BC CRYPTO
Saved by @Alex1Powell

A personal update: Monday was my last day at Business Standard and I can truly count the past 3 years as the golden phase of my career, where I got the opportunity to not only report but also break some of the biggest news stories during this period.

 From January, I will be writing for the @BloombergQuint.

Even though I will miss the adrenaline rush of finding my byline in the paper every morning, I am really excited about starting a new journey with a digital platform.
In this thread, I am sharing some of the work that I did at @bsindia, which is close to my heart.
I wrote a series of stories with @dilasha on how the cryptocurrency players in India are surviving in a hostile regulatory climate.

https://t.co/NJAcIwAgmC
In Feb 2018, I exposed how the government secretly commissioned a survey to two independent economists, giving them unauthorised access to private data of citizens only to establish ‘robust’ job creation.

https://t.co/JmN7VjQxkC
State-owned PNB was hit by the country's biggest banking fraud.

This letter written by the finance ministry to the RBI became the first point of friction between the govt and the regulator. (Ultimately, Urjit Patel had to step down as the RBI Guv)

https://t.co/Z4oFEDZUr8
In Apr 2018, I broke the story about a currency crunch at ATMs in at least 8 Indian states. Why did this happen? Hint: demonetisation

This was followed by extensive coverage on the issue (the govt did acknowledge publicly that there was a cash crunch).

https://t.co/KU67ulaTMO
I continued to dig into the PNB fraud & found this gem:

I reported how PNB (of all banks) didn't receive a crucial directive sent by the RBI in 2016 asking all lenders to strengthen their risk mechanism to avert fraud.

The story about a missing e-mail

https://t.co/My6Ll42Bp0
The RBI vs government tussle was heating up. I wrote a series of stories on the friction points:

https://t.co/IREwm8LeOU

https://t.co/3801yfOJRg

https://t.co/BYCVe5kcpq

https://t.co/O3jIuI0dpM

https://t.co/YXDTiarSFh

https://t.co/JCcyzd75gD
In September 2018, I reported how the government has found over 60% of the money deposited in 37 million Jan-Dhan accounts in the weeks following the note ban announcement in 2016 as “suspicious”

https://t.co/gwsYVOQnle
Politics of data was a project I took up in the past 3 years. The following stories aptly throw light on an ever-important issue:
A day before leaving office as NITI Aayog vice-chairman in 2017, Arvind Panagariya submitted the final report of the task force he chaired for recommending improvements in jobs data. The final report never saw the light of the day. Here are the details:

https://t.co/FyagN0UMrY
An official survey on jobs conducted in 2016-17 by the Labour Bureau (part of the labour and employment ministry) was never made public. Here are the findings of the report (this survey has been officially junked since then):

https://t.co/4A2uw3gppj
The biggest scoop of my career (yet). The unemployment rate rose to a 45-yr-high, a year before India went into elections. Shockingly, the Modi govt didn't officially release the findings of the report until it came back to power in the 2019 elections.

https://t.co/FBcV5VTggg
Some important analysis from the hidden report in the run up to the national elections:

https://t.co/NZGwD4EUpI

https://t.co/9YsxMzBlqr

https://t.co/qMluVa4rLP
Of course, the government initiated an inquiry to find out my sources but it was to no avail :)

https://t.co/GLfNOlEhv0
Months later, I brought out the findings of another hidden survey report that showed consumer spending falling for the first time in over four decades.

https://t.co/zejgxPn4MI
The data hasn't been made public till date as the government decided to scrap the survey report the day we published the results.

More in this thread:

https://t.co/5Kur6wiMyf
I also did some ground reporting during the 2019 national elections:

https://t.co/ibihPxveAS

https://t.co/6FUJaLAwHv

https://t.co/fNh0ltutDe
I added on to @nit_set's stellar investigative work on electoral bonds to report how the finance ministry knew that there was a hidden serial number which could reveal the donor's identity

https://t.co/tX2sCof3Ki
Last winter, I covered the anti-CAA protests. I went to the protest sites across Delhi almost everyday and wrote on the many voices leading the protests

https://t.co/TFMEXfArWD
I visited the riot-affected areas in Delhi with @ari_maj to bring out the horror stories of alienation, distrust and exodus that loomed in parts of the national capital early this year (the most difficult reporting assignment till date for me)

https://t.co/0xbfbf4qmI
Then of course, there was a (COVID-19) lockdown.

I went to the ground to cover the plight of migrants:

https://t.co/6XSOHu5TDa

https://t.co/wIym1nCfbH

https://t.co/cEA9TmcWaB

https://t.co/Dshk24AcZG

https://t.co/YYY6N284aV

https://t.co/rNMyZpedLj
Many states swung into action to do away with labour laws this year. Here's an extensive coverage:

https://t.co/1NyDcish0A

https://t.co/EGH3qvWJVZ

https://t.co/IPapM0bzog

https://t.co/kv252xNHwE

https://t.co/m6QCiNEEYK

https://t.co/j3AkQ7ihHY

https://t.co/Bn7Kn0W02V
I wrote extensively on the labour law changes and its impact....

https://t.co/LaGJPOQ3pC

https://t.co/Zx2ZI1uzHJ

https://t.co/3q39YKHJqQ

https://t.co/ox3TMwbSR5

...while also highlighting the issues in the labour laws:

https://t.co/IqiVrt0ri4

https://t.co/lzzeLVL3h0
I am thankful to everyone - my present and former colleagues and editors at @bsindia, industry colleagues, readers, whistle-blowers and everyone who helped give shape and add value to my work. I look forward to your love and support as I embark on this new journey :)

More from Crypto

Jonty Wareing
Jonty Wareing
@jonty
Out of curiosity I dug into how NFT's actually reference the media you're "buying" and my eyebrows are now orbiting the moon

Short version:

The NFT token you bought either points to a URL on the internet, or an IPFS hash. In most circumstances it references an IPFS gateway on the internet run by the startup you bought the NFT from.

Oh, and that URL is not the media. That URL is a JSON metadata file

Here's an example. This artwork is by Beeple and sold via Nifty:

https://t.co/TlJKH8kAew

The NFT token is for this JSON file hosted directly on Nifty's servers:

https://t.co/GQUaCnObvX


THAT file refers to the actual media you just "bought". Which in this case is hosted via a @cloudinary CDN, served by Nifty's servers again.

So if Nifty goes bust, your token is now worthless. It refers to nothing. This can't be changed.

"But you said some use IPFS!"

Let's look at the $65m Beeple, sold by Christies. Fancy.

https://t.co/1G9nCAdetk

That NFT token refers directly to an IPFS hash (https://t.co/QUdtdgtssH). We can take that IPFS hash and fetch the JSON metadata using a public gateway:

https://t.co/CoML7psBhF
CRYPTO
Matti
Matti
@mattigags
0/ The Great Crypto Reversal

Key difference between the '17 and roaring 20s in crypto is that back then everyone was aping a16z and Naval.

Today everyone apes 3AC wanting to be the next Degen.

'17 was an idealistic *saving the world* kind of thing
20s is *me against the world*

1/ The financialization of crypto means more volatility but pretty long ascend to the top.

Multi-year bull and an ATH surprising even to the biggest bulls as the infinite Cantillon "wealth" is pumped into crypto

Crypto becomes the ultimate Cantillon insider circle-jerk.

2/ This will be one the most iconic ideological reversals in history, comparable to Google who was firmly against advertising but turned into the most powerful ad company ever.


3/ This scenario reminds me of the 90s privatization period in the post-socialist countries.

The regime transition allowed the communist party elite to benefit from the wild west form of "capitalism" that ensued, transferring (and multiplying) their wealth into the new regime.

4/ We are far from Satoshi's original vision . But words and intentions of *prophets* were used to manipulate and corrupt all throughout human history and this time it is no
CRYPTO
Advertisement
Ryan Watkins
Ryan Watkins
@RyanWatkins_
Excited to share our 2020 #Bitcoin review.

2020 will be remembered as the year the long fabled institutions finally arrived and #Bitcoin became a bonafide macroeconomic asset.

Below are the top highlights of each month for Bitcoin’s historic year.

1/


Bitcoin is now at all-time highs capping off an extremely successful year.

But it was by no means stable ride up.

2020 was a historically volatile year.

@YoungCryptoPM and I provided a detailed overview of every month of 2020 in all its

Jan.

3 days into the new year the US assassinated Iran’s top general Soleimani.

BTC surprisingly reacted to the events behaving like a safe haven as the risk of war increased.

The events provided the first hints of BTC potentially having graduated to a legitimate macro asset.


Feb.

COVID-19 reached a tipping point causing markets to crash.

BTC’s correlation with the S&P 500 reached an ATH in the following weeks.

This is when everyone learned BTC was not a recession hedge, it was a hedge against inflation and loss of confidence in fiat currencies. https://t.co/JB7dJ3qp6M


Mar.

Financial markets in free fall.

The liquidity crisis was so severe BTC experienced one of it’s worst days ever.

Now known as Black Thursday, on March 12, BTC plummeted as much as 50% to below $4,000 at its lowest point on the day.

BTC closed the day down 40%
CRYPTO
Finshots
Finshots
@finshots
What happens to your cryptocurrency when you die??

A thread...

Did you know it’s illegal to log into a dead person’s crypto account?

So if you're a crypto investor and you died today, who reaps your fortune?

No one, technically, unless you name a beneficiary in your will. And it's a big deal as ~3.7M bitcoins, $140B is unrecoverable (excluding the 10k+ other cryptocurrencies) since the investor either lost their password or died intestate.

And you can’t just “reset” the password. This is because, when the cryptocurrency network confirms passwords to allow transactions, it does not see or know the password itself!

This complex algorithm keeps the system decentralized. So a lost password is lost money.
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Stears Business
Stears Business
@StearsBusiness
The CBN's official reason for its recent cryptocurrency restriction is that cryptocurrencies are anonymous and used for money laundering, terrorism financing, and tax evasion. Let’s dig into what the facts say.

A THREAD #Nigeria #Bitcoin

1/21

We’ll break up the allegation into two. First up, “cryptocurrency is used for money laundering.”
Cryptocurrencies have been used for illicit activities but so too have official currencies. So the CBN's argument must be that cryptocurrencies make the situation worse.

2/21

But as things stand, significantly more illicit activities are conducted with regular money than with cryptocurrencies. According to the UN, between $800 billion and $2 trillion is laundered globally every year, mostly in cash.

3/21

Meanwhile, the entire global value of cryptocurrencies is currently $1.4 trillion. Chainanalysis, the leading crypto-analysis company helping governments track criminals, estimated that 1.1% of all cryptocurrency transactions are illicit.

4/21

So, if the government is trying to clamp down on money laundering and terrorism financing, they are better off spending their energy on their naira accounts.

5/21
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So, you’re a writer and you’re worried about writing outside your immediate experiences and identities.

Here is the thread of practical advice for you.

EXAMINE YOUR MOTIVES. Why do you want to write this?

Are you trying to solve racism/sexism/colonialism with your work?

As writers we love stories about heroic writers whose work has changed the world. And as such we like to look to our own writing to solve societal problems.

And I understand this completely, not the least because I’ve felt the pull.

But if you’re looking to play saviour with your words, it is unlikely that you will do the marginalised people you are trying to save justice.

And I understand this very often comes from place of good intentions, but there is a reason that most of the moralising plays written by white abolitionists are deeply uncomfortable to read.

It is incredibly easy for works looking to play saviour to become patronising or traffic in simplistic stereotypes that ultimately hurt the people they are looking to rescue.
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@NiveditaNarayan
Remembering the Bengali scientist Dr Subhash Mukhopadhyay- the Pioneer of IVF in India, the creator of India's first and world's second child using IVF on his birth anniversary. The Father of IVF in India who was rewarded with suicide was born on 16.01.1931in Hazaribagh.
#Thread


Dr. Subhash was the son of a doctor and studied at the National Medical College in Kolkata after completing his schooling. Fascinated by innovations in gynaecological surgery from his early days as a medical student, he completed his PhD in reproductive physiology +


from the University of Calcutta before going to the Edinburgh University in UK for a PhD in reproductive endocrinology. On his return to India in 1978, he started researching ovulation and spermatogenesis. Soon after, he teamed up with Sunit Mukherji, a cryobiologist +


and Saroj Kanti Bhattacharya, a gynaecologist, to work on a method of in-vitro fertilization for a patient (Bela Agarwal) with damaged fallopian tubes. +


Mukhopadhyay with a double PhDstarted work on IVF techniques in the mid 60s and created history by becoming the first physician in India and second in the world after British physicians Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe) to perform the In-vitro fertilisation. +
INDIA
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Hindu Media Wiki
Hindu Media Wiki
@HinduMediaWiki
Speech Delay is most common in children nowadays

In ancient times, our grandparents used to follow typical natural way of caring the needs of a child. All they used were more of natural products than chemical based for the growth of child.


One of major step followed was to feed Gurbach Jadd/ Vasa Kommu/ Acorus Calamus for initiating good speech ability in a child. This stem was needed to babies on Tuesdays and Sundays in mother's milk.

Vasa is feed to baby after the 1st bath on 12th day in week. Weekly only thrice it is fed and named as :

Budhwar - Budhi Vasa
Mangalwar - Vaak Vasa
Ravi Vaar - Aayush Vasa

This stem is burnt and rubbed against the grinding stone in mother's milk or warm water to get a paste


The procedure to make it is in the link

https://t.co/uo4sGp7mUm

It should not be given daily to the child. Other main benefits are

1. It clears the phlegm in child's throat caused due to continuous milk intake. It clears the tracts and breathing is effortless.
2. Digestion

For children who haven't got their speech and is delayed than usual should feed this vasa on these days in week atleast for 6months. Don't get carried away with this dialogue
"Some gain speech little late"
CHILDREN
Jaya_Upadhyaya
Jaya_Upadhyaya
@Jayalko1
MEENAKSHI AMMAN, MADURAI (TN)
#bharatmandir #navratri2021

A paadal Petra sthalam where Shiva took the form of Sundareswarar (the handsome one) and married Devi Parvati (Meenakshi).
Devi is also known by the name Angayarkanni (mother with the beautiful fish eyes).
@GunduHuDuGa


Devi Meenakshi emerged from yagna fire as a 3 year old girl when Pandyan King Malayadwaja and Kanchanamalai were praying for a child.
It is said that Devi was born with three breasts and there was a prophesy that her superfluous breast would melt away when she met her husband.


Devi ruled over Madurai and captured Indralok. She went on to capture Kailasha. When she saw Shiva, her 3rd breast disappeared and she realised that Shiva would be her consort.
The divine marriage was attended by all Devas and Sri Vishnu (as her brother) gave her hand to Shiva.


It is said that Indra found a swayambhu lingam at Kadamba Vanam. He placed it in Madurai where the kshetram stands. Here, Shiva is seen on the vehicle of Indra.
The Golden Lotus Tank is said to be the place where a golden lotus blossomed for the puja performed by Indra.


The Meenakshi Thirukalyanam festival is celebrated in the Chithirai month to mark the divine marriage of Meenakshi Amman. The festival includes a procession where Meenakshi and Sundareshwara travel in a chariot and Sri Vishnu gives away his sister in marriage to Shiva.
ALL
Anu Satheesh
Anu Satheesh
@AnuSatheesh5
Krishna and the False Vasudeva
#story

Paundraka Vasudeva was a King mentioned in Bhagavatha Purana. He was friend of Jarasandha, the king of Magadha. He believed that he is Vasudeva Krishna.
Once Paundraka Vasudeva received a letter from Shishupala, stating that he wanted


protection from Krishna, because it was Rukmini's wedding and Shishupala thought Krishna would take away Rukmini.

Paundraka Vasudeva agreed and went to Vidarbha, the Kingdom of Shishupala, but failed to provide protection as Krishna took Rukmini away. Paundraka Vasudeva was


feeling sad. His Minister's cheered him.
They said that Paundraka Vasudeva was the real Vasudeva and Krishna is a cheater. Everyone started to believe this and soon Paundraka Vasudeva soon started to taunt Krishna by saying that Krishna was a cheater.
Paundraka Vasudeva then


challenged Krishna to a war and Krishna said that he would give Paundraka his Chakra and Gadha. Paundraka suspected some foul play and went to King of Kashi for his protection. In battlefield, Krishna came in front of Paundraka, and said that he would throw his Chakra and Gadha


to him. But, Krishna's throw was perfect that the Gadha hurled him to the Ground and the Chakra killed him.
Krishna soon killed king of Kashi with an arrow and his head went flying to Kashi.
Thus Victorious Krishna was recieved by people of Dwaraka.
Hare Krishna 🙏🕉🙏
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