The Second Wave of COVID-19 in India
India, like several countries, was forced to go through an extended period of lockdown in 2020 to curb the spread of the Covid-19. The number of positive cases reached its peak in mid-September, after which there was a swift decline towards the end of the year. By December, the lockdown rules had been relaxed, but this period also coincided with religious and political activities. Being the second-most populous country, these activities ensured a rapid spread of the virus among the people. By early March, there had been a dramatic upsurge in the number of positive cases.
As of today, India has become one of the most infection-ravaged countries, having recorded enormous occurrences of positive cases in the past two months. It is projected that this COVID-19 second wave in India will have its peak in mid-May. In response, the Indian government has taken several decisions including allowing free entry of essential relief and medical materials.
Relief Contributions Towards the Pandemic
This situation of health in India has drawn sympathies from various individuals and bodies, including several top-ranking individuals in the cryptocurrency industry.
Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Polygon (MATIC), took the step of starting a donation campaign in form of financial support to help India fight the COVID-19 second wave.
The donation, in ETH, was to be sent to a wallet address created on Gnosis Safe. Prominent cryptocurrency companies in India were to help in converting the cryptocurrency contributions into Indian currency for those who need the donations.
Donations have been pouring in, even from top cryptocurrency industry veterans such as Balaji Srinivasan, former chief technology officer at Coinbase, and Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum.
Vitalik Buterin’s Ether and Maker Donation
Balaji Srinivasan donated ETH worth $50,000 with a promise for more. This was followed up by a donation from the co-founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin, of 100 ETH and 100 MKR to the charity drive, which is $220,000 and $400,000 worth respectively. These transactions reflected on the Ethereum blockchain and were confirmed on Buterin’s Twitter feed where he posted the proof of transfer.
Current State of Cryptocurrency Acceptance in India
The state of cryptocurrency acceptance in India hangs in the balance, as the country’s regulators are undecided and have neither legalized nor rejected the use of cryptocurrencies.
Even at the beginning of the donation campaign by Nailwail for the COVID-19 pandemic, there were apprehensions by some donors about regulatory frictions. These concerns were put to bed, however, with the support of one of the top chartered accountants in India, who took on the responsibility to sort out audits and regulations for the campaign.
In general, the cryptocurrency industry stakeholders in India are in constant communication with the Indian government, urging them to approve the use of cryptocurrency in the country.
Future Prediction of Cryptocurrency in India
Despite the uncertainty on the use of cryptocurrencies in India, several crypto companies are already functioning actively. The public interest also is high and ever-increasing. It is also believed that this generous act of donations of cryptocurrencies for the good of the country will also convince the regulators to strongly consider approving cryptocurrencies.
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