How Indian Startups are Fundraising With Cryptocurrency ICOs

A new method of raising funds is available to companies and startups similar to that of the existing IPO or initial public offerings. The trending alternative, called ICOs or initial coin offerings is based on cryptocurrencies. The use of this platform for fundraising has led to a capital advance of over 200 million dollars for Indian startups in just a few or one time pitch of ICOs. On a worldwide scale, startups have managed to raise 3.7 billion dollars, reported by the accounting firm EY. The use of ICOs is not limited to only Indian markets as startups take their fundraising to foreign investors and markets.

When fundraising via ICOs the startup has to give prospective investors special crypto tokens that can be redeemed later for cryptocurrency. The investor in return invests funds into the startup venture in the form of Bitcoin or other Altcoins. It is a similar process in IPO but investors are granted shares instead of tokens.

One successful startup that used ICOs for fundraising in its initial stages was Drivezy, which is one of the first peer-to-peer platforms for sharing vehicles. The co-founder, Abhishek Mahajan, credited the alternative crypto-based strategy and stated, “We had been operating for three years and had achieved significant traction. But the problem was we needed a lot of capital to put cars on our platform. Instead of reaching out to VCs, which would have led dilution of our equity, a couple of Japanese investors suggested an ICO”.

Another success story comes in the form of a crypto exchange platform called Belfrics.The exchange was founded in 2014 and was able to raise upto $2.2 million by using an ICO pitched the year before. Praveenkumar Vijayakumar, founder states that “We raised funds to build a KYC-compliant blockchain and a token exchange platform. The funds came in bitcoins and most of our investors came from Europe".

One of the most beneficial aspects of using an ICO for fundraising is that the startup that initiates one can make the rules for the investors. They control the length of time that the ICO will remain open for investment, the value of the redeemable token, and even when the token can be exchanged for cryptocurrency. For Belfric, the exchange platform set the rate of their tokens as 2000 Belfric tokens being equal to 1 Bitcoin. After their fundraising period ended and they met their capital goals, the ICO was closed. Their investors were free to either cash in the tokens or trade them on token exchange platforms. When the ICO closes the startup no longer regulates what the investor does with their remaining tokens.

The uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrencies in the India market drives startups to find other sources of funding for their ventures. Some of the best countries to get ICO based funding is the US, Europe, and Singapore. Belfrics found investors from Singapore and  Drivezy raised capital in Japan.

Tracking of Bitcoin Users by NSA Revealed By Snowden Papers

In an interesting update from the Edward Snowden papers, reveals that the US government has expressed considerable interest in Bitcoin ever since its use became popular. The Intercept, an online magazine, has posted the leaked undisclosed documents from Snowden that actually provide evidence that the United States National Security Agency or NSA has been keeping track of Bitcoin users from around the world as described in a 2013 report for the agency. There could be a coincidence of the report leaking not too far away from the recent ban on American use of Venezuelan national cryptocurrency Petro coin by President Trump.

The report is cryptic with code names and classification of data that will help the NSA “track down the senders and receivers of bitcoins,” as the report stated. The Bitcoin monitoring mission by the NSA is called “project Oakstar”, and the purpose of its initiation was to tackle terrorism facilitated by Bitcoin or crypto transactions. The report indicated that the NSA was not randomly tracking users but were monitoring persons or groups involved in suspicious activities and whom utilised the privacy and anonymity of Bitcoin for making illegal transactions like laundering money. An expert from the NSA report states, “[NSA agent] is hoping to use the access for their mission of looking at organized crime and cyber targets that utilize online e-currency services to move and launder money. These illicit finance networks provide user access to international monetary systems while providing a high degree of anonymity.”

Utilising the professional surveillance tools accessible to the NSA for security purposes, data was able to be collected, decrypted, and interpreted to gain the identity of protected Bitcoin users. There were reportedly two other platforms monitored, the first being the Liberty Reserve, that had dealt with money laundering involving cryptocurrencies leading to its close, and one other. Bitcoin is not the most privacy controlled and anonymous cryptocurrency of all coins in the market, yet it was considered top priority for the NSA according to the report.

Unapproved Access

Even though Bitcoin incorporates Blockchain which makes all ledgers public access, the NSA infiltrated further into users private information to get more in depth research on potential terrorists. NSA hacked into users computers to gain sensitive information like passwords, sessions of the user, billing information, IP address, and media access control address. They dug deep into what targets they acquired and tried to highlight any connection the select Bitcoin users had with illicit activities.

It seems that no matter how hard the government tries to uncover and penalise Bitcoin and Blockchain users, the crypto community will always find a way to retaliate and strengthen their stance on supporting a decentralized system.

Decline in cryptocurrency trading amid Indian crypto exchanges

The trade volume is specklessly diminishing among the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency trading platforms, for instance the percentage is evidently more than 90%. The relapse is after the regulatory frameworks which were pressurized on the cryptocurrency exchanges in India.

The RBI, Central bank of India has come up with staggering strategy that is limiting the trading within the locality. However, this is not supposed to in case the country wants to expand the business.

The current dealing in Bitcoin exchange platform of India, has bounded between 300 to 400 BTC daily to the sudden drop of 30-40 BTC per day.

The fact which fears out the citizens to invest in cryptocurrency is the capital gains which the Income Tax department authority has taken into public action.

Sometime ago, customers also had to restrict themselves from using credit, debit and prepaid card transactions whichever included bitcoin and altcoins. These steps were followed right after the severe action taken against the Bitcoin transactions with credit cards. However, regarding the transactions, government had requested the companies dealing with cryptocurrencies to integrate know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering protocols to safer the transactions.

Dr. Amit Lakhanpal, Founder of Money Trade Coin Group had supported all the regulations and protocols from its nascent stage till date. Also, he has made an appeal to the government and the country’s Supreme Court to legalize the digital coins in for daily use. Meeting all the demands, the coin has legal rights to trade with cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile, the confused crypto-holders will get a way to habituate cryptocurrencies in their daily lives. 

#Crypto_Exchange #Money_Trade_Coin #MTCX_India #RBI #Regulations #KYC #AML #Dr. Amit Lakhanpal 

Founder of Money Trade Coin gives an exclusive interview on Zee Hindustan

Khurshid Ahmad - editor of Zee Hindustan took an exclusive interview with Mr. Amit M lakhanpal, CEO and founder of Money Trade Coin Group on Sunday at 3:30 PM. The interview was one on one and the Money Trade Coin Group founder explained what his digital currency investment platform does for users and how it is benefitting the masses. The interview talks about the distributed public ledger blockchain based on Ethereum. However, the ICO promised the user about changing the banking system worldwide, introducing cross-border transfer.

Mr. Lakhanpal explains about his journey from ICO till date. Money Trade Coin (MTC) also faced legal problems for which they required the audit to Security Exchange Commission (SEC). To be on a safer side MTC implemented the AML guidelines and KYC policy which helped them ease the audit process.

People had suspicion about MTC to be fraud on which Mr. Lakhanpal justified that President of Bermuda has recognised Mr. Lakhanpal as the “face” of cryptocurrency.

He added: “If we had an intention to cheat we would not have appealed to India’s Prime Minister and also Supreme Court but we are still waiting for their clearance.”

ICO launch of Money Trade Coin had initially started with $3 which had extended to $335. After certain negative publicity and rumours of Money Trade Coin affected the downfall of the rates, of which the price are expected to rise in the near future.

Mr. Lakhanpal also takes about his recent launch of MACS (a new wallet exchange introduced to enhance cryptocurrency transactions) which provides ten times more leverage. Also, Money Trade Coin is planning to launch new businesses related to cryptocurrency including real estate and transportation.

The interview was broadcasted on Sunday at 3:30 on the Zee News Network’s Zee Hindustan, Zee Salaam, and Zee Rajasthan channels.

#Khurshid_Ahmad #Bermuda #blockchain #Blockchain_Technology#cryptocurrency #cryptocurrency_transactions #Ethereum #ICO #India#Interview #MACS #Money_Trade_Coin #Lakhanpal #MTC #SEC#Zee_News_Network #Zee_Salaam

Cryptocurrency Trading Simplified with Money Trade Coin Group

Cryptocurrency trading courses offered by Money Trade Coin Group

The Money Trade Coin Group has initiated a training course program for cryptocurrency trading. Money Trade Coin will provide physical courses in countries such as UAE, Thailand, and Switzerland from May, 15th Onwards.

The courses will be of three days span long in each country and will teach cryptocurrency users more than just crypto trading but also divulge into concepts such as futures and derivatives in the FOREX market.

Join the Trading Courses

No matter whether you are an amateur, an accomplished crypto trader, or someone willing to learn new skills in cryptocurrency, this physical course will benefit you greatly as it is created to expand knowledge on the subject. Using this training course crypto holders will be able to invest wisely in a very competitive platform in order to make profits and minimize any risks.

What You Will Learn With the Crypto Training Course?

1.How cryptocurrencies work and how to trade them?
2.Profits and loss with cryptocurrencies
3.Tactics for effective cryptocurrency trading
4.An extensive tour of the market
5.What are Bitcoin and altcoins?
6.Which coins you should buy and sell?
7.How to store your coins?
8.All about trading on the platform
9.Crypto exchanges and which ones you should use
10.Trading concepts and tools
11.Maximizing profit and risk management
12.What are the exact entry points, targets, and stop loss points?
13.What support and resistance are in trading?
14.How much research to do before starting your trading?

How do we stand out?

With Money trade Coin Group you have ensured the best crypto training through our program and it is designed to cover all important aspects of cryptocurrency investment and trading on the platform. Our trainers and experienced traders have been involved in crypto trading for many years and hold impressive qualifications. Your progress throughout the course will be monitored and feedback will tell you where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

You will not only know how to trade but also understand the concepts behind crypto trading, the entire market and exchange systems. You will be able to trust your own decisions and strategies instead of relying on news pages or forums for your information which may be outdated or incorrect. Learning the ropes can help in setting fixed targets for your trade, buying and selling, stop loss and more. Additionally, our course features futures and derivatives on the Foreign Exchange platform apart from MT4 software. By learning about the types of contracts you can buy and sell into, arbitrage, and hedging, you can minimize any risks you may come across trading in foreign currencies.

Cryptocurrency Mining Can Aid Sustainable Farming- The Advent of ‘Cryptomatoes’

Cryptocurrency mining energizes Tomato Greenhouse

A new startup has been set up with an ecological premise by the Czech new age crypto exchange, NakamotoX. There are not very many uses for excess heat produced from digital machinery or cryptocurrency mining devices. However, this startup has managed to combine Blockchain technology with farming and has produced an edible batch of tomatoes by diverting the heat of mining machines to a customized greenhouse. Cofounder, Kamil Brejcha, and staff have built a separate space for their Bitcoin mining servers and utilized their excess heat production for growing tomatoes. The project is likely to be followed by a new type of farming technology called ‘Agritechture’, and the results so far have been entirely fruitful with the success of the first batch of what they call ‘cryptomatoes’. Brejcha explains in a tweet, “We have developed something called ‘Cointainer’ which is being placed in the basement and the heat is blown into the greenhouses. More details will be revealed soon”.

One downside to the crypto mining industry is the effect of the machinery’s heat generation on the environment. Most companies do not utilize this heat energy for any productive use which raises the concern for sustainable development among environmentalists and crypto user alike. The initiative that Brejcha and company have taken can create an energy cycle loop where heat from mining helps grow crops and biowaste from the harvest help power machinery. The project solves numerous growing concerns and provides an ecological and self-sustaining solution. Brejcha commented on the cryptomatoes saying, “You will be able to buy (cryptomatoes) in common shops soon but I cannot reveal more details about the brand now”.

The large-scale impact of Agritechture could help build on sustenance farming and energy conservation, two globally alarming problems putting pressure on the environment today. With the significant application in future crop cultivation, cryptomatoes could start a worldwide transformation in farming as we know it.

Elon Musk Could Change the Way We Use Blockchain Forever

Inventor and technology expert, Elon Musk, is one of the world's most innovative personalities. He has contributed all sorts of infrastructure and inventions to SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, Hyperloop, OpenAi, Neuralink and his current initiative, The Boring Company. Elon is a visionary who aims to create the technology of the future and designs that he believes will help the human race. Some of his projects have helped to curb car emissions with Tesla electric cars, as well as aid in research for space exploration through the SpaceX company.

He is very influential and always trending, which is why he stirred up commotion when spotted carrying a book on cryptocurrencies. The book is by Julian Hosp and called "Cryptocurrencies Simply Explained". It is an easy guide to the world of cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, ICO, and more. The author himself is a cryptocurrency expert having worked in the field for years at TenX. His primary goal is to help teach at least a billion people worldwide about blockchain and cryptocurrencies by the year 2025.

Rumors among the crypto community speculate that Elon Musk is simply passing on the book to someone, while other claims he may be doing research into blockchain in order to incorporate it into his companies in the form of digital tokens or smart contacts. Whether their speculations are right or not, Elon is certainly no stranger to online payment platforms, with his digital financial company X.com being bought by PayPal way back in 2000. He was even appointed the CEO of PayPal for a short period before leaving due to clashes of interest with the other leaders. He was one of the biggest shareholders of PayPal stock and in 2002 when the company was sold to eBay, he made a huge return with 165 million dollars.

To think Elon was reaching into Crypto territory is not far-fetched at all. He has enough experience with online payment systems and technology, so blockchain is not too far ahead of him. If he incorporates Blockchain or digital tokens into his companies or starts a cryptocurrency company of his own, those that know his history will not be surprised. Over the years, it has become public that Elon holds 0.25 of Bitcoin that was given to him as a gift many years ago. The value of this amount is roughly two thousand dollars, which is a small amount for a personality like Elon Musk.

Despite his presumed lack of interest in cryptocurrency at present, the chances are high that this tech giant will embrace blockchain in the near future. The crypto community waits in anticipation for his next project that would surely make a dent in the industry.