India’s largest crypto exchange crossed $2 billion in trading volumes in Feb

India’s largest crypto exchange crossed $2 billion in trading volumes in Feb

NEW DELHI: India’s top cryptocurrency exchange nearly doubled its trading volumes month-on-month in February, despite fears of a government-imposed ban on crypto assets. According to a tweet by Nischal Shetty, founder of WazirX, the largest crypto exchange in India, the company hit $2.3 billion in trading volumes on 21 February. Volumes were at $1.4 billion on 21 January, and at $500 million as on 20 December.

WazirX has been growing fast 🚀

A major reason for our growth is YOU.

Volume growth:

Dec 20 - $500M

Jan 21 - $1.4B

Feb 21 - $2.3B

Thank you for placing your trust on us.

We’ll continue to work hard & serve all our customers.

We’re growing & learning#IndiaWantsCrypto — Nischal (WazirX) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) March 3, 2021

Also Read | How citizen data led India’s covid battle

The future of crypto trading in India has been in question since the Budget session began in February. The Indian government was expected to bring a bill that bans “private cryptocurrencies" in the country, and lay framework for the creation of a digital rupee. While the definition of private cryptocurrencies wasn’t clear at the time, experts believed that the bill will make it illegal to buy, sell or deal in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies in the country.

At the same time though, interest in crypto trading grew, thanks to big moves made by global companies. Billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla announced that it has invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, while payments provider Mastercard said it would start accepting cryptocurrencies on its network from this year.

WazirX had earlier told Mint that it took the company 11 days to hit the billion-dollar mark in February, while its total for January was $1.84 billion.

“Crypto is a global phenomenon. The moment a Tesla spends $1.5 billion, your wealth in India has increased. Most of your investments are very local, but in crypto, anyone anywhere in the world can affect your wealth. People in India have been joining based on all of this positive news that’s been coming," Shetty had told Mint.

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People are paying millions for clips that can be viewed for free. Welcome to the world of ‘NFTs’

From art to sports trading cards, people are spending millions of dollars on digital collector’s items. These crypto collectibles, known as NFTs, have exploded in popularity lately. A video clip created by digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was flipped for a record $6.6 million last week. It had originally been bought for around $67,000. Meanwhile, one of thousands of computer-generated avatars called CryptoPunks recently sold for $2 million. And a crypto art rendition of the Nyan Cat meme from 2011 sold for about $590,000 in an online auction. Proponents of NFTs say they fix a big problem with the internet: artists not getting paid for the distribution of their content online. At the same time, critics see the NFT craze as another potential speculative frenzy in crypto that’s sure to fizzle out eventually. So what exactly are NFTs? And why are they suddenly being sold for millions? CNBC runs through everything you need to know.

What are NFTs?

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are a new type of digital asset. Ownership of these assets are recorded on a blockchain — a digital ledger similar to the networks that underpin bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

But unlike most virtual currencies, you couldn’t exchange one NFT for another in the same way that you would with dollars or gold bars. Each NFT is unique and acts as a collector’s item that can’t be duplicated, making them rare by design. You can think of them like the crypto alternative to rare Pokémon or baseball cards. The rise of the internet meant that anyone could view images, videos and songs online for free. People are buying NFTs out of the belief that they’ll be able to prove ownership of a virtual item thanks to blockchain. NBA Top Shot, an NFT platform based on the U.S. basketball league, lets users buy and sell short clips showing match highlights from star players. The NBA licenses the reels to Dapper Labs, a start-up which digitizes the footage, making a limited amount to create scarcity. NBA Top Shot has facilitated over $280 million in sales to date, according to the website CryptoSlam. Dapper Labs earns a cut on each transaction while the NBA gets royalty payments.

Source: NBA Top Shot

Basketball isn’t the only sport getting into crypto. French start-up Sorare lets users collect and play officially licensed soccer cards in fantasy games. According to NFT data tracker NonFungible, Sorare’s marketplace has generated over $22 million worth of sales to date. Sorare last week announced it had raised $50 million from investors including Benchmark, Accel and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. “It is an obvious industry use case for NFTs,” said Lars Rensing, CEO of blockchain firm Protokol. “Trading cards and collectibles have always been a profitable revenue stream for clubs.” Meanwhile, art dealers are also getting in on the action, with auction house Christie’s running an auction for a virtual art piece from Beeple. The auction is yet to close but the work has already been bid up to $3 million.

NFTs aren’t a new phenomenon. CryptoKitties, one of the earliest examples, were once so popular they clogged up the network of digital currency ether. To date, these colorful online cats have generated sales of over $40 million, according to NonFungible.

Why are they so popular?

The coronavirus pandemic played a big role in the NFT boom. Last year, the total value of NFT transactions quadrupled to $250 million, according to a study from NonFungible and BNP Paribas-affiliated research firm L’Atelier. That’s in no small part because of stay-at-home restrictions that resulted in people spending a lot more of their time on the internet and saving cash from a lack of commuting. It’s similar to the rise of retail traders betting on GameStop and other historically unloved stocks promoted on the Reddit board WallStreetBets. Meanwhile, it also arrives at a time when bitcoin, ether and other digital coins have surged in value, with bitcoin briefly topping $1 trillion in market value last month. “Right now we’re living in a point in the world whereby the majority of the population is spending 50% of their time online and a significant amount of their time on a PC,” Whale Shark, a pseudonymous NFT collector who claims to have amassed a collection worth over $2.7 million, told CNBC.

Skepticism

Many investors buy NFTs as a speculative investment in the hope that they’ll be able to flip them at a much higher price than what they originally paid. But a growing number of people are also holding them long term as collectibles.

“Like any technological hype cycle, we’re starting with speculative activity and usually that gives way to more fundamental value,” Nadya Ivanova, chief operating officer of L’Atelier, told CNBC. “NFTs started in 2017. A lot of it was about speculation. What we saw in 2020 is the market is actually maturing.” NFTs have lured in celebrities like Mark Cuban, Lindsay Lohan and Gary Vaynerchuk, while major brands are also getting involved. And people are finding other use cases for NFTs, such as virtual real estate and gaming. Nevertheless, the NFT space has been met with skepticism from some artists and investors. Critics view it as another crypto fad akin to the initial coin offerings of 2017 that will eventually drift into irrelevance. Unsurprisingly, the firms behind such tokens disagree. “I think that 99% of the projects that are in the space today might not exist two or three years later, very similar to the ICO boom,” WhaleShark said. Many NFTs are priced in ether, the digital token of the Ethereum blockchain. The digital asset briefly touched a record price of more than $2,000 last month before slumping about $600 in a matter of days, reminding investors of cryptocurrencies' wild volatility.

Blockchain Sleuthing Firm Calls Nigeria ‘Focal Point’ for Africa’s Crypto Scams

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(Bloomberg) – Las Vegas Sands Corp., the world’s largest casino operator by market value, agreed to sell its properties in Las Vegas to Apollo Global Management Inc. and Vici Properties Inc. for $6.25 billion, refocusing the company on its successful Asian resorts and other potential opportunities in the U.S.Apollo will run the properties, which will be owned by Vici, a real estate investment trust, the companies said in a statement Wednesday. The Venetian, Palazzo and related convention facilities in Vegas contributed less than 15% of the company’s revenue in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit.Sands rose as much as 2.8% to $66.77 in New York trading, while Apollo gained 2% to $50.90 and Vici was up 2.3% to $29.12. Sands China Ltd. shares were little changed as of 10 a.m. in Hong Kong.Sands signaled last year that it no longer viewed Las Vegas, its home turf, as a priority when it tapped advisers to solicit interest in the properties. The company has identified over $5 billion in capital spending plans at its resorts over the next five years, most of it focused on Macau and Singapore, which generated 85% of its revenue in 2019.“This company is focused on growth, and we see meaningful opportunities on a variety of fronts,” Sands Chief Executive Officer Robert Goldstein said in the statement. “Asia remains the backbone of this company and our developments in Macau and Singapore are the center of our attention.”The company is also weighing a role in the fast-growing field of online gaming, something its late founder, Sheldon Adelson, shunned on moral grounds. Adelson died in January.Apollo, a private equity giant, is betting on a fast comeback for America’s gambling mecca as the pandemic plays out. It’s planning to market the high-end resort more specifically to gamblers and offer consumer tie-ins through some of the other companies in its portfolio. Also, the resort could serve as a focal point for the fast-growing business of sports betting in the U.S.The investment “underscores our conviction in a strong recovery for Las Vegas as vaccines usher in a reopening of leisure and travel in the United States and across the world,” Apollo Partner Alex van Hoek said in a statement.Apollo has made a number of investments in gambling businesses recently, including Great Canadian Gaming Corp., one of that country’s largest casino companies, and European lottery operator Sazka Group.Apollo, along with TPG, was also the owner for a number of years of Caesars Entertainment Corp., which the firms took private in a $30.7 billion leveraged buyout at the top of the market in 2008. The company struggled for years under its debt load before the investors sold out. Vici was spun off to Caesars debt holders in a restructuring.Seller FinancingUnder the terms of the deal, funds affiliated with Apollo will acquire the operating assets and liabilities of the Las Vegas business for about $2.25 billion, including $1.2 billion in seller financing. Vici will purchase the real estate and related assets of the Venetian for about $4 billion in cash.The sale of the Vegas properties would mark Sands’ exit, for now, from the U.S. gambling industry. The Venetian, Palazzo and Sands Expo Convention Center are all connected along the city’s famous Strip. However, they were already a small and shrinking part of the company, and the Las Vegas convention business has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus and related restrictions on large gatherings.The money from a sale could allow the company to fund other development opportunities. Sands dropped out of the competition to build a casino in Japan last year due to terms that executives described as unfavorable. But the company has expressed interest in building in New York, which may consider an increase in the number of casinos it allows. Texas is considered another potential growth market, although some prominent legislators there have repeatedly signaled their opposition to casino legalization.Sands is the only major U.S. operator without a nationally focused online or sports betting business. Goldstein, its CEO, has been holding talks with potential partners, something that could be more of a focus with the cash proceeds from the sale.Keeping HeadquartersSands intends to keep its corporate headquarters in Las Vegas. The Adelson family, now led by Sheldon’s widow, Miriam, will also maintain a presence through their ownership of the city’s largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Miriam’s son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, is the president of Sands.The company may consider resuming its dividend, stock buybacks and debt retirements, particularly once its business in Asia picks up. Sands is financing $1.2 billion of Apollo’s purchase price with a six-year note that begins at 1.5% interest and rises to 4.25% after three years, according to people familiar with the terms.Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acted as financial adviser to Las Vegas Sands in the latest deal. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as legal adviser.Sheldon Adelson was a big believer in the concept of resorts that linked meeting space for business travelers with casinos. A lifelong entrepreneur who made his first serious fortune in the trade-show business, he built the Sands convention center and its connected hotels, later copying the formula overseas. But he was also capable of parting ways with his developments, as he did in the past with the Venetian’s Grand Canal Shoppes in Las Vegas and a casino in Pennsylvania.The current deal will “pay tribute to Mr. Adelson’s legacy while starting a new chapter in this company’s history,” Goldstein said.(Updates with China Sands shares in third paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.