Mon 01/23

Good Morning. A web3 startup has decided to take on ola and uber, our ministers can't make their minds up regarding cryptocurrency, crypto hits a trillion dollars, and another crypto investing platform bites the dust. It's an eventful morning. Happy reading people!

Web3 Ride-Hailing App Drife Takes On Uber In India: Ride-hailing in India is dominated by Uber and local rival Ola, but startup Drife thinks blockchain technology could be the key to breaking up their duopoly. Last November, after three years of development, the Drife app was launched in the southern city of Bangalore. Today, they have more than 10,000 drivers and 100,000 riders signed up to the platform. A base fare is set based on the class of a vehicle and the distance of the trip, but after that riders can boost the amount they are willing to pay to attract more drivers. Drivers can also make counteroffers. The rider then chooses who to go with based either on price or driver ratings. This means pricing is purely market-driven, and because Drife isn’t taking a cut, fares should be cheaper than alternatives, says Sheikh, the co-founder.

IT Minister Says No Issue With Crypto if Laws Are Followed: Speaking at an event in the southern city of Bengaluru, Information Technology minister, Chandrasekhar said there is "nothing today that outlaws crypto as long as you follow the legal process." The remarks come just days after the country's central bank advised investors to stay away from crypto. The remarks contradicted the central bank's view advising investors to stay away from crypto.

Is Yield Hunting Driving Indian Crypto Users To More Risk? :In 'yield farming', investors deposit their crypto assets into a pool, which is then used by the exchanges to further enter risky ventures. Through these risky ventures, the investors earn anywhere between 6-12% worth of returns. But unlike formal financial products where a regulatory infrastructure protects them, crypto exchanges in India are not governed by any authority. In India, though, crypto rules are yet to arrive and existing securities laws don't apply because the asset class is yet to be officially classified by the government. Even though earn programs are "akin to deposits, [crypto] is not a recognised currency", R Gandhi, former deputy governor, RBI, told BQ Prime. This leads them beyond the RBI's purview. Therefore, crypto activity in India is "falling in between stools".

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Bitcoin Hits $23,000 As Crypto Market Cap Revisits $1 Trillion Mark: According to CoinGecko, the coin is now up 14% in the weekly timeframe, and trading at $23,008, making BTC break through the $22,000 and $23,000 resistance levels that have limited the crypto’s ascent. This year witnessed a complete U-turn in investor sentiment on cryptocurrencies as both Ethereum and Bitcoin reaped massive gains, along with the other top altcoins. This led to the entire crypto market experiencing a resurgence in almost all aspects. At the time of writing, the current market cap of the entire cryptocurrency market is at $1.05 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Genesis Files for Bankruptcy: Genesis Global Holdco LLC, the holding company of troubled cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Capital, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York after being pummeled by two of 2022's biggest industry collapses. In its filing, Genesis Global Capital estimated more than 100,000 creditors and between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities, as well as assets. Genesis owes over $3.5 billion to its top 50 creditors, among which include crypto exchange Gemini, trading giant Cumberland, Mirana, MoonAlpha Finance and VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund, according to the bankruptcy filing published late Thursday.

Top Nft Artists Are Launching Projects On Instagram And Selling Out In Seconds: The platform has facilitated successful NFT drops from artists including Micah Johnson, Drifter Shoots, and Refik Anadol, bridging the gap between Web2 platforms and Web3 technology. The feature gained traction as NFT creators and collectors saw future opportunities to present their digital assets to a wider audience of Web3-curious consumers. Some even suggested that Instagram's planned support could help NFTs finally reach mainstream adoption because of its expansive reach.

What Are Rollups?: A Rollup is a Layer 2 solution that verifies a large number of transactions in bulk, thus reducing transaction costs/gas fees significantly. Rollups are called scaling solutions since they cut transaction costs and accelerate transaction pace on Layer 1 blockchains, also referred to as mainnet or parent chains.