MHA tightens rules for OCI, registration can be cancelled for serious crimes
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Mint
14 minutes ago
- Mint
Trump's crypto cheer lifts Bitcoin, but core risks still loom
The cryptocurrency faithful are having quite a moment. Donald Trump's return to the White House has brought a veritable cornucopia of pro-crypto promises, from talk of a 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" to declarations about making America the 'crypto capital of the world." Markets have reacted predictably: Bitcoin has surged past previous highs, and believers are treating this as ultimate vindication. Yet beneath the sheen of political legitimacy, nothing fundamental has changed about cryptocurrencies' essential nature. The irony in Trump's embrace of crypto is hard to miss. The proposed 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and US Digital Asset Stockpile" will apparently consist entirely of assets seized from criminals. In other words, the US government's official cryptocurrency holdings will be digital assets once used for ransomware, money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illicit activities. It's rather like announcing a strategic reserve of stolen goods as proof of their virtue. This detail neatly captures crypto's central problem. Despite all the technological sophistication and political endorsements, it remains the payment method of choice for criminals worldwide. Every major ransomware attack, dark web marketplace, and cross-border money laundering network gravitates to crypto for the same reasons enthusiasts celebrate it—anonymity, irreversibility, and freedom from traditional oversight. Political enthusiasm can't fix these structural flaws. Governments seeking to legitimise crypto are, in effect, blessing a system designed to bypass governmental authority. The contradiction is glaring: regulators tout an asset class while acknowledging that their strategic reserves will be filled mainly by seizing it from criminals. The ease with which fraud and theft occur in crypto remains staggering. Consider the 'socialised loss" strategy, where a major Indian exchange, after losing customer funds to hackers, decided everyone should share the pain, a perfect example of the Wild West ethos. When exchanges profit, it's capitalism; when they're robbed, suddenly everyone's a socialist. The frequency of such episodes would be comical if they didn't wipe out life savings. These aren't isolated mishaps or growing pains; they're built into a system that operates outside traditional financial protections. When a bank is robbed, deposit insurance protects you. When a crypto exchange is 'hacked", often a euphemism, you're on your own. The very decentralisation crypto champions means there's no safety net when things go wrong. Trump's enthusiasm also underlines another uncomfortable reality: an anti-establishment movement has been fully co-opted by the establishment it once vowed to disrupt. Wall Street, which Bitcoin was meant to circumvent, is now its biggest backer via ETFs and institutional products. The so-called revolutionary currency depends on the same traditional finance for its legitimacy. Political endorsement carries psychological weight. When governments and big institutions adopt a position, it creates an illusion of safety and permanence. Past crypto bubbles fed on tech mystique and get-rich-quick dreams; this cycle adds political validation, which could make it more dangerous for ordinary investors mistaking political backing for sound investment. For Indian investors, the temptation to chase this apparent legitimacy will be strong. Domestic taxation has curbed much local speculation, but political developments in the US could encourage some to seek workarounds. The 'don't miss out" narrative, wrapped in patriotic American rhetoric about financial dominance, could be persuasive. Yet the math hasn't changed. Crypto produces nothing, earns nothing, and represents no underlying asset. It serves no economic purpose that existing systems can't fulfil more efficiently. Its price is driven purely by speculative sentiment, whether fuelled by tech hype, celebrity endorsements, or presidential tweets. The most telling part of crypto's political embrace is how quickly its advocates abandoned anti-government principles in exchange for government approval. Those who once railed against fiat currencies and central banks now cheer politicians promising to hoard their preferred tokens. It's a striking shift from revolutionary idealism to conventional rent-seeking. Short-term price predictions are futile, speculative bubbles can inflate far beyond reason. But knowing what you're buying matters. Political theatre and presidential applause can't turn speculation into investment, gambling into wealth-building, or criminal infrastructure into legitimate finance. However much hot air gets pumped into this bubble, the fundamentals remain unchanged. Dhirendra Kumar is founder and chief executive officer of Value Research, an independent advisory firm. Views expressed are personal.
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Business Standard
14 minutes ago
- Business Standard
ED freezes mule accounts worth ₹110 cr in PMLA case against Parimatch
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has frozen ₹110 crore kept in mule bank accounts in connection with a money laundering case against Parimatch, a Cyprus-based 'illegal' online betting platform. The agency also seized at least 1,200 credit cards during searches on its Indian operations. The platform, according to the ED, gained prominence through an 'aggressive' marketing strategy, including sports sponsorships and celebrity endorsements. It is accused of cheating investors by luring them with high returns and generating over ₹3,000 crore in a year. Surrogate advertising and foreign payments In a statement, the ED said, 'They also set up Indian entities to run surrogate advertisements under the names 'Parimatch Sports' and 'Parimatch News'. Payments to these agencies were made via foreign inward remittances.' Searches were carried out at 17 locations across Mumbai, Noida, Jaipur, Surat, Madurai, Kanpur, and Hyderabad. The case was registered on August 12 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), following an FIR filed by the cyber police station of Mumbai Police against the company's website. Alleged modus operandi According to the ED, Parimatch routed funds from users through mule accounts using various strategies nationwide. In one instance, deposits into mule accounts were withdrawn in Tamil Nadu and handed to hawala operators, who recharged virtual wallets of a UK-based company. These wallets were then used to buy cryptocurrency under mule crypto accounts operated by Parimatch agents. The agency said Parimatch engaged domestic money transfer (DMT) agents in western India. Mule accounts managed by these agents were also used to make payments via mule credit cards to Parimatch representatives. Use of unlicensed payment companies The ED alleged that Parimatch used payment companies whose applications for payment aggregator licences were rejected by the Reserve Bank of India. Operating as technology service providers, these companies offered their application programming interface (API) to facilitate fund transfers for the betting platform. Funds received via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) were allegedly layered and disguised as e-commerce proceeds, chargebacks, vendor payments, and other transactions to conceal their origin.
NDTV
14 minutes ago
- NDTV
Assam Launches 'Gun License' Portal Online For Indigenous People
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday launched an online portal through which indigenous people living in "sensitive areas" can apply for arms licences. According to the Chief Minister, the aim of the initiative is to make people living in vulnerable areas or along the border have a sense of security. Mr Sarma said that the arms licenses would only be granted after proper scrutiny through a multi-layered process. People notified by the district administration or assessed as vulnerable by authorised security agencies will be eligible for acquiring an arms licence, he said. Additionally, only those who do not have any criminal antecedents and are mentally stable can apply for the arms licenses. "This state has several vulnerable areas, particularly border areas. Many times, the citizens of border areas face security issues. Due to prolonged insurgency, we are very restricted in terms of gun licenses, but now there is almost no insurgency left, and the crime situation has improved. So we have decided to have online registration of guns," the Chief Minister said. Calling it a "religious neutral scheme", he added, "One has to be indigenous and an original inhabitant. Anyone whose three generations have stayed in India will be considered for this." Government sources have indicated that Barpeta, Dhing, Dhubri, Jania, Morigaon, Nagaon, Rupahi, and South Salmara-Mankachar as some of the "vulnerable and remote areas". The Opposition, however, has slammed the initiative, calling it "highly condemnable". In May last year, the Assam Cabinet had decided to grant arms licences to "original inhabitants or indigenous Indian citizens" living in border and remote areas - a decision that the opposition parties including congress had criticised heavily claiming that it can lead to more fake encounters and extortion.
