From dentistry to sex trade, entrepreneurs catch Bitcoin bug!

Agencies
December 26, 2017

New Delhi, Dec 26: It is not only investors who have caught the Bitcoin bug lured by a crazy surge in prices, but also many Indians who are seeing a business potential in cryptocurrencies and rushing to set up companies to cash in on this craze.

At least a dozen companies, including some in past few weeks, have been registered in various parts of the country with 'Bitcoin' as part of their names while many more such applications are pending before the Registrars of Companies.

The numbers are even higher for the companies with the word 'crypto' in their names, while several others have sought to become more innovative by adding various prefixes to the word 'coin', including those proposing Indian versions like 'IndiCoin' and 'BharatCoin'. There is also a 'SwachhCoin'!

The mad rush -- of entrepreneurs and investors -- seems to be continuing despite repeated regulatory warnings about Bitcoins and their various alternatives operating in a totally unregulated domain and the possible money laundering and terror financing risks associated with such cryptocurrencies.

Various regulators and enforcement agencies are already actively looking into this Bitcoin craze and searches were conducted recently by tax authorities at several places where they are believed to have collected details about lakhs of 'investors' who could be trading on 'Bitcoin exchanges'.

There are concerns that many operators might be running 'e-ponzi' schemes or illicit money-pooling pyramid activities in the name of virtual currencies. Some bogus ones have already been unearthed and are facing police action.

As the regulators and the government departments continue with their probes, which officials at these agencies also described as their efforts to 'understand' this new phenomenon, the entrepreneurs seem to be undeterred by any risk factors and expect good business to come by and they are from various parts of the country -- from Ghaziabad to Kanpur to Darjeeling to Jaipur to Delhi to Ahmedabad to Mumbai.

The RoC filings made by such companies show diverse business activities they propose to undertake -- One has listed 'retail trade/repair of personal and household goods', another claims to be in financial intermediary business, while one also claims to promote 'investigative journalism'.

There are also those offering 'crypto coins' exclusively for dentistry across the world with the promise of removing middlemen-type costs and easier insurance claims! Then, there are also those proposing 'sex coins' for discreet payments for adult entertainment and in sex trade.

A number of new entities have been set up under the LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) model while many others are being set up as privately-held companies. Several officials from the auditing and accountancy fields also said many listed companies are looking into changes in their names and 'articles of association' to include 'Bitcoin' or other cryptocurrencies to join the bandwagon.

There are several entities operating only in the digital world by setting up websites or 'online exchanges' while others have gone in for registering their companies or LLPs.

As per the RoC data, the registered entities include Bitcoin Bazaar, Bitcoin Exchange, Bitcoin Finconsultants, Bitcoin India Software Services, Bitcoin Services India, Bitcoiners India, Bitcoins India and Bit Coin Infotech.

There are others like Crypto Advisors, Crypto Futuristic Trades, Crypto Infotech, Crypto IT Services, Crypto Labs, Crypto Mining, Crypto Yo Coin India, CryptoCoin Solutions and CryptoMudra Digital Services. Further business details of these entities could be ascertained, as most of them have been set up recently, but have been meeting necessary compliances.

While Bitcoin was created as a cryptocurrency in 2009, by an unidentified person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, its popularity has grown manifold in recent months with its per unit price soaring to close to USD 20,000 (over Rs 10 lakh) earlier this month. However, the price has been swinging wildly and last week itself, it fell by almost half to about USD 10,000, only to again rebound to the near USD 15,000 level.

It was launched with a promise of lower transaction fees than traditional payment methods with a decentralised authority unlike the government-issued currencies in various countries. At present, Bitcoins command a market cap of over USD 240 billion while more than 16 million units are said to be in circulation. The maximum supply is pegged at 21 million.

It is the anonymity of Bitcoins, minted through complex computer algorithms, that has made them so famous, but has also increased the risks. These are stored in digital wallets, in the cloud or on the user's computers.

The popularity of Bitcoin has given rise to several other such cryptocurrencies globally even as several entities and exchanges have gone bust with huge losses for many. No such currency has yet got legal tender status from any central bank or government in the world, but is still being accepted, mostly for online trades and even for ordering pizza.

These 'coins' are minted and traded with the use of blockchain technology, which uses cryptography for security of exchanges and providing a decentralised 'digital ledger' of transactions for all on the network to see.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology algorithm for managing digital cash without any central administrator and users remain unaware about each other. One blockchain network typically has thousands of nodes and a transaction is verified only after a majority of nodes reach consensus.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Unnao, Feb 26: Ever heard of someone wishing a 'bright future' for the dead? In a bizarre incident in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, a village head issued a death certificate with the wish for an elderly man who had died last month.

The incident took place in the Sirwariya village in Asoha block where an elderly person Laxmi Shankar died after a prolonged illness on January 22.

His son went to the village head Babulal and requested him to issue a death certificate that he needed for some financial transactions.

Babulal not only issued the death certificate, but also 'wished' 'a bright future for the deceased' on the document.

The village head wrote in the death certificate -- "Main inke ujjwal bhavishya ki kaamna karta hoon (I wish him a bright future)."

The letter went viral on the social media on Monday after which the village head apologised for the error and issued a new death certificate.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

Facebook will introduce a new notification screen on its platform that will warn users if the article they are about to share is over 90 days old, the company announced on Thursday.

“We’re starting to globally roll out a notification screen that will let people know when news articles they are about to share are more than 90 days old,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.

The social media platform had previously introduced a context button in 2018 that provides information about the sources of articles in the News Feed. Building upon that, the new feature will inform users about the timeliness of the article.

“To ensure people have the context they need to make informed decisions about what to share on Facebook, the notification screen will appear when people click the share button on articles older than 90 days, but will allow people to continue sharing if they decide an article is still relevant,” Facebook said.

The social media giant stated that timeliness is important in understanding the context of an article and curbing the spread of misinformation on the platform.

“News publishers, in particular, have expressed concerns about older stories being shared on social media as current news, which can misconstrue the state of current events. Some news publishers have already taken steps to address this on their own websites by prominently labelling older articles to prevent outdated news from being used in misleading ways,” Facebook added.

Apart from this, the platform will also be testing a similar notification screen for information related to the global Covid-19 pandemic. The notification screen will provide information about the source of the link shared in a post if the link is related to information on Covid-19. It will also direct people to its previously introduced Covid-19 information centre for “authoritative” health information, it said.

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Agencies
March 25,2020

In an unprecedented crisis despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi assuring the continuation of essential services like food and groceries, online marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon along with delivery platforms like Bigbasket, Grofers and FreshToHomes hit a major blockade on Wednesday as local authorities shut warehouses and sent delivery boys back, even harassed them.

Millions of people across cities were left helpless at homes as essential items like fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk, meat and fish etc did not reach their doors despite placing orders well in advance. Later, the orders went dry.

While Grofers' warehouse in Faridabad was closed by the local law enforcement agencies, Bigbasket complained that the police stopped its delivery partners and "some of them were even beaten up by for no fault of theirs".

"We are not operational due to restrictions imposed by local authorities on movement of goods in spite of clear guidelines provided by central authorities to enable essential services. We are working with the authorities to be back soon,' Bigbasket tweeted.

In a statement to IANS, Bigbasket said that it will help to have better coordination between the Centre and state, and between the state and local police to "ensure that our delivery vans and bikes don't get stopped by the police. Bigbasket and bb daily are not taking new orders".

Furious people stormed the social media platforms, writing their plight to NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Twitter.

"Sir, all e-commerce are down. Believe me I tried everything (Grofers, Bigbasket, Flipkart, Amazon, Big Bazaar), no delivery till 31st March or Server Down or No Service. Need to think how we can enable them through digital India," tweeted one user.

Kant tweeted back to Bigbasket: "They should give me specifics - State & location. I will act on it by getting in touch with concerned authorities & sorting it out. Govt guidelines exempt them. We will ensure that citizens are not impacted".

Kant also responded to Grofers: "Cold storages & Warehouses as well as delivery of all essentials goods including food, pharma thru E-Commerce are exempted under MHA order. I have spoken to CS & DGP, Haryana . They have taken immediate action to ensure that supply chains efficiently function for the citizens".

The subscription-based hyperlocal delivery startup FreshToHome sent messages to its customers, saying that despite the government declaring food delivery as essential, "we are facing hardships in continuing our operations".

"Please bear with us as we are working hard to unblock local authority hurdles," said the FreshToHome team.

Reports later surfaced that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has initiated talks with the state Chief Secretaries asking them not to restrict movement of people engaged in home delivery of essential items, mentioned in the list of exempted items circulated by the Home Ministry.

Meanwhile, Flipkart said it has temporarily suspended its operations and services - including grocery items. The marketplace has decided to halt all orders from March 25 for all three supply chains -- groceries, non-large goods and large items.

"Flipkart has temporarily suspended orders as we assess the possibilities of operating in the lockdown. We are prioritising the safety of our delivery executives and seeking the support of the local governments and police authorities to meet the needs of our customers as they stay home during this lockdown," Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart, said in a statement.

E-commerce giant Amazon said the company has to "temporarily stop taking orders and disable shipments for lower-priority products.

"For all pending customer orders on lower-priority products, we are reaching out to customers and giving them a choice to cancel their orders, and receive a refund for prepaid items," said the company.

Witnessing a surge in demand, supermarket chain Biz Bazaar entered the fray, with launching doorstep delivery services in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Gurugram.

However, within no time, Big Bazaar was flooded with calls, forcing the company to issue a statement, saying that "In light of the recent announcement, we are receiving an unprecedented number of requests for doorstep delivery. There could be a delay due to the restrictions on movements".

Already battling massive surge in demand, the online delivery platforms faced other issues too, including zero access to several high-rises across the country which have gone under complete lockdown with all entry and exit gates locked.

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