Tech Mahindra, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group, partnered with American distributed ledger technology (DLT) firm Adjoint to launch a blockchain financial management and insurance solution. Telecommunications industry news outlet CommsMEA reported on Sept. 2 that the solution is the first of its kind. With this service, clients will reportedly be able to save $4 million for every $1 billion of financial risk management and banking relationships. Auditable data recording Per the report, users of the new system will be able to validate the business case with their own data in their own secure environment and help eliminate …

Five men in the Indian state of Kerala have been arrested for allegedly torturing the head of a failed $62.5 million Bitcoin investment scheme to death. Yahoo! News reported the news on Sept. 2. Killers believe victim defrauded investors According to the report, the Dehradun police in Uttarakhand were alerted to the incident after a local hospital found the body of the deceased in a car abandoned in a parking lot. Identity documents revealed that the victim was Abdul Shakoor, 35, from Malappuram in Kerala. Hospital authorities told police that a group of four men had brought the body to …

High net-worth individuals (HNIs) in India are more likely to invest in Bitcoin than other cryptocurrencies, according to a new Huru India survey, FinancialExpress reported on Aug. 30. Digital currencies were the fourth most preferred asset overall, although almost half of the respondents didn’t know what cryptocurrencies are. One tenth of wealthy Indians plan to invest in crypto Of the Indian HNIs surveyed, around 10% said that they intended to invest in cryptocurrency over the next three years. This made digital currency the fourth most favored asset class. Real estate is unsurprisingly the most preferred asset, followed by stock and …

The Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA), a government initiative under the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, is now a general partner of R3. Local news outlet The Economic Times reported on Aug. 27 that New York-based enterprise blockchain firm R3 chose the KBA as a general partner. According to the article’s author, the academy already designed a developer certification program on the firm’s Corda blockchain, meant for banking and technology professionals. Governmental blockchain education Per the report, KBA is the first government institution in India which offers a Corda blockchain development program. Moreover, the initiative also provides in-person training …

Two Canadians of Indian origin were charged in the United States with a $233,220 Bitcoin (BTC) fraud using a fake HitBTC account on Twitter. Scammers posed as HitBTC customer service on Twitter Karanjit Singh Khatkar, 23, and Jagroop Singh Khatkar, 24, of Surrey, British Columbia, allegedly stole 23.2 Bitcoin from a woman in the U.S. state of Oregon, Indian publication The Week reports on Aug. 23, citing charges filed with the federal court. According to the report, the defendants used a fraudulent Twitter account named @HitBTCAssist to trick victims into believing they represented customer service from Hong Kong-based crypto exchange …

India’s Supreme Court has slammed the country’s central bank over its handling of a cryptocurrency business ban and ordered it to address complaints. Judge: RBI has not properly responded to representation In the latest session of an ongoing hearing into the actions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Aug. 21, the court ruled that officials had not appropriately responded to concerns from the cryptocurrency industry over its actions. The RBI forbade banks from servicing crypto operators such as exchanges in July 2018 — effectively stopping such platforms from continuing to operate in India. On Wednesday, the move came …

The government of the Indian state of Maharashtra is preparing a regulatory sandbox for testing blockchain solutions across various applications. According to a report by Indian English-language news daily DNA India on Aug. 19, the government aims to apply blockchain technology in supply chains, agricultural marketing, vehicle registration and document management. The Maharashtra Information Technology Directorate will lead the development and the government has already earmarked 100 million rupees (~$1.4 million) for blockchain adoption from 2019–2020. 40 million ($560,000) has been approved outright by the implementation committee. State IT department principal secretary S.V.R. Srinivas told DNA India: "The state government …

Indian telecoms provider Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (known as Jio) has pledged to build what it describes as one of the world’s largest blockchain networks. Chairman: Nodes to be active from day one Speaking at the company’s 42nd AGM (1.01) on Aug. 12, chairman and managing director Shri Mukesh D. Ambani said blockchain technology formed one of three main areas of expansion for Jio. Since debuting in 2015, the company has become one of India's major mobile networks, with a current user base of over 330 million people. “Over the next 12 months, Jio will install across India one of …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week U.S. Federal Reserve launching payment system, crypto bulls nonplussed The United States Federal Reserve left some crypto enthusiasts unimpressed this week when it unveiled plans to release a real-time payments and settlements service. Known as FedNow, it is hoped the infrastructure will lead to faster transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Presently, …

Sidharth Sogani, the CEO of crypto and blockchain research firm Crebaco Global Inc, believes that India will lose around $12.9 billion worth of market if cryptocurrency is banned in the country. Sogani shared his reasoning with the news outlet AMBCrypto, which reported the matter on Aug. 8. According to the report, Crebaco’s methodology included an analysis of how much revenue companies might have generated if crypto was ruled to be legal, as well as crypto companies with Indian founders who moved offshore due to the Reserve Bank of India’s banking ban. As per the report, Crebaco came up with the …

Nasscom, a major Indian trade organization, has said that it is against a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies, which was recently proposed by a governmental panel in the country. According to a report by local financial periodical The Economic Times on July 30, Nasscom commented: "Nasscom believes that the recent proposal of the inter-ministerial committee of the government to ban all cryptocurrencies barring those that are backed by the government, is not the most constructive measure. [...] Instead, the government should work towards developing a risk-based framework to regulate and monitor cryptocurrencies and tokens.” As per the report, Nasscom claims that …

An Indian government panel recommended a ban on cryptocurrencies, Reuters reports on July 22. Is India finally about to ban cryptocurrencies? The panel recommended to the government today to ban cryptocurrencies and impose sanctions for any dealings involving crypto assets. Reuters adds that, according to a government statement, the report and draft legislation released by the panel behind the recommendation will be examined by regulators and the government before taking a final decision. A local ban is not surprising Earlier this month, India’s Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur has pointed out that there is no law in India …