Healthcare in India is plagued with problems – a severe shortage of hospitals, doctors and other health service providers; a large section of the population which is poor and does not have access to health care; and inadequate governmental spending and support[1]. Despite the fact that India is behind more developed countries in the adoptionRead more
Blog
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 An initial exchange offering(“IEO”) is a crowdfunding mechanism which, for the large part is similar to an initial coin offering (“ICO”) but for certain reasons is considered an improvement over it. Prime amongst these is that an exchange serves as a trusted intermediary between the token sellers[1] and the buyers. This meansRead more
What is the document? The Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (“Staff”) of the Securities and Exchanges Commission (“SEC”) recently released a Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets (“Framework” or “Document”)[1]. These are essentially guidelines to assess whether an investment into a digital asset (which, per the document includes any asset whichRead more
What was promised? In November 2018, The US Securities and Exchanges Commission (“SEC”) promised to come out with a ‘plain English’ guidance for developers who wished to undertake their own token offerings[1] (‘token’ is used to indicate a cryptocurrency, crypto-asset or a digital asset; these terms are used interchangeably here, strictly for the purposes ofRead more
News has it that Facebook is foraying into online remittances and will introduce a tethered digital asset named “Libra” to fuel this system. Libra will be linked with the INR (i.e. the Indian National Rupee) and each Libra will always convert to 1 INR. How will this play with the April 2018 RBI circular that imposed a deRead more
Introduction With the increasing fanfare around Blockchain technology and the potential it holds for the future, commercial enterprises – Blockchain based and otherwise – are experimenting with paying salaries in cryptocurrency. This initiative broadens the cryptocurrency ecosystem[1] and also helps retain the best tech talent.[2] This post outlines the current cryptocurrency payment ecosystem, industry experienceRead more
On 29th May, 2018, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”) released the draft Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (“Regulations”), aimed to curb the problem of unsolicited commercial communication, or spam, for telecom subscribers. As stated in the accompanying press release, TRAI has chosen to adopt Distributed Ledger Technology (also known as “blockchain”)Read more
What are Virtual Currencies? The concept of virtual currency is perhaps best understood by way of an example. Take Airline Miles, for example, also referred to as frequent flier miles–the more you travel with an airline, the more Airline Miles you accumulate. These can later be redeemed for more tickets. When you redeem yourRead more
The Government’s Position on Cryptocurrency While the novelty factor of cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology has not abated since 2009, Indian regulators have only recently begun evaluating the financial and security risks posed by virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. The Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, announced in his 2018 Budget Speech that the government doesRead more
Increasing representation of women in technology domains and startups, and its associated benefits, has become a focal point of discussions surrounding entrepreneurship, borne out by the theme of 8th edition of the annual global entrepreneurship summit, 2017 – ‘women first, prosperity for all’. As part of our efforts to engage with women working in the domain of emerging technology andRead more