So, how high is Bitcoin about to go? Analyst Willy Woo thinks it’s going to hit $135,000. It’s a “common-sense prediction” he told RT’s Keiser Report. Tim Draper is betting even higher. The venture capitalist has moved his money out of the stock market (too “frothy”) and put it into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (a “safe haven.”) He expects BTC to reach $250,000 in 2022 or the start of 2023. It’s no wonder that so many Bitcoin whales continue to hodl. According to one study, only 41.6 percent of BTC supply moved over the last twelve months. Some 42 percent …

A pending bill may still inhibit cryptocurrencies from flourishing in India, with India’s parliament yet to rule on the "Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill" from 2019, Business Insider reported on March 7. If passed, the bill will introduce unique regulatory frameworks for virtual currencies, utility tokens, and commodity-backed tokens — likely creating a complex exclusionary legislative apparatus for blockchain businesses to navigate. Supreme Court repeals Reserve Bank of India’s crypto ban On March 4, India’s crypto community rejoiced as India’s Supreme Court ruled that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban was “disproportionate and unconstitutional. …

In what is widely being considered a historic day for the crypto industry as a whole, the Supreme Court of India has passed a judgment nullifying the controversial banking ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India on the country’s local digital currency market. The three-judge bench presiding over the matter — justices Rohinton Nariman, S. Ravindra Bhat and V. Ramasubramanian — stated in their joint verdict that the ban, which was issued as a precautionary measure by the RBI in order to “protect” the nation’s economy, had not been substantiated by any hard facts. It is worth recalling that …

Major Indian crypto exchanges Unocoin and WazirX have resumed fiat deposits less than a day after the Supreme Court quashed restrictions on banks’ services to crypto firms in the country. Unocoin, which claims to have been the first entrant into the Bitcoin space in India since its founding in 2013, has been described by local analysts as an “icon of the crypto industry.” The exchange went live with rupee (INR) and bank account deposits and withdrawals earlier today, March 5, followed by INR deposits on Binance-owned WazirX. Blockstream CEO Adam Back — the inventor of the hashcash proof-of-work system later …

India is fostering a digital future via Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Digital India” initiative: A national blockchain strategy that includes quantum computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence as digital technologies become the primary platform for economic activity and growth. The IMF and the World Bank have forecasted that India’s GDP will grow at the rate of 7%–8% for the next few years, driving a rapid rise in its hydrocarbon-fueled energy demand tied to growing urbanization, rising incomes and a steadily increasing population. Studies suggest that India’s share of total global primary energy demand is set to roughly double to around …

Earlier today, India’s Supreme Court delivered its verdict in a landmark case for cryptocurrency in the country. A bench of three justices ruled that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban on banks’ services to crypto-related firms was unconstitutional. Kashif Raza — co-founder of the Indian crypto regulatory news and analysis platform Crypto Kanoon, which first broke news of the ruling — shared his analysis of the likely impact of today’s judgment. “Positivity for the entire ecosystem” RBI first issued its ban on banks’ dealings with crypto businesses back in April 2018, which took effect in July of that year. …

India has had a complicated relationship with crypto. While the nation holds a large number of crypto enthusiasts, many exchanges are concerned over the future of the industry. According to sources available to Cointelegraph, the Indian exchange Unocoin is planning to launch derivatives options on its platform within a few months. However, with the future of crypto in the country still uncertain, Unocoin co-founder Sathvik Vishwanath commented that the restrictions currently in place were making matters difficult: “...while we believe it is pretty much the time to launch a derivatives market, the restrictions from Reserve Bank of India on banks …

The Supreme Court of India has struck down the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) controversial ban on banks’ dealings with crypto-related firms. The court’s bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman, S Ravindra Bhat, and V Ramasubramanian, delivered the judgment earlier today, March 4, litigation news site Live Law reported. Landmark ruling India’s central bank, RBI, had imposed a blanket ban on banks’ dealings with crypto businesses back in April 2018, which came into effect in July of that year. Following both public and industry-led petitions, a case combining challenges against the central bank was brought before the Supreme Court by the …

Last week, a report claimed that cryptocurrency-based illegal gambling has surged in many parts of Asia owing to the rise of this novel asset class in recent years. In this regard, the article further added that over the course of the last five years or so, betting amounts have become substantially larger, partly because of traditional payment methods being replaced by cryptocurrencies. From a more technical standpoint, a research study released by Transparency International, a nongovernment organization based in Berlin, Asia’s illicit gambling market was found to be worth a staggering $400 billion in 2018. This is in part because …

Tech Mahindra, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group, is launching a blockchain accelerator together with the government of the southern state of Telangana. The parties hope the accelerator will become a “torch-bearer” for future accelerators nationwide, the Economic Times reported on Feb. 19. The new “T-Block Accelerator” is aimed at fostering blockchain startups that have identified a strong real-world use case for the technology, and to boost industry growth overall. Innovation management firm IBC Media will run the accelerator program, which developed following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed between the government of Telangana and Tech …

India’s citizens will soon be able to cast votes from outside their city of registration thanks to a blockchain-based system. According to The Times of India on Feb. 13, India’s Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that the country hopes to increase voter turnout with a blockchain-based voting solution. Using blockchain to prevent “lost votes” Arora said that, in the 2019 elections, 300 million eligible voters did not vote because they were either not politically engaged or were far from where their registered voting district on election day. The Times of India states that the country has over 450 million …

Despite ongoing uncertainty regarding cryptocurrency regulation in India, major global crypto exchange OKEx has just made another push in the country’s market. On Feb. 14, OKEx partnered with India’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, CoinDCX, to launch a new crypto futures product in India. As part of the partnership, OKEx will make a major step into the Indian cryptocurrency market, enabling more liquidity with its extensive expertise in developing world-class futures, CoinDCX said in an announcement shared with Cointelegraph. Specifically, the partnership purportedly unlocks CoinDCX’s new crypto futures product, DCXfutures, that will enable users to trade futures contracts with major cryptocurrencies …