How the global crypto community is raising funds for India to fight Covid19

 

Cryptocurrencies may or may not be allowed in India in the future, but angel investor and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, one of its most vocal proponents, has successfully demonstrated its power in raising funds from different parts of the world and transferring them in hours, to help India fight the deadly second wave of Coronavirus.

Srinivasan has also used Twitter's RT (Retweet) function to great effect, using it to raise awareness and get people to pitch in. For instance, he tweeted that for every RT, he will donate another $50, up to $100,000, to help fight Covid in India.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, top executives of Coinbase, NotionHQ, and HubSpot have also contributed. How will the donations be converted into fiat where will they be used?Edited excerpts of a conversation that happened on Twitter between Balaji Srinivasan and Moneycontrol's Chandra R Srikanth:

 Can you take us through how the global crypto community has come together to mobilize Covid relief for India? How can this be amplified?

Balaji: Sandeep Nailwal is the cofounder of Polygon, which is India’s first crypto unicorn and which I’m an investor in. He led the charge, setting up a crypto address and taking on the regulatory and accounting responsibilities. Critically, a new crypto address can be set up in seconds; rather than days (or weeks) for an in-person bank account. I retweeted it and then Vitalik Buterin did. We donated and encouraged others to also donate.

I read posts on how a million dollars was raised in just half a day in crypto, something that would have taken a couple of days at least if one were to use non-crypto networks....

Balaji: Crypto allowed us to set up an address in seconds and raise millions in hours from people in dozens of countries, with fully transparent public accounting of all funds in the blockchain. That’s just not possible with the traditional financial system, and indeed illustrates many of the concepts I’ve been mentioning in my articles.

How will this be converted into fiat money here, do you anticipate any hurdles there?

Balaji: I believe it is being done with Indian crypto exchanges. I understand Sandeep Nailwal is working with skilled volunteer accountants and the reputable ACT fund.

In terms of disbursals, are there specific causes you will use this for or will it be used directly to directly procure critical supplies from China,US etc

Balaji: Sandeep Nailwal and his colleagues are helping with directing the funds locally; I am just organizing donations. In addition to Vitalik Buterin, other global crypto people have joined in including Surojit Chatterjee (CPO of Coinbase) and Eric Meltzer (early crypto investor).

Has this also helped in demonstrating how crypto can help Indian businesses in the long run?

Balaji: The immediate issue is to solve the urgent and important problem of getting India past COVID-19 and fully vaccinated. The long-term issue is to solve the less-urgent but still important problem of rebuilding the economy after the stresses of COVID. It is here that the global crypto community could help in a different way, by investing in India, and helping with the economic recovery, as detailed in some of my articles

What does the Govt need to do to enable this going forward?

Balaji: The government should embrace crypto as a way for India to (a) protect Indian national security against de-platforming by American and Chinese tech companies and (b) rebuild the economy after COVID. Crypto is like the combination of economic liberalization and the internet, the two most potent forces since 1991 for Indian GDP growth. To have a chance of getting back on track to the $5T economy target for 2025, India needs to embrace the $2T-and-growing-fast crypto-economy.

 

Demat vs Trading Account – What’s the difference?

 Hi Investors & Traders!

 Today, I am writing this post regarding the demat vs trading account because of the popular demand by our readers. Many of the readers of  asked me to cover this topic as they are constantly confused about what is a demat and trading account and their difference.

Therefore in this post, I am going to explain what is the difference between the demat and trading accounts in a very simplest possible words.

Most of the newbies who enter the stock market might already know that they’ll need a demat and trading account to start trading/investing in India. However, the majority of beginners do not know the difference and consider both the demat account and trading account to be the same. But in reality, both these accounts are entirely different and serve different purposes.

Difference between demat and trading account

— Trading Account

A trading account is a medium to buy and sell shares in a stock market. In simple words, it is used to place buy or sell order for a stock in the exchange.

Different stockbrokers offer different trading tools to their clients to simplify their trades. For example, Zerodha, Groww the biggest stockbroker in India offers ‘KITE’ as their platform to trade in stocks. Once you have opened your trading account with a stockbroker, you can place your buy/sell orders using those platforms.

— Demat Account

Demat account is the short form for ‘Dematerialised account’. It is similar to a bank account. Just as money is kept in your savings account, similarly your bought stocks are kept in your demat account.

In other words, a demat account serves as a facility where stocks that you buy are deposited and the stocks sold are taken away. Demat account is used only for the storage of stocks, not for transactions (buying/selling).

Example of Demat and Trading Accounts

Let us understand the difference between trading and demat account further with the help of an example. Assume that you wish to buy 100 stocks of Maruti Suzuki. Here, the sequence followed during the procedure will be as follows:

1. First of all, you’ll need to have a savings equal to or greater than the buying amount in your savings account.
2. Next, you’ll transfer the money from saving account to trading account.
3. Now, you’ll buy stocks of ‘Maruti Suzuki’ from the stock exchange by using your trading account and paying the amount.
4. Finally, the money is transferred to the seller through your trading account and stocks of ‘Maruti Suzuki’ will be transferred to your demat account.

Now let us assume that after a few months, you wish to sell 20 stocks of ‘Maruti Suzuki’ from your holdings of 100 stocks. Here, the sequence followed will be as follows:

1. First, you’ll place a sell order in the market using your trading account to find a buyer.
2. If a buyer is found, then the shares will move from your demat account to the buyer.
3. Finally, the money gained by selling your stocks will flow through your trading account to your linked savings account.

Quick Fact About Demat Account

Before the internet became popular in India, there were no demat accounts. Share certificates were provided whenever you buy stocks (on papers). However, there were many limitations to using paper share certificates. They used to get torn, stolen, faced safety-related issues or the ink just gets fade away with time.

Nevertheless, after coming of the internet from the mid-1990s, the stocks started getting kept in the electronic dematerialized form in the demat account of the buyers. It resolved most of the limitations of the old paper share certificates.

A few other points to know about demat and trading account

1. Demat and trading accounts are opened together (also known as 2-in-1 account) with most of the popular stockbrokers in India. For example, Zerodha, Angel Broking, 5 Paisa, etc.
2. A few big stockbrokers (generally bank brokers) also offer a 3-in-1 account i.e. Saving+Demat+Trading account to their clients. For example ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, etc.
3. In general, there are no annual maintenance charges for a trading account, where for the demat account this maintenance charge may vary from broker to broker. It is typically around Rs 300-400 per year.
4. These days, the investors and traders can open instant (paperless) demat and trading account within 10 minutes with major stockbrokers. Nonetheless, the facility of offline account opening is still popular in India and offered by all these brokers.
5. The account opening charge for demat and trading account also varies from broker to broker. A few brokers offer free account opening. However, the majority of them will charge somewhere between Rs 300-500 to open your brokerage account.
6. In addition, you are also allowed to open multiple demat and trading accounts using same PAN card. For instance, You can have multiple accounts- one in ICICI direct and other in Zerodha.
7. Finally, choose your broker wisely to open your demat and trading account if you want to avoid unnecessary charges and risks.

Summary

Let us quickly summarize what we discussed in this article regarding trading and demat account in India.

A trading account provides a platform to buy or sell the share in the market. It acts as an intermediary between your saving accounts and demat accounts. In simple words, it takes share from your demat account and sells them in the market.

On the other hand, it takes money from your savings account and buys a share to keep in a demat account. Further, a demat account is a facility to keep your shares in an electronic dematerialized form.

Coronavirus Pandemic

 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.

Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.  Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching your face. 

The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette (for example, by coughing into a flexed elbow).

Habits of Highly emotionally Intelligent people

When emotional intelligence first appeared to the masses, it served as the missing link in a peculiar finding; People with average IQ outperform those with the Highest IQ 70% of the time.This anomoly threw a massive wrench into what many people had always assumed was the sole source of success - IQ . Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack.
                                         Emotional intelligence is the something in each of us that is a bit intangible. it affects how we manage behaviour,navigate social complexities and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. emotional intelligence is made up of four core skills that pair up under two primary competencies : Personal competence and social competence 

Personal competence comprises your self awareness and self management skills , which focus more on you individually than on your interactions with other people . Personal competence is your ability to stay aware of your emotions and manage your behaviour and tendencies.
-  Self awareness :-  is your ability to accurately perceive your emotions and stay aware of them as they happen.
- Self management :-  is your ability to use awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and positively direct your behaviour.

Social competence is made up your social awareness and relationship management skills , social competence is your ability to understand other people`s mood , behaviour and motives in order to respond effectively and improve the quality of your relationship.
- Social Awarness :- is your ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what is really going on.
- Relationship management :-  is your ability to use awarness of your emotions and the others emotion to manage interactions successfully.

Despite the significance of emotional intelligence , its intangible nature makes it very difficult to know which behaviours you should emulate.

1.  They are Relentlessly positive.
2. They have a robust emotional vocabulary.
3. They are assertive.
4. They are curious about other people.
5. They forgive but they do not forget.
6. They won`t let anyone limit their joy.
7. They are difficult to offend.
8. They quash negative self talk.

Powerful thoughts for Good life

No one can deny the power of a good quote.they motivate and inspire us to be our best.
Great quotes have an incredible ability to put things in perspective, Here are so of my absolute Favorites :-

1.  Nothing is impossible , the word itself says ' I am possible ' .
2.   I have learned that people will forget what you said , people will forget what you did but people will Never forget how you made them feel.
3. Perfection is not attainable but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
4.  whether you think you can or you think you can not , you are right.
5.  life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how i react to it.
6. if you lok out what you have in life , you will always have more. if you look at what you don not have in life , you will never have enough.
7. Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
8. I can not change the Direction of the wind but i can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
9. Believe you can and you are half way there.
10.  To handle yourself , use your head. To handle others , use your hearts.
11. Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
12. Do or Donot , there is no try.
13. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe , it can achieve .
14. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you did not do than , by the ones you did do so throw off bowtimes , sail away from safe harbor , catch the trade from winds in your sails.
15. strive nt to be a success but rather to be of value.
16. When everything seems to be going against you , Remember that the airplane takes off against the wind , not with it.
17.  The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they Don`t say.
18. The most Difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.
19. it is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
20. Don`t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
21. The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
22. Change your thoughts and you change your world.
23. The question is not who is going to let me , it`s going to stop me.
24. if you hear voice within you say " you can not paint " then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced .
25. Buind your own Dreams or someone else will hire to build others.
26. Remember that not getting what you want is some times a wonderful stroke of luck.
27. You can not use up creativity , the more you use , the more you have.
28. I have learned over the years that one`s mind is made up , this diminshes the fear.
29. I would rather die of passion than of Boredom.
30. A truly Rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.
31. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
32. I have been impressed with the urgency of doing , knowing is not enough , we must apply. Being willing is not enough we must do.
33. If you want to lift yourself , lift up someone else.
34. Limitations live only in our minds But if we use our imaginations , our possibilities become limitless.
35. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.