Today, Verge (XVG) trading went live for the first time on an Indian cryptocurrency exchange.
Bitbns, which announced the listing yesterday, is the only crypto exchange in India where it is currently possible to buy/sell XVG tokens:
Verge fans! BIIG news for you all.
We are excited to announce that XVG is now listed on @Bitbns, #cryptocurrency #XVG https://t.co/UIdJG6ku9t
— Bitbns (No, not giving away ETH) (@bitbns) May 5, 2018
And then today, Bitbns announced that at 04:00 EST (or 13:30 in India), XVG trading would be going live:
#XVG trading goes live at 1:30 pm
Buy & Sell #XVG in #India Only on Bitbns
India's only platform to trade 36 digital assets.#CryptocurrencyHiSahiHai pic.twitter.com/LIh45u6bs7
— Bitbns (No, not giving away ETH) (@bitbns) May 6, 2018
Although India’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued an order on 5 April 2018 that advised banks not to facilitate crypto related transactions in any way, it also gave them a three-month moratorium. Since the ban went into effect, crypto trading volumes have only increased. This is probably for two reasons. First, India’s crypto investors want to get their hands on as much as cryptocurrency as they can while the exchanges are still open (which usually have higher liquidity and lower prices than peer-to-peer OTC exchanges). Second, there is a growing feeling in India that the government will not ban cryptocurrency trading and that even if the exchanges’ banking accounts get closed, that crypto-to-crypto trading would still survive.
Although RBI seems to have a very negative view of crypto assets in general and the dangers they pose, according to The Times of India, the central bank is considering launching its own digital currency. Whilst talking to the media on the same day that the RBI issued its press release about the ban, the Deputy Governor of the RBI, B P Kanungo said:
While many central banks are still engaged in the debate, an inter-departmental group has been constituted by the Reserve Bank to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency.
However, Verge getting listed on Bitbns was not the only Verge-related news this week. Here is a roundup of some of the other important news for the week of 30 April 2018 – 6 May 2018.
Monday (30 April 2018)
- After hearing about Japan's FSA planned crackdown on privacy coins, TokenPay (TPAY) said that they would to Japan’s regulators to explain to them that are legitmate use cases for privacy coins:
PRIVACY IS A UTILITY🔒 #TokenPay believes in responsible regulation. We intend to work closely with Japan in assisting regulators by differentiating between the bad actors and the fundamental right to privacy. $TPAY & $XVG have MULTIPLE strong use cases. https://t.co/TlyZXEQxoi
— TokenPay (@tokenpay) April 30, 2018
- TokenPay CEO, Derek Capo, gave a YouTube interview in which he answered questions from Telegram and YouTube about TokenPay in general and their partnership with Verge in particular:
Tuesday (1 May 2018)
We are pleased to introduce trading for Verge (XVG).https://t.co/ZM1yJwjH8P pic.twitter.com/8JtK6kFx2R
— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) May 1, 2018
- Verge PR person @RichardCrypto provided more details about Verge trading on Bitfinex:
#XVG will be tradable on #Bitfinex against #BTC, #ETH and $USD. Margin trading and P2P funding will be enabled gradually, as and when the order books develops liquidity. pic.twitter.com/XH7syH1ZFJ
— Ricardo Crypto [XVG] (@RicardoCrypto) May 1, 2018
GOOD NEWS! We will be adding #Monero, #NEO, #NEM, #Lisk, and #Verge to the Abra app. https://t.co/gIPPwRpihp
— Abra (@AbraGlobal) May 1, 2018
Wednesday (2 May 2018)
- Verge announced that block reward halving would take place on 9 May 2018:
The Halving approaches! $XVG #vergefam pic.twitter.com/MWh7l3uQlc
— vergecurrency (@vergecurrency) May 2, 2018
Friday (4 May 2018)
- Online ad network TrafficJunky announced that they would accept XVG as a form of payment starting on 7 May 2018:
It's here.
TrafficJunky will be accepting Verge cryptocurrency starting next Monday! $XVG #XVG
💰MORE: https://t.co/Pr6JNsncCG pic.twitter.com/DZb4tM04Ju
— TrafficJunky (@trafficjunky) May 4, 2018