Indian Banks Request NPCI Clarification on Crypto UPI Payments
The crypto industry has become an unavoidable force in the finance sector that even traditional institutions are looking to adopt. While world governments like the USA are being blamed for joining the crypto race late, India seems to be moving to the next level with crypto UPI. A few months ago, the Union Budget of India offered several announcements about crypto income tax and a new central bank digital currency.
Reports claim that the top Indian banks have approached the National Payments Corporation of India. They demanded a formal directive or clarification regarding using UPI for crypto payments. UPI, introduced in India a few years ago, became popular among users due to its simple, hassle-free outlook. Now, the Indian banks deciding to integrate UPI with crypto would make mainstream adoption of DeFi in India more effortless than ever. However, there still has not been a formal report about the NPCI directive regarding crypto UPI.
Recently, Commerzbank, the fourth largest bank in Germany, applied for a digital assets license from BaFin. The bank intends to offer services related to digital finance, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, to their clients. They would also offer exchange and wallet services to anyone looking for a trusted crypto services platform. Apart from this, there are some news reports about Banking institutions in Latin America trying to incorporate cryptocurrencies to consolidate the scattered economy of the region. Even Warren Buffett, known for his overt stand against the crypto industry, invested in a crypto bank in Brazil.
At the other end of the line, there are allegations against popular UPI apps for introducing anti-crypto features. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, called out Apple for being unfriendly in a recent podcast. He said that Apple had removed several features from the app which the crypto would prefer to have. Armstrong believes that people prefer to have a wallet that offers something more than just holding cryptos, and the popular payments app can make use of this demand for mutual benefit.
While the talks about mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies were ongoing, the tokens have taken a bit in the market. Bitcoin and Ethereum have lost 1.18% and 2.65 respectively in the last 24 hours. As the leading cryptos struggle to hold support levels, BendDAO topped the market with 663.06% and is currently valued at $0.06815. Cardano (2.38%), Binance (2.37%), Algorand (3.12%), Solana (3.6%), and Polkadot (6.69%) have also taken the hit. The recently launched Yeti Finance edged down 3.12%. However, the impact was universally felt among DeFi projects like Terra (2.04%), Avalanche (4.72%), UniSwap (6.01%), and Aave (6.55%). Dogecoin fell 4.38% in the meme section, while its rival Shiba Inu lost 3.07%.
