The Indian subsidiary of major global banking and financial services firm HSBC and India’s holding giant Reliance Industries (RIL) have completed a blockchain-enabled trade finance transaction, Indian business newspaper The Hindu Business Line reports Sunday, Nov. 4. The blockchain-powered letter of credit (LoC) transaction, reportedly the first of its kind in India, involved export by RIL to U.S. client Tricon Energy, which sufficiently reduced both the time and costs of processing documentation. The new system represents a significant improvement in global export market interactions by bringing all parties together on one platform, The Hindu Business Line notes. According to the …

India's secretary of Economic Affairs has recommended that the country’s Ministry of Finance to impose a ban on “private cryptocurrencies,” according to a report published by the Indian government press center Oct. 31. The Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), headed by India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley, held a meeting on the current economic and financial situation in India, attended by senior government and financial regulation officials. Shri Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, reportedly proposed that the Council “devise an appropriate legal framework to ban use of private cryptocurrencies in India,” as stated in press-release. …

Multinational holding conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway – which counts outspoken crypto critic Warren Buffett as its CEO and chairman – has invested around $600 million in two fintech payment firms focused on emerging markets, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Oct. 29. Both investments are said to have been spearheaded by one of Berkshire’s two portfolio managers, Todd Combs. In August, Berkshire is reported to have bought a roughly $300 million stake in the parent company of Paytm, India’s largest mobile-payments service. The second investment was made just this past week, through the purchase of shares in an initial public offering …

Hitachi Payments has partnered with the State Bank of India (SBI) to establish a nationwide digital payments platform, according to a press release published by Hitachi Oct. 29. Under the aegis of the government’s “Digital India” campaign, Hitachi will provide SBI with solutions including its Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform "Lumada," which was implemented as the base platform for a major blockchain proof-of-concept (PoC) for supply chain management undertaken with Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group last year. Hitachi Payments is a wholly-owned subsidiary in India of multinational tech conglomerate Hitachi, which provides technology-led payment solutions for financial institutions. It reportedly has 55,000 ATMs …

The Indian Supreme Court has set a deadline of two weeks for the country’s government to present its official position on cryptocurrencies, Indian newspaper The Economic Times (ET) reports Friday, Oct. 26. After multiple delays, the court has finally held a hearing on several petitions filed by Indian crypto community following the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s prohibition on banks engaging with crypto and crypto-related businesses back in April. Nakul Dewan, counsel for nine cryptocurrency exchanges cited by ET, said that even though the RBI had not placed an official blanket ban on crypto, the trade and exchange of Bitcoin …

The U.S. should not “disadvantage” emerging technologies such as blockchain due to “antiquated” regulations, the head of the country’s telecoms regulator told Indian daily news outlet Indian Express Friday, Oct. 26. Speaking while attending the India Mobile Congress 2018, Ajit Pai, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), also called for a “conversation” with tech giants such as Facebook and Google regarding data transparency. In the U.S., he explained, regulations governing telecoms first became law in the 1930s, and even with amendments posed difficulties for authorities attempting to get to grips with technology such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) …

The head of an Indian nonprofit trade organization said cryptocurrency is “illegal,” and urged businesses to obey the law, local news daily the Hindu reported Thursday, Oct. 25. Debjani Ghosh, the president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), was cited by the Hindu saying that cryptocurrencies are illegal from NASSCOM’s perspective. NASSCOM is a nonprofit trade association of over 2,000 member companies for the Indian IT and business process outsourcing industries. “It is [the] law of the land and hence, we have to work with it,” Ghosh claimed about cryptocurrency’s ‘illegal’ status. She added, “If we …

On October 20, The Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) deputy governor, Masayoshi Amamiya, repeated his negative stance towards central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDC), claiming that such digital currencies are unlikely to improve the existing monetary systems. The concept of CBDC, or national cryptocurrencies, has attracted many governments across the world. Some of them have already rolled out their virtual currencies, some keep researching their economical impact, while others — like Japan — have decided to dismiss the idea altogether. Here’s what the concept entails, and why major governments choose to implement or deny it. What’s a CBDC? CBDCs, or national digital …

The co-founder of Indian crypto exchange Unocoin has been arrested shortly after setting up an allegedly unregistered Bitcoin (BTC) ATM machine in Bangalore, English-language daily Times of India reports Oct. 24. The 37-year-old co-founder, Harish BV, was apprehended by police after having reportedly installed the ATM kiosk at Kemp Fort Mall on Old Airport Road, together with fellow Unocoin co-founder Sathvik Viswanath. The latter has not been arrested, as per media reports. Indian business magazine Business Today (BT) cites a press statement from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), which claims the ATM installation did not receive “any permission from the …

Experts with ties to the World Bank Group presented options for using blockchain in e-government procurement (e-GP) in a report released Wednesday, Oct. 17. The World Bank Group includes organizations commonly known together as the World Bank. e-GP, which refers to business-to-government purchase and sale of anything from goods and services to data exchange, has spawned complex structures in many countries, which blockchain technology could help simplify and otherwise “enhance,” the report’s authors say. “Though the implementation of e-GP systems has contributed to enhanced efficiency and transparency in Government Procurement, there is potential for further advancement of the existing systems,” …

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is forming a dedicated focus group for blockchain exploration made up of both big business and cryptocurrency players, Indian daily newspaper Economic Times reported Monday, Oct. 15. Confirmed in a tweet Tuesday, the IAMAI, whose remit is to “expand and enhance” the online and mobile sector, will use its “Blockchain Committee” to “identify opportunities and challenges and work with government, industry and startups” to develop a blockchain “ecosystem.” The move comes amid testing times for cryptocurrency in India, with the country’s supreme court still deliberating on the legality of the Reserve Bank …

Indian government is “evaluating” the possibility of issuing a state-backed cryptocurrency, sources have told local news outlet Quartz India on Wednesday, Oct. 10. An unnamed “senior official” has told Quartz that the government has set up a panel that will discuss questions regarding cryptocurrencies and blockchain. While, according to Quartz’s source, the government is looking to “encourage” blockchain studies, the launch of a state-backed cryptocurrency is only an option to be considered. The source has also said that the panel will discuss new amendments to the existing draft bill on cryptocurrencies. One of the proposals is reportedly to make any …