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India currently has the seventh-largest economy globally. Boasting an estimated demographic of 1.34 billion people, it is a fast-growing economy despite having a GDP of 5.7% in the 2nd quarter this year. According to the World Economic Forum, it will become the 2nd largest economy by 2050 with China in the frontline.
In 2016, under the ruling of Narendra Singh Modi, the country demonetized two of its most popular bank notes. The two notes accounted for 86% of the money circulation in India. This was no less than a punishment for tax evaders and made individuals with heaps of black money to return them to the bank before transferring them elsewhere.
Despite being a strategic move to make India adopt digital transactions and limit wealthy tax evaders from paying taxes, it was the typical Indian population that suffered the most.
The plan resulted in a significant money crunch and led to thousands of people standing in queues to return the demonized notes.
But the bright side was the sudden increase in digital transactions as reported by the World Economic Forum. The demonetization allowed the government to keep track of all the cash flow.
Future of blockchain in India
Even today, cryptocurrency transactions and exchanges aren’t a popular means of money transfer in India.
Only 0.5% of people indulge in Bitcoin. In September 2018, The Reserve Bank of India proposed plans to launch a new platform for Blockchain. If this becomes a reality, we can expect increased tax payments and move towards a cashless economy.
Can a Cashless Economy and Blockchain Converge?
It can, but there are a few obstacles and limitations. The Indian government will need to develop lasting solutions for issues like monetary addition, setup costs, transactions times and expenses.
Although minute, there is still a fraction of the population that doesn’t like to associate themselves with financial institutions of any kind. In order to promote cashless economy stance, these people will have to create checking accounts. But if blockchain proposals do succeed, there will be no need for financial institutions to intervene.
What about the Transaction and Other Costs?
Transactions costs are currently high in India. To set up a card-swiping terminal, a merchant has to invest anywhere from $61.5 to $123. This may not seem inconvenient for big merchants running big stores but can be a little demanding for someone who runs a smaller business. Not to forget, it is these small business owners who are really taking the economy of India forward. This is another reason why the country still chooses to pay via cash rather than with digital currency. The expenses are higher.
Will Blockchain Reduce Transaction Times?
It can.
In order to go cashless completely, the economy will have to focus their efforts on reducing waiting times between a processed transaction and an accessible one. This will, of course, encourage people to opt for digitalized currencies.
BitIndia is a blockchain project that aims to support the proliferation of digital transactions. Its long-term vision is to help a typical Indian embrace digital currency while reducing transaction times, transaction fees and the need for intervention from financial institutions.
The Ultimate Guide To Cryptocurrency Exchanges
A cryptocurrency exchange is a special platform that offers a wide range of functions to users of a crypto network. Here you can exchange virtual coins between yourself and fiat money, buy and sell, and make money on the difference in rates. Unlike exchange offices, stock exchange participants get more opportunities in terms of benefits and functionality. Many services allow not only to carry out operations with cryptocurrency but also to store it on internal wallets. Below we consider the features of such sites, how they appeared and what types there are. Let’s talk about the principles of the services and highlight the best of them in December 2018.
How did cryptocurrency exchanges appear?
The first exchange platform appeared on February 6, 2010, and was called Bitcoin Market. This service was a “breakdown of the pen” and had limited capabilities, therefore, representatives of the cryptocurrency community consider the “pioneer” Mt.Gox exchange, opened on July 17, 2010. Its creator is Jack McCaleb. As soon as he heard about Bitcoin, he immediately made an application and marked it on a special domain. Exchange Mt.Gox was the only service for the purchase/sale and exchange of virtual currency.
The innovation has interested a number of large investors, who have appreciated the potential of the cryptocurrency market. Every day the exchange gained momentum, trade activity increased, the demand for virtual currency increased. Already on the first day of the site appearance, it was possible to sell only 20 BTC, and in three months the turnover increased almost 10 times (up to 200 thousand coins). Each week, 50,000 BTC participated in the purchase/sale transactions, and a year later (in the fall of 2011) the daily trading volume reached 27.5 thousand Bitcoins.
How to trade a cryptocurrency
There are two types of exchanges: working with fiat money and pure cryptocurrency. If you choose a pure cryptocurrency currency, you will have to be puzzled by the question of how to buy a cryptocurrency for rubles or dollars elsewhere. This may be an exchanger or another exchange. Before you start trading cryptocurrency, you need to register and pass verification. There is no difficulty in registering and depositing funds. Verification is needed for withdrawal. It is sometimes a long process. Some sites perform automatic verification of downloaded document scans, others only manual.
The best cryptocurrency exchanges – rating
When choosing a stock exchange, it is important to focus on proven services that differ from a position of reliability, security, trading volume, and other factors. We select the TOP-5 exchange platforms in the CIS with the best performance:
Binance.com is a convenient exchange platform with a choice of Russian interface. It offers a large selection of currency pairs, small fees are charged for depositing and entering money. The service has been operating since 2017, and the main office is in Hong Kong. The current bidding technology allows processing about 1.5 million orders per second. Features of the exchange – the leading position in terms of trading volume, low commission per transaction (0.1%), support for popular virtual coins, the presence of an application for mobile devices, the lack of payment for entering cryptocurrency.
Exmo.com is a marketplace loved by many Westerners. It has been operating since 2013, which is additional evidence of its reliability. There are high-security requirements, low transaction fees, a large selection of options for depositing and withdrawing funds from the account. Internal transfers take a few seconds, and transfer of money to the EPS or card takes place within half an hour.
Livecoin.net is a large stock exchange that is in demand among residents of Western countries. It has a convenient interface, allows you to withdraw money in dollars and rubles, has the necessary set of currency pairs (about 200) and an increased level of user protection. The commission for the operation is from 0.1 to 0.2%.
Yobit.net is a convenient exchange platform that supports a large selection of currency pairs (over 1000) and offers users wide functionality. Here you can trade virtual coins that are at the stage of primary placement. Features – almost instant deposit and withdrawal of money, the availability of rare virtual coins, a small commission payment (up to 0.2%). Provides two-factor protection and bonuses for traders.
Poloniex.com is a time-tested stock exchange established in 2014. Due to its reliability and development, it quickly became a leader and became one of the most popular platforms among users of a crypto network. More than 45,000 people are registered here, and the turnover exceeds $ 350 million per day. There is a large selection of currency pairs (over 100) and a wide selection of convenient tools.
The 5 Best Ethereum Debit Cards
Cryptocurrency owners often experience difficulties in spending money, and entrepreneurs try to solve this problem by using debit cryptocurrency cards. It is assumed that you have a certain cryptocurrency – Bitcoin or Ethereum, which only grew at a price of 10%, and you would like to spend profits on a luxury trip or an expensive purchase.
To exchange a certain amount of digital coins for open currency – US dollars, euros, etc. This money was in the bank. Finally, it was possible to spend. Debit cryptocurrency cards. Entrepreneurs may not recognize that cryptocurrencies are publicly available.
A debit cryptocurrency card is similar to a regular debit card. It features the Visa or MasterCard logo. And it works everywhere. Only cryptocurrency wallet. Are you surprised? Let’s take a closer look.
UQUID
Users can upload unlimited amounts in dollars, British pounds and euros to the cards and use the funds to pay utility bills and landline telephones, television, and the Internet, shopping in stores and transportation services. UQUID also offers electronic wallet services, among partners – Paypal, Western Union, and OKPay. The project team intends to create a platform that allows money transfers using cryptocurrencies, as well as a platform for trading. In the future, with UQUID, launch a coin management fund, as well as build a cryptocurrency shopping system without using cards, which will allow users to make purchases on sites like Amazon and eBay.
Tenx
Startup TenX has entered into a partnership agreement with the organization Ethereum. The company will develop a debit card for Coin. This evening on April 11, representatives of the organization reported in a blog on their official website. The creator of the cryptocurrency Charlie Lee confirmed this information in a twitter account.
In addition, TenX has added lightcoin support to its mobile wallet without any advance statements or user notifications. The company explained this by the desire to try a new option on a small number of customers who were the first to pay attention to it.
Shakepay
The ShakePay card is one of the first among the growing offer of debit cards with Ethereum support. This is an optimized, simple map that works surprisingly well in its simple form.
Unlike some other cards that have an internal wallet, with ShakePay, you simply send Ethereum to the card replenishment address, and it is converted into a cash balance. Very simple. The lack of an internal wallet means that using Bitcoin, you cannot send a preliminary request for a quick refill, that is, you have to wait several hours each time you decide to replenish your card, but this is not a problem for Ethereum.
Monaco
The trends of the modern world are subject to the pace of advanced technology. While Ethereum developers are addressing scalability issues and struggling with various vulnerabilities, many blockchain projects are working to integrate cryptocurrencies into everyday human life. One of these projects is Monaco, which will allow anyone who wants to withdraw cryptocurrency directly from an ATM and pay at retail stores using their own debit card Monaco Visa.
Monaco Visa debit cards work wherever Visa is accepted, allowing users to conduct legal tenders for currency conversion into cryptocurrency without commission. All cryptocurrency exchanges for a legal tender will be managed by Monaco before users complete transactions on the Visa network.
Tokencard
TokenCard’s economy is based on TKN tokens (Ethereum, standard ERC20) and the Asset smart contract TKN, which accumulates commissions and manages the income of TKN owners. The full commission for the payment, including the partner company from Visa, will not exceed 1.5%, of which 1% will be sent to the TKN Asset smart contract. Payments secured by TKN tokens, 1% are not charged.
In the future, according to the developers, the main share of tokens on card accounts will be stable cryptocurrencies, such as dai or DGX, linked to fiat currencies or physical assets, but none of them has yet left the testing stage. From the recipients of the payment, TokenCard is an ordinary Visa card, through which payments are made in fiat currencies.ies.
A Shift towards Evaluation
Factual data states that 58% of consumers look for product/services reviews online prior to buying them. This gigantic demand for evaluation can’t be ignored. Moreover, researchers also claim that 98% of buyers believe that online reviews impact their buying. But why are online reviews that impactful when the buyer doesn’t even have the luxury to feel or see the product in person?
One of the reasons is the sales attitude of workers in stores. It is understandable that since they are hired by the brand, they will tell you it is awesome. But that doesn’t entirely apply to online reviews.
But are all the reviews present on forums online believe-worthy? That is where the problem lies. There is a lot of controlling on these platforms. There is always the issue of legitimacy when it comes to buying online. Not to mention, many companies pay people to put false and glowing evaluations to boost sales. It makes them look like they have a chain of delighted customers and thus, making them seem genuine.
Despite the many efforts to create software apps that separate bogus testimonials from real ones, the practice is still very alive.
Why?
For starters, many reviewers don’t have to tell the consumers whether they have used the product/service or not. They are simply placing their opinion about them because they are paid for it.
Blockchain innovation may be of some assistance here. It can keep an eye on all the purchases made by consumers and enable them to leave product reviews of only the ones purchased. This will also limit consumers to post more than one review by using a tamper-proof database. The database will track their shopping history.
Another smart way to detect the authenticity of reviews is to look for any bogus or vague language. Usually, consumers who have used the product back with claims and experiences
So Does Relying On Rankings Also Bogus?
If you happen to come across a site that lists products based on the review it got from its customers, you really should become doubtful.
Does This Mean I Should Not Rely On Item Rankings?
Not long ago, there was the case of a fake restaurant setup. A guy posted high-end photos using shaving foam and bleach tablets. He then listed the place on TripAdvisor and asked his friends for glorious recommendations. It took less than a few months for the place to rank on top as the city’s best place to dine in –even though it didn’t exist in reality.
What about YouTubers Who Promote Products?
There are many YouTubers and social influencers who put up videos of themselves reviewing a certain brand’s product or service. Again, they are used as promoters by companies and purposely do sponsored videos because they are paid. This adds to the persisting issue of bogus reviews as 18% of shoppers do believe in them and end up buying the product reviewed by their favorite influencer.
Another incident that determines how impactful reviews online can be was when a bakeshop that declined to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple was bashed and then closed due to countless bad reviews.
A similar case was seen when a footballer’s diner received bad publicity before even serving a single meal because the owner’s husband performed poorly in the NBA champions.
So Can Blockchain Really Help?
Blockchain can aid the public trust. It can establish platforms that distinguish a genuine review from a fake one. This will help businesses looking to succeed a more genuine consumer base.
So there’s a lot of problems out there, however, what can blockchain do?
Blockchain could help the public trust the compound of the reviews they see online.
A blockchain platform by the name of UUNIO vows to create a space where reviews can be posted free of interaction and external impact.