Nalin Kotadiya, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) official and former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), has been remanded in custody for ten days in connection with a $1.3 million Bitcoin (BTC) extortion case, the Times of India reported September 10. A special anti-corruption court has reportedly remitted Kotadiya in police custody for a ten day custodial interrogation after he was arrested by the city crime branch and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Kotadiya was allegedly involved in a $1.3 million BTC extortion case. In April, the CID began investiging the reported kidnapping and extortion of 200 BTC from an …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you to 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 Business Insider: Goldman Sachs Scraps Crypto Trading Desk Plans Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is halting its plans to open a cryptocurrency trading desk, Business Insider reported this week, but will focus on a custody product for crypto, which will allow it to hold cryptocurrency on behalf of large clients and track its price. …

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) organized tours to other countries for its officials to study cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICO), according to its 2017-18 annual report. The Indian regulator reports that authorities have already undertaken “study tours” in particular to study cryptocurrency and ICOs at Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). The overseas study trips reportedly took place to help officials “engage with the international regulators and gain deeper understanding of the systems and mechanisms,” the document states. The report is not the …

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI), has confirmed the creation of an inter-departmental group tasked with analyzing the feasibility of issuing a rupee-backed central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Economics Times reports August 30. The group’s establishment and focus was detailed in the bank’s Annual Report 2017-18, confirming earlier details that followed a meeting of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in April. The impetus for investigating the issuance of a fiat-tethered CBDC reportedly derives in largely from cost considerations: the Economic Times cites statistics that suggest the cost of printing paper notes in India was 6.3 billion …

Noises in the Indian media Monday, August 27 suggest the country’s central bank is keen to improve its understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain, allegedly setting up a dedicated unit a month ago. As Economic Times reports, citing “people familiar with the central bank’s plans,” the unit focuses on “research” of the phenomena, “to check what can be adopted and what cannot.” The reports come as cryptocurrency remains taboo for Indian banks after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned them from servicing industry businesses in April. Despite a slight nuance set to allow cryptographic tokens (but not cryptocurrencies themselves), official …

We're living at a time of unprecedented concern over identity. Fears abound that our personal data is being abused by distant third-parties, while this data has become more valuable to us at a time when our identities and the identity politics we base around them have become more central to our lives. It's in this context that blockchain technology has appeared, and while its application beyond cryptocurrencies is still limited, protecting our online identities and data more securely looks set to be one of its most central applications. In its most basic outline, the use of blockchains in the area …

Indian police have arrested a man who was allegedly involved in promoting the Bitconnect investment scam, Financial Express reported August 18. The suspect, Divyesh Darji, is said to have been the India head of Bitconnect, the high-yield investment program that ceased its operations in January 2018 after coming under scrutiny for appearing to be a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. Darji, a resident of Surat city, had reportedly already been issued with a look-out circular and was arrested August 18 in Delhi airport, after a tip-off from local immigration services. Financial Express cites Inspector P G Narwade of Criminal Investigation Department (CID-Crime) …

The Indian government is considering whether to allow crypto tokens to be used in the country, despite its hardline stance on cryptocurrencies, local news outlet DNA India reports August 10. A committee set up by the finance ministry, under the chairmanship of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) secretary, is reportedly working on a set of regulations and roadmap to allow certain crypto assets to be used in India. Once the draft proposals are finalized, the legislation will be tabled before the Parliament, according to DNA’s source. DEA secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, who is heading the committee, is quoted by …

The Indian state of Telangana announced it will sign several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with blockchain firms as to eventually implement the technology in state applications, local Indian news agency the Business Standard reports July 26. Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan revealed that the state is planning to enter into MoUs with a number of blockchain-focused firms in order to implement the technology in “six or seven government applications.” According to the government official, the measure aims to bring more transparency and efficiency to public services provided by the state. However, Ranjan did not specify what areas of state services …

Five major banks from each BRICS member state signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the development of distributed ledger technology (DLT), according to an official press release July 26. During the 10th International BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, banks from the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed to a joint study of DLT technology like blockchain, “in the interests of the development of the digital economy.” BRICS countries have met annually since 2009 to discuss initiatives for economic, cultural, and political cooperation between member states. The State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs …

Unocoin, a major Indian crypto wallet provider and exchange, has suspended rupee (INR) deposits and withdrawals “as per orders” from the country’s central bank, according to Unocoin’s blog post July 23. Unocoin notified its customers that fiat deposits and withdrawals are “temporarily disabled” until “an alternative method of funding is identified and deployed.” Meanwhile, crypto asset deposits continue to be active on both Unocoin’s crypto-rupee trading platform and partner crypto-crypto exchange Unodax. Unocoin users can also continue to use their existing rupee balance to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and crypto-rupee and crypto-crypto pairs remain live on …

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has urged the country’s Supreme Court to regulate cryptocurrencies, local news outlet the Financial Express reports July 21. In April of this year, the RBI announced it will stop providing services to businesses or persons dealing with cryptocurrencies, citing high risks. The RBI’s senior advocate Shyam Divan told a bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that it is necessary to regulate Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies since these “particular means” will “encourage illegal transactions.” Divan also pointed out that the issue has “immense policy dimensions,” attesting that crypto has the …