Crypto startups reportedly managed to see bigger investments from venture capital firms in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the first. As per a report, a total of $2.7 billion were invested into crypto startups between April and June this year. This amount is 2.5 percent higher than what was fetched by crypto startups between January and March. A total of 503 deals were finalised in the second quarter of 2024 between up-and-coming Web3 firms and investors.

Paradigm, Brevan Howard Asset Management, Framework Ventures, Maven 11, Dragonfly, and Haun Ventures have been named among the top ten Web3 investors according to a report by PitchBook.

Monad Labs, which calls itself a smart contract platform that scales Ethereum by 1000 times, secured the quarter’s largest funding of $225 million (roughly Rs. 1,889 crore) in April this year. Other startups on the top ten list of secured investments include Farcaster, Zentry, Berachain, Babylon, Sophon, Avail, TradeAlgo, Movement Labs, and Conduit. These startups have been exploring the sectors of decentralised finance (DeFi), blockchain networks, and Web3.

“The increasing deal value yet lower deal count suggests that deal sizes increased overall during the quarter. With positive investor sentiment returning to crypto and barring any major market downturns, we expect the volume and pace of investments to continue increasing throughout the year. Infrastructure startups continued to lead the way in funding during the quarter,” the report stated.

In seed and pre-seed funding as well, investors have not resisted pouring in funds. Arbelos Markets, MegaETH, Morph, and Lagrange are among young startups, presently in the early stage of their respective businesses. Most of these firms are working on scalability solutions for blockchains as well as to bring in more Web3-friendly developer tools.

“The median pre-money valuation for the seed stage was $23 million (roughly Rs. 193 crore); the early stage, $63.8 million (roughly Rs. 535 crore); and the late stage, $40.8 million (roughly Rs. 342 crore) representing changes of +97 percent, +166 percent, and –36 percent respectively, from full-year 2023,” the report noted.

These numbers, PitchBook said, indicate that investment rounds have become highly competitive at the earlier stages but less so at the later stage.

n the Indian web3 startup landscape, BitGet along with CoinSwitch Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz have poured in investments in recent years.

Bitcoin on Wednesday, August 14 reflected a price gain of 3.15 percent on international exchanges. With this, the value of BTC on international exchanges has come to the price point of $61,060 (roughly Rs. 51 lakh). On Indian exchanges like CoinSwitch, BTC is trading at around $64,576 (roughly Rs. 54 lakh). As per market commentators, this price hike for BTC is fuelled by favourable political developments and increasing institutional interest. In the backdrop of BTC’s rally, majority cryptocurrencies registered gains on Wednesday.

“Bitcoin’s dominance has climbed to 56.29 percent, reflecting a 0.35 percent increase from yesterday, showcasing its continued strength in the market,” Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin told Gadgets360. “The approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and a notable increase in stablecoin volumes drive this trend. The ongoing institutional adoption and regulatory clarity will likely bolster investor confidence and drive further growth.”

Ether saw a small loss of two percent in the last 24 hours. With this, the price of ETH has come to $2,452 (roughly Rs. 2.05 lakh). Analysts call this minor price decline negligible in a broader picture for ETH’s price trajectory.

“The crypto market saw an uptick as the U.S PPI data came in lower than expected, which is bullish for the market. The focus now shifts to the US CPI data, set to be released today. Notably, during the last CPI data release, the market experienced a significant upside,” the CoinDCX market team told Gadgets360.

Binance Coin, Ripple, Dogecoin, Cardano, Tron, Avalanche, and Shiba Inu — all recorded gains.

Chainlink, Leo, Near Protocol, Polygon, and Stellar also clocked profits.

“Buyers are actively purchasing at support levels, taking advantage of the dip,” Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex told Gadgets360.

In the last 24 hours, the overall crypto market cap has risen by 2.50 percent. With this, the sector valuation hit $2.14 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,79,55,349 crore), as per CoinMarketCap.

Among loss-making cryptocurrencies, Tether, Solana, Polkadot, Litecoin, Cosmos, and Uniswap.

“Crypto’s Fear and Greed Index remains entrenched in the fear zone at 30, while the RSI for Bitcoin sits in the neutral zone. Bitcoin dominance is consolidating above 57%, signaling that altcoins may continue to lag in the near term,” Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus crypto platform told Gadgets360.

Binance users in India can now access the exchange’s website after being blocked in December 2023. The crypto exchange, touted as the largest in the world, has finally completed its registration with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and has also cleared the penalty of $2.25 million (roughly Rs. 18.8 crore) that was levied on it in June this year. The fine was levied as Binance did not adhere to India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). With this, Binance is now up and running in India’s web space.

For Binance, this registration in India marks its 19th global licence. Sweden, Kazakhstan, France, and Dubai are among other locations where the exchange holds operational permits.

Binance CEO Richard Teng said that the company realises the vitality and potential of India’s virtual digital assets (VDAs) market, commenting on its India registration.

“Our registration with the FIU-IND marks an important milestone in Binance’s journey. This alignment with Indian regulations allows us to tailor our services for Indian users. It is a privilege to extend the reach of our platform to this thriving market, supporting India’s continued VDA evolution,” Teng noted.

Binance’s registration with the FIU in India could have been completed in May. However, upon probe on the exchange, Indian authorities identified that Binance was not compliant with the PMLA laws, that are mandated for crypto firms to comply with in order to keep their operations running in the country.

As part of the PMLA laws, crypto exchanges are required to have their users complete their KYCs and monitor trading activities. Upon identifying suspicious transactions, the PMLA requires exchanges to report their observations to the relevant authorities.

Now that Binance has cleared the fine for being non-compliant with India’s PMLA laws, its access has been completely restored for Indian users.

“Implementing these industry-leading frameworks in the Indian market can meaningfully contribute to the local context and elevate market standards for all crypto exchanges. Not only is this beneficial for the Indian VDA industry, but, most importantly, it ensures stronger protections for users,” the exchange noted.

Despite this development, Binance’s road ahead still has some bumps in India. The company, for instance, does not still have a physical presence in the country. In fact, Binance is scouting for locations where it could set up its headquarters.

In addition, Binance was recently served a notice for Rs. 772 crore (roughly $92 million) in GST charges. The Ahmedabad zonal unit of India’s Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) issued this notice to the multi-national crypto exchange for levying a platform fee charge on Indian traders that reportedly reached the amount of at least Rs. 4,000 crore and was transferred to a foreign-based company.

Binance’s response to this GST notice remains awaited.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a new report highlighting the rising carbon footprint of the crypto sector and stressing the need for control. To address this, the IMF has proposed a significant tax increase on crypto mining businesses to encourage the adoption of greener practices. According to the IMF’s latest estimates, crypto mining alone could generate 450 million tons of carbon emissions by 2027, accounting for 1.2 percent of the global total.

Two IMF officials — Shafik Hebous and Nate Vernon-Lin — have collectively proposed that taxes for crypto mining businesses could need up to 85 percent hike to drive the crypto mining industry to adopt cleaner practices.

“According to IMF estimates, a direct tax of $0.047 (roughly Rs. 3.95) per kilowatt hour would drive the crypto mining industry to curb its emissions in line with global goals. If considering air pollution’s impact on local health as well, that tax rate would rise to $0.089 (roughly Rs. 7.47), translating into an 85 percent increase in average electricity price for miners,” the officials said in a blog on August 15.

Present State of Carbon Emission through Crypto Activities

The process of BTC mining has been infamous for being very power intensive, so much so, that the electricity requirement for mining farms has been known to disrupt the power supply in neighbouring regions. As per the blog published on the IMF channel, one Bitcoin transaction requires roughly the same amount of electricity as the average person in Ghana or Pakistan consumes in three years.

Not just crypto mining, but crypto data centres also require high intensity machines to be plugged into an active power socket at all times, contributing to the sector’s carbon emissions.

The blog claimed, “crypto mining and data centers together accounted for two percent of world electricity demand in 2022. And that share is likely to climb to 3.5 percent in three years, according to our estimates based on projections from the International Energy Agency. That would be equivalent to current consumption of Japan, the world’s fifth largest electricity user.”

This environmentally concerning property of the Web3 industry, the blog said, diminishes its social and economic benefits. If the taxes linked to the power usage by crypto miners are, for example, rise by 85 percent – the annual emissions by the sector could be reduced by an estimated 100 million tons.

Not just for crypto, but the IMF has observed a spike in carbon emissions from increased AI activities as well. The report said that ChatGPT gobbles up ten times more electricity than one Google Search because of the massive amount of electricity that is required by AI data centres.

Suggestions for Policy-Makers

The IMF officials have asked regulators around the world to encourage companies working in crypto and AI to reduce the use of fossil fuels and look for greener resources for power generation. The blog says that nations could implement a global carbon price of around $85 (roughly Rs. 7,136) per ton by 2030.

“Complementing electricity taxes with credits for zero-emission, bilateral power purchase agreements, and potentially renewable energy certificates would also help,” the blog added.

The IMF officials have, however, emphasised that these pro-environment measures need to be deployed uniformly around the world otherwise these businesses would just relocate to regions with looser laws.

Apple recently announced that it will soon allow third party developers from countries in the European Union (EU) and select other regions to access the NFC technology on iPhone, on an upcoming beta build of iOS 18.1. This technology that supports contactless payments is currently restricted to Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. This decision could prove to be a shot in the arm for crypto firms, and could pave the way for Web3 wallet services to offer tap-to-pay functionality.

Circle Co-Founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire urged wallet developers to work on support for Apple’s NFC payments technology, following the announcement by the iPhone maker earlier this week. Circle is the firm that issues the USDC stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. At the time of publishing this story, USDC’s market capitalisation stood at $34.6 billion (roughly Rs. 2,90,934 crore) and over 34 million tokens are currently in circulation.

“Tap to pay using USDC on iPhones incoming soon,” Allaire said on X. Crypto enthusiasts also responded to the Circle CEO’s post, with some predicting that this service could propel crypto-based payments on the iPhone.

In another post on X, Allaire said that with Apple expanding the access to the NFC feature to third party developers will enable them to support tap-to-pay transactions on Web3 wallet and crypto wallet apps.

“If an iOS wallet that supports USDC enables this, they could enable a UX (interface) where a receiving device could receive the transaction info via a tap. This would allow the Point-of-Sale to tell an iPhone what blockchain address it will accept USDC on, or the amount to pay, and then the iPhone-based wallet app could prompt the user to confirm a payment (like with FaceID) and initiate a transaction over the blockchain to settle the USDC,” Allaire said, adding that combining NFC with low-fee blockchains could elevate direct to merchant payments through crypto assets like USDC.

Cryptos Consultancy CEO Ali Jamal called Apple’s decision to provide access to iPhone NFC functionality a game changing move via a post on LinkedIn.

🚀 Apple Joins the Crypto Revolution: Bringing USDC Payments for 1.4B iPhone Users! 💳📱 This move allows direct blockchain payments on iPhones for the first time ever. The “you can’t buy anything with crypto” criticism is officially over. Apple just got itself a seat! In a game-changing move, Apple has just opened its NFC chip to third-party apps with the release of iOS 18.1, setting the stage for a new era in crypto payments. Here’s why this is a watershed moment for the industry: “Tap-to-pay” on the iPhone will now support stablecoin USDC. Apple made the decision to open source its NFC chip to third-party developers. 🔹 Democratizing NFC Access: Previously restricted to Apple Wallet and Apple Pay, the NFC technology on iPhones can now be utilized by crypto wallet apps. This shift opens the door to a wider range of payment options, including USDC. 🔹 Mainstream USDC Integration: Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has announced that USDC, the leading dollar-backed stablecoin, will soon be available for tap-to-pay transactions. Imagine paying directly with USDC at any point-of-sale (PoS) terminal using your iPhone. 🔹 Broad Implications: This move extends beyond USDC. It facilitates payments with other stablecoins, NFTs, and more, leveraging high-performance blockchains like Solana and Avalanche for seamless, low-fee transactions. 📈 What’s Next? With Apple’s integration of NFC capabilities into the crypto space, we’re witnessing a significant leap toward global crypto adoption. This development is poised to make crypto payments as accessible as traditional methods. What do you think of Apple’s new role in the crypto landscape? Will this spark a broader shift in how we use digital assets? Share your thoughts if any below! 👇 #Apple #Crypto #Payments #USDC #DigitalAssets #Stablecoins #NFTs #Innovation #iOS18 #Blockchain #TechNews #Dubai

“Apple has just opened its NFC chip to third-party apps with the release of iOS 18.1, setting the stage for a new era in crypto payments. It is a watershed moment for the industry. This move extends beyond USDC. It facilitates payments with other stablecoins, NFTs, and more, leveraging high-performance blockchains like Solana and Avalanche for seamless, low-fee transactions,” she said.

Jamal further noted that this development could make crypto payments as easily accessible and accepted as traditional payments.

Crypto Payments on Apple’s Platform

The iPhone maker, has time and again, faced criticism for its App Store policies that have been deemed as ‘unfair’ by crypto-related app makers. In November 2023, Apple customers filed a class-action lawsuit over the firm’s restriction of crypto payments and not expanding its array of peer-to-peer payment services beyond the Apple Pay ecosystem.

Earlier that year, two Bitcoin wallet providers, Zeus and Damus, also criticised the iPhone-maker for restricting their apps on Apple’s App Store, while a California appeals court previously told Apple that its policy of not allowing app developers to integrate third party payment methods with their services was ‘unlawful’.

Apple is yet to clarify whether crypto-related apps will be allowed to access the NFC functionality on the iPhone with the upcoming iOS 18.1 beta, which will allow access to the NFC and SE APIs to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the US, while other regions will soon be added by the company.

The crypto price chart, on Tuesday, August 20 reflected gains next to most cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin reflected a gain of 3.5 percent on international exchanges like CoinMarketCap while seeing a loss of 3.05 percent on Indian exchanges like Bitbns. On foreign exchanges, BTC is trading at the price point of $60,973 (roughly Rs. 51 lakh) whereas on Indian exchanges, the price of the most expensive cryptocurrency stands within the range of $54,322 (roughly Rs. 45.5 lakh) and $64,417 (roughly Rs. 54.02 lakh).

“Bulls displaying their strength as Bitcoin’s dominance touched 56 percent. This happened after Tron’s founder Justin Sun hinted about China potentially removing the ban on Bitcoin and other crypto assets through his tweet. However, the major factor of this pump can be attributed to USD regaining some strength back against the Japanese Yen,” the CoinSwitch markets desk told Gadgets360.

Ether saw a minor price drop of 0.69 percent in the last 24 hours on the crypto price tracker by Gadgets360. With this, the price of ETH has come to $2,463 (roughly Rs. 2.06 lakh). On international exchanges meanwhile, ETH is trading at $2,664 (roughly Rs. 2.23 lakh) after roping in a minor gain of 1.23 percent over the last day.

Solana, Zcash, Status, and Braintrust joined BTC and ETH on the loss-making side of Gadgets360’s crypto chart on Tuesday.

The profit-making cryptocurrencies, meanwhile, included Tether, Binance Coin, USD Coin, Ripple, Dogecoin, Tron, Cardano, and Avalanche.

Shiba Inu, Polkadot, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink, Leo, Litecoin, Near Protocol, and Polygon also reflected notable gains.

The overall crypto market cap rose by 2.66 percent in the last 24 hours. With this, the valuation of the crypto sector has reached $2.66 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,23,10,058 crore), as per CoinMarketCap.

In conversation with Gadgets360, the CoinDCX team said, “The crypto market continues to exhibit slow movement with BTC and ETH trading sideways. This week, the Jackson Hole Symposium, particularly Jerome Powell’s speech on August 23, could introduce volatility to the market.”

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.