The Venture Intelligence Blog

Cryptocurrency in India: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back     INTRODUCTION   Any recognized currency used around the world is defined as a "fiat currency" since such currencies are backed by a fixed commodity and are issued by the government. However, changing this is cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is not backed against a commodity or issued by the government and does not exist physically. Cryptocurrency is a collection of binary data, stored on secured transaction records and distributed over a vast network of technological infrastructure and protocols called a distributed ledger technology (“ DLT ”).   The DLT allows a user to simultaneously access, validate, and update records in an unchangeable manner across a network that's spread across multiple entities or locations. There are two principal ways in which cryptocurrencies are deployed, i.e., as a legal tender through payment systems such as cryptocurrency trading platforms or cryptocurrency wallets or a...

A Brief Update on the ASCI’s Guidelines for Advertising of Virtual Digital Assets in India The Advertising Standards Council of India (“ ASCI ”), the advertising industry’s self-governing body recently issued ‘ Guidelines for the advertising of Virtual Digital Assets and linked services ’ (“ Guidelines ”), a first of their kind in India. The Guidelines came into effect on April 1, 2022 and are applicable to all new advertisements on virtual digital assets released or published after this date. Additionally, existing advertisements on virtual digital assets (advertisements made earlier than April 1, 2022) have to be made compliant with the Guidelines by April 15, 2022. While the ASCI is a self-governing body and these Guidelines are not binding, several major players in the industry have voluntarily become members of the ASCI and so these Guidelines have the potential to become the most broadly accepted standards with regard to advertising of virtual digital assets in India. Virtu...

Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) investments in India during the quarter ended June 2022 (Q2'22), at $11.6 Billion across 322 deals, registered an over 23.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2021 (which saw $15.2 Billion being invested across 264 deals). The investment amount was also down almost 28.1% compared to the immediate previous quarter (which saw $16.1 Billion being invested across 391 deals) and marked three continuous quarters of decline, shows data from Venture Intelligence , a research service focused on private company financials, transactions, and their valuations. However the PE-VC investment figures for the first 6 months of 2022 - at $27.6 Billion (across 713 deals) - was 16% higher compared to the same period in 2021 (which saw $23.9 Billion being invested across 526 deals). Fewer U...