.

At present, India is among nations that are in advanced trial phases of their respective CBDCs. In India, the eRupee CBDC is being distributed in the retail ecosystem. Multiple banks are allowing small group of users to convert some of their money into the CBDC and try it for payments through QR codes linked to the accounts of the fund receivers.

China, Japan, the UK, and Russia are all conducting pilot trials of their respective CBDCs. Most recently, Ethiopia has decided to explore the digital currency technology. In fact, back in 2022, Nigeria launched its eNaira CBDC into mainstream adoption.

The crypto industry, currently valued at $2.36 trillion, is attracting entrepreneurs eager to experiment, especially with the emergence of Web3. Coinbase International has decided to step up as a foster for up-and-coming Web3 projects. The exchange, counted among the largest in the world, has announced the launch of its Pre-launch Market initiative. This will serve as a launchpad for upcoming crypto projects. Unlike venture firms that offer help through direct funding, Coinbase has chosen a way to help crypto startups while also bumping up the number of users on its International and Advanced platforms.

Like an Initial Coin Offering, but different

In an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), up and coming Web3 projects supply a bunch of its native crypto tokens for people to purchase as early adopters. This transaction brings funds to starving businesses and offer benefits as well as rewards to their holders.

Meanwhile, with Pre-launch Markets, Coinbase will allow users to trade perpetual futures contracts on the native tokens of eligible crypto projects for similar outcomes, the exchange said in an official post.

“Pre-launch markets significantly differ from standard perpetual futures markets. Pre-launch markets on Coinbase allow users to participate in price discovery for upcoming projects on a trusted and secure platform. When the underlying token is launched on applicable spot exchanges and the market meets our requirements for a standard perpetual future, Coinbase will begin converting the pre-launch market to a standard perpetual future,” the exchange explained.

Coinbase is not launching this feature for all of its customers. Only institutional and retail investors will be able to access this service through Coinbase International and Coinbase Advanced respectively. The exchange has explained that trading on Pre-launch Markets comes with more risks, as unlaunched tokens can be volatile.

“Given the high-risk nature of pre-launch markets, these markets are more prone to lower liquidity, higher volatility and increased liquidation risk. Positions for pre-launch markets will not be assigned to participants of our Liquidity Support Program (LSP). As such, these markets will be at higher risk,” its blog noted.

Rules governing Coinbase’s Pre-Launch Market initiative

The assets listed on Coinbase Pre-Launch Markets will be capped at an initial margin of 50 percent, or twice the leverage. The notional position limit has been capped at $50,000 (roughly Rs. 41.7 lakh) per token.

“It is crucial to exercise caution and refrain from trading contracts that you are unfamiliar with or do not fully understand the associated risks. Coinbase will enforce strict leverage, position limits, and open interest caps on these markets,” its blog added.

The company has also noted that there could be instances where some of these unlaunched tokens may never actually make it to real listings. Under this circumstance it said, “the pre-launch market would not be able to convert into a standard perpetual futures market, and the market may need to be suspended and/or delisted.”

Binance, Bybit, Bitget, and OKX are other exchanges that reportedly offer similar services for upcoming crypto projects.

The crypto sector, after seeing a massive upswing in March this year, has found itself rather stagnated for over a month now. In light of the current volatile market conditions, one of Dogecoin’s developers who goes by the name of Mishaboar has sounded an alert to the crypto community. He has released a warning asking the investor community to gauge the risks of investing in crypto assets before making any final decision. In the long run, Mishaboar hopes that members of the investor community do not get burnt out with unresearched or impulsive investments.

The Dogecoin developer, in his post on X, refers to crypto investing as ‘educated gambling’. He has expressed his fear that investors who are losing sleep over their crypto investments – may have been overexposed to the sector.

“Crypto is extremely volatile and risky. Do not gamble with more than you can afford to lose,” said Mishaboar on June 16.

At present, over 2.4 million cryptocurrencies are circulating in the market. The current valuation of the crypto sector stands at $2.42 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,02,14,054 crore), showed CoinMarketCap.

Not just individual investors, but multiple firms including several from the Fortune 500 group are now engaging with cryptocurrencies. This kind of support from institutional investors can give individual investors a push to test their fate with crypto assets, sometimes without proper research.

Mishaboar noted that crypto criminals are on the rise, hunting for potential victims.

“The biggest risk for newbies, next to leverage trading, comes from trading coins and tokens without understanding the risk/reward ratio. And without realising that this space is mostly filled with grifters, criminals and peddlers,” his post added.

The prices of cryptocurrencies change on a daily basis, owing to the variations in the macro-economic conditions. On Monday, May 17 Bitcoin and Ether were trading at $66,426 (roughly Rs. 55.4 lakh) and $3,232 (roughly Rs. 2.70 lakh) respectively.

Dogecoin itself recorded a price drop of 2.08 percent to trade at $0.13 (roughly Rs. 11.10) on June 17. In the coming days, the DOGE developer plans on updating ‘newbies’ in the crypto space with crypto price observations.

The authorities in Malaysia are said to be cracking down on crypto tax evaders. As part of a special investigation codenamed ‘Ops Token’, officials from the Malaysian federal agency Inland Revenue Board (IRB) reportedly conducted raids at multiple locations having identified firms that were not reporting their crypto-related engagements. Through these taxes, the Malaysian administration much like India, is trying to maintain a trail of crypto-related financial transactions which otherwise are largely anonymous and could be exploited for unlawful activities.

The IRB is said to have joined forces with the Royal Malaysia Police as well as with CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM) to identify tax evaders. A team of 38 security personnel were part of the team that conducted raids across ten locations situated in the Klang Valley, a report from The Malaysian Reserve said over the weekend.

In Malaysia, cryptocurrencies are said to be categorised as securities. While cryptocurrencies are not considered as payment options, their trading is allowed in Malaysia. Crypto-related businesses functioning in the country however, do fall under the nation’s tax regime.

As per Statista, Malaysia’s cryptocurrency market is projected to reach the valuation of $306.6 million (roughly Rs. 2,556 crore) in revenue by the end of 2024. Statista also estimates that currently three million Malaysian residents are active in the crypto space.

The authorities there are trying to curb cases of tax evasion in the nation overall. In March, the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reportedly instructed the authorities to clampdown on tax evaders.

His direction to conduct audits of crypto-engaged companies and take action against the defaulters came after Malaysia reportedly lost RM 6.34 billion or $1.3 billion (roughly Rs. 11,222 crore) to tax evasion.

In Malaysia, the punishment for evading taxes can be a penalty of up to RM 20,000 0r $4,237.74 (roughly Rs. 3.53 lakh) as well as up to six months in prison.

Previously, Malaysia had cracked down on crypto miners in order to prevent electricity being stolen for mining operations.