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Weekly Crypto Roundup: seeking attention, slashed jobs, and sideways momentum
The Hindu
Bitcoin and Ether’s prices aren’t changing quickly, but the crypto and NFT sector certainly is
Crypto proponents have been struggling for years to take their emerging technology mainstream. Now, the crypto sector is the centre of attention, for all the wrong reasons.
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This week, the controversial Celsius Network crypto lending company that froze all user transfers and withdrawals, filed for bankruptcy protection in the USA. A legal document showed that the company had a deficit of close to $1.2 billion.
The company is also planning to use its $167 million in cash on hand to support some operations while it undergoes financial restructuring.
Celsius stated it had around 1.7 million registered users and $6 billion in assets at the start of this month.
“The onset of the “crypto winter” combined with the well-publicised collapse of Luna and the failure of several crypto funds/exchanges led to growing industry-wide reluctance to do business with companies, such as Celsius, that held crypto assets,” stated a legal document signed by Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky on Thursday.
Several U.S. state regulators are currently investigating Celsius’ activities, and one regulator had said it believed the platform to be “deeply insolvent.”
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The Union Budget unveiled on February 1, 2025, has come at a time of unprecedented global uncertainty and a flagging domestic economy. The real GDP growth is estimated at 6.4% for 2024-25 and between 6.3-6.8% for 2025-26, a far cry from >8 percent growth required annually to make India a developed nation by 2047. While much attention has been devoted to the demand stimulus through income tax cuts, not enough is said about the proposed reforms in urban development, tariff rationalisation, and regulatory simplification aimed at making Indian cities and corporates more competitive. Since the majority of economic activity is located in cities (urban areas account for ~55% of GDP) and produced by large corporates (~40% of the national output and 55% of India’s exports), the above-mentioned reforms have a pivotal role in improving India’s trend growth rate. Below we unpack each reform.