AlgoBharat, India-focused initiative of the Algorand Foundation, has announced the establishment of its India Advisory Committee to support its mission of blockchain adoption to achieve the objectives of a more inclusive economy. The 6-member committee will be chaired by RS Sharma, a former civil servant, renowned for his transformative leadership in the Government of India.

Blockchain technology holds immense potential to support India's growth narrative, and this step to establish an India Advisory Committee underscores the Algorand Foundation’s commitment to achieving this potential. AlgoBharat aims to harness blockchain's transformative power to ensure a more inclusive and equitable future for India, enhancing access to essential services and driving social parity.

The Foundation’s full India Advisory Committee is comprised of the following individuals:

1. Dr. Indu Bhushan: First ever CEO of Ayushman Bharat, Indian government agency providing national health care coverage; Senior Economist, World Bank Group; Director General, Asian Development Bank.

2. Dr. KP Krishnan: Leadership posts include Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; Addl Secy, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development; Addl Secy, Dept of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance; Secy, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.

3. Anuradha Mitra: Held posts including Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs; Addl Secy and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Defense; Member Finance, Digital Communications Commission; Principal Advisor, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

4. Prashant Saran: Over three decades of experience as a financial sector regulator, including responsibility at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for regulation of commercial banks. As a Whole Time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), focused on areas of investor education and investor protection.

5. Dr. Ram Sevak Sharma: Past leadership posts include CEO, National Health Authority; Chair, Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19; Chair, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Director General and Mission Director, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

6. Ashok Pal Singh: Held posts including Founding MD and CEO, India Post Payments Bank; Joint Secy, Ministry of Finance; Dep. Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

The Algorand Foundation plans to leverage its India Advisory Committee’s expertise for strategic direction, thought leadership, public sector engagement, and active collaboration.

Gods Unchained has set out a game mode that allows gamers play against cards drawn semi-randomly at the beginning of the tournament. Termed 'Seal Mode' the game is designed to reward talented players, including those who lack a large or expensive collection of cards.

Though such modes have been regular in paper card gaming, such modes have been relatively rare in online trading card games. Gamers will need to pay an entry fee. Gamers will receive a random mix of three gods to build the deck around. 60 random cards are randomly drawn from multiple sets of cards. These cards include the likes of 'Etherbots', 'Mortal Judgement', and 'Winter Wanderlands' among others.

Semi-random card pool contains cards of certain types to ensure a decent deck can be built. Each pool has at least 12 cards of 3 mana or lower. Having a pool of 60 cards, each player has to build a minimum of 30-card deck. The players build their decks out of the cards and restrained from using a card on their personal collection.

The game requires players to play a deck and play until they either lose 3 matches or win 7. The player with optima record eventually wins more rewards. For players who win 4 matches or more, cosmetic rewards are available. Each card in Gods Unchained has its own unique, non-fungible token, stored on the Ethereum layer-2 network, Immutable X.

A United States judge adjudicated in July that Ripple Labs' XRP token did not qualify as a security when it was sold to the regular people through secondary markets. While the SEC is expected to challenge the decision, however, the wider cryptocurrency community has taken the line that crypto transactions on exchanges may not qualify as securities transactions. Having said that, crypto community is still facing a bit of uncertainty.

The ruling is a setback for Ripple, as the company has been struggling with this issue for some time. However, this legal victory may be a partial emancipation for the company, allowing it to regain its former glory. This case provides an opportunity for Ripple to turn the page on an old chapter and begin anew.

Attempt to provide a better payment system than SWIFT

Ripple was created to replace SWIFT, the legacy financial system for making payments globally. Ask anyone who has ever had to pay $50 for a wire transfer that would take four days to arrive at its destination. With Ripple, the process is instantaneous, with no impact of weekends or holidays. It is also free from the high and unpredictable fees that SWIFT charges. It offers a system designed for day-to-day transactions.

Attempts to deal with challenges

More than technology, the challenge has been to operate across numerous jurisdictions. The task was probably tougher than Ripple had estimated itself, forcing it to make adjustments on the way to reach its goals.

A key decision Ripple had to take was to adopt a centralized structure. The decision turned out to be both beneficial and detrimental. Though the centralized structure facilitated faster and more cost-effective transactions, it inadvertently discouraged a wider Web3 development community from participating. It created a closed environment, which was not particularly welcoming for the community.

One can only wonder if such a community would have altered the course of Ripple’s legal battle. Having a decentralized system bring in clear advantages on both the business and product fronts, as several successful projects have demonstrated. Whether Ripple still does that to try a turnaround or not, that's the question.

AlgoBharat has announced the final stop on its Road to Impact. Organized in Hyderabad at T-Hub,  a technology incubator,  the event attracted blockchain enthusiasts and solution architects looking to harness the power of blockchain technology for India's growth.

The gathering highlighted the talent within India's blockchain community and exemplified the potential of blockchain to drive solutions with real world utility. Across the various Indian cities that it has travelled, this journey culminates in the ‘Creating Impact! Pitch Competition’, which brought the Algorand developer relations team together with hundreds of enthusiastic Web3 teams who presented their ideas.

As Anil Kakani- VP and India country head at Algorand Foundation, stated AlgoBharat Road to Impact coincided with India’s historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the south pole of the moon. The developers have been building Web3 solutions that are helping farmers in Telangana restore the nutrients in their soil, that bring carbon credits to women in rural Gujarat, that allow artisans in Assam prove the authenticity of their work, and that empower large Indian corporations to be more sustainable in managing their supply chain.

Teams that advance to the next round of the competition will receive valuable mentorship, guidance, and technical support to build their Web3 solutions. This personalized attention underscores AlgoBharat's commitment to nurturing and empowering the next generation of innovators.

In early November, 10 teams will be selected by a panel of judges to compete for exciting prizes by pitching their impactful solutions at the Algorand Impact Summit. The best project will be awarded the grand prize of US$10,000 (approx 8.25 Lakhs) and 2,000 ALGO credits for Mainnet deployment support. The runner up will be awarded US$7,500 along with 1,500 ALGO credits and the third place winner will be given US$5,000 along with 1,000 ALGO credits.

The AlgoBharat Road to Impact journey will ultimately converge at the Algorand Impact Summit, which will convene policy officials, builders, investors, executives, and other thought leaders from India and around the world on November 30 and December 1 in India’s capital city.

This trail is designed to engage the Web3 community, showcasing the transformative potential of blockchain-based solutions. AlgoBharat ambassadors stationed in various cities including Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, will host meetups across India to further amplify collaboration and support.

Over the past few months, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has championed an offensive against the major crypto firms. Not only has this trend cast a huge shadow over the future of crypto and other digital assets, but it also symbolizes the importance of regulation. No matter how beneficial an innovation is, it must adhere to existing rules to encourage adoption. 

On July 13, 2023, an order was issued by Southern District of New York Judge Analisa Torres in SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. The SEC submitted that Ripple Labs had issued unregistered securities to investors. However, Ripple argued that its XRP token wasn't a security as it wasn't an investment contract under the Howey test used by the SEC for determining investment contracts.

SEC closely scrutinized various blockchains to determine which of them were decentralized in real terms and which weren't. Various crypto projects, including exchanges and stablecoins, came under the radar. This underlines how important adequate regulation is. 

Why crypto regulation is a must-have 

Like AI and other fast-growing technologies, crypto requires regulatory oversight to ensure safeguard investors and the finance sector from the risks of illicit crypto operations. When crypto first emerged, there wasn't much emphasis on having a regulatory framework. But given its current status, the need for crypto firms to adhere to set rules has skyrocketed.

As mentioned, a regulated crypto space is ideal for investors particularly because they're less likely to encounter fraudulent activities like Ponzi schemes and scams. A 2023 study conducted by the PEW Research Center found that 75% of Americans aren't convinced about crypto. If every crypto firm was duly registered and played by the rules, it would boost people's confidence. This translates into wider adoption.

Regulatory compliance - The INX example

Every industry needs regulatory oversight to ensure fair play and growth. Being a nascent space, the crypto field requires laws to protect stakeholders and potential investors. Crypto firms must also comply with regulations. As recent times have shown, the time for regulation is long overdue.

However, INX firmly considered the risks of running an unregistered operation and chose to fulfill all regulatory obligations. The project decided to take the regulation route in 2017 during the initial coin offering (ICO) trend. The project is fully regulated, provides users with asset trading services, security tokens trading, and a few more.

INX collaborated with the SEC to have a legal ICO. That move led to the company hosting the first SEC-backed ICO two years ago. It generated a whopping $85 million from over 7,000 investors. 

Renata Szkoda, INX's chief financial officer, said in an interview with Blockworks last year that companies need to think critically before launching tokens, a comment that's still relevant in solving today's regulatory fiasco. When nearly all major crypto companies are facing probe, INX stands out. The company has been on the right side of the SEC right from start and this shows how crypto regulation is vital.

How regulatory compliance could make a project preferred for acquisition

In today's scenario, if any project is known for adhering to regulatory norms, major players are going to prefer it when it comes to acquisition. We could again take INX as an example. Given its unique status as a regulated crypto platform, Republic, already an investor in INX, offered to acquire the project in a $120 million deal.

Buying a well-regulated platform means access to a regulated platform that not only resolves the acquirer's current legal woes but gives them a chance to unlock the lucrative future of crypto.

Zeeve, a Blockchain Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform, has entered a strategic partnership with the India Blockchain Alliance (IBA). The objective of this partnership is to accelerate evangelism and adoption of blockchain across the Indian subcontinent.

As an infrastructure partner of IBA, Zeeve will provide no-code web3 infrastructure to enterprises and governments across India. Zeeve will also work with IBA’s initiative of establishing Centers of Excellence in various universities, by providing blockchain infrastructure as a sandbox for innovation and development. This is likely to expedite blockchain adoption across the country.

Offering no-code, plug-and-play infrastructure, helps businesses leverage blockchain by providing access to dedicated node infrastructure and RPC APIs. As an ISO, SOC2 TypeII, and GDPR compliant company, they adhere to standard data privacy and security practices.

India Blockchain Alliance (IBA) is a non-profit organization fostering evidence-based adoption of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT). Its network comprises experts, academics, blockchain engineers, venture capitalists, and visionaries committed to making India into a global blockchain destination.