🎓 I want it, I got it
El Salvador rolls out Bitcoin, India approves first private military deal, Byju's latest acquisition, and some more updates
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First up,
Market Recap 📈
Indian benchmark indices ended on a flat note with a positive bias amid selling pressure in select IT and financial stocks. Meanwhile, US stocks retreated as investors reassessed global economic risks due to the delta variant and reduction in central bank stimulus.
Sensex: 58,305.07 (+0.094%) ↑
Nifty 50: 17,369.25 (+0.091%) ↑
Dow Jones: 35,031.07 (-0.20%) ↓
Nasdaq 100: 15,620.85 (-0.35%) ↓
Bitcoin: $46.137.57
Top Stories 📰
1. El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as legal tender.
El Salvador has officially adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the world's first country to do so and marking another historic win for cryptocurrencies.
But the bold experiment shortly backfired after the Salvadoran government said that it's disconnecting its Bitcoin wallet to fix some tech glitches, sending the cryptocurrency to drop as much as 17% to nearly $43,050 on Tuesday.
Hours later, the issue seemed to have been resolved as President Nayib Bukele tweeted that he took advantage of the dip to purchase 150 additional coins. That brings the country's total bitcoin holding to 550, worth around $26 million.
To push the adoption even further, Bukele promised $30 of Bitcoin for users who register with a Salvadoran national ID number. The country has around 200 Bitcoin ATMs, which can be used to exchange Bitcoin using US dollars. It also has a $150 million fund at one of its state-run banks to back these transactions.
El Salvador's economy is heavily dependent on remittances from abroad, accounting for nearly a fifth of its GDP. But with Bitcoin, Salvadorans can save $400 million a year in fees for these transactions, says Bukele.
Why it matters? This is one of the biggest tests for Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies in general, as both enthusiasts and critics observe whether a substantial number of citizens will use digital tokens over the US dollar. If successful, other Central American nations like Panama, Cuba, and Uruguay—which have already proposed laws to legalize cryptocurrencies—will follow suit.
2. India's first major private military deal
The Cabinet Committee on Security has approved a long-pending Airbus-Tata deal, which will allow the duo to build 56 of the C-295 transport aircraft that will replace the old Avro-748 planes used by the Indian Air Force.
While 16 of these C295MW transport aircraft will be imported by Airbus Defense in Spain within two years, the remaining 40 will be manufactured in India by the Tata Consortium in the next ten years.
The contract, worth approximately Rs 15,000 crore, marks the first time an Indian private sector company will manufacture a military aircraft, albeit using foreign technology. It will also virtually break the existing monopoly of defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in the field.
As per India's finance ministry, the deal will promote the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and generate over 6,600 jobs in the coming years. The demand for such transport aircraft is also anticipated to rise from the Coast Guard and other agencies.
Why it matters? Besides bringing in massive tech innovation in the aerospace and defense sector, the arrangement will boost demand for other sub-suppliers in India, who will be needed to maintain such fleets. Moreover, it will also promote the development of specialized infrastructure such as buildings, taxiways, hangers, etc.
Deal Street 🤑
Edtech firm Byju's takes over Gradeup
Indian edtech giant Byju's has announced that it acquired the online exam preparation platform Gradeup in hopes of bolstering its position in the competitive exam preparation segment. The deal marks Byju's eighth acquisition this year, with the company previously purchasing Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for $950 million—the most expensive Edtech acquisition deal in the country to date. After the deal's completion, Byju's plans to rebrand Gradeup as Byju's exam prep, and expand across 150 exams in 25 categories, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Common Admission Test (CAT), and Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE), among others. So far, Byju's has 100 million registered students and more than 6.5 million paid subscribers. The 2011-founded firm is also planning to raise $600 million in fresh capital ahead of its IPO next year.
Leap Finance raises Series C
Leap Finance, a fintech start-up that helps students find the right universities abroad, has raised $55 million in a Series C funding round led by Owl Ventures. New investors like Harvard Management Company and existing investors, including Jungle Ventures and Sequoia Capital India, participated in the funding round. The announcement brings total equity capital raised by the company to date to over $75 million. The 18-month-old start-up offers loans, counselling, visa and other services. So far, it has provided over 60,000 students access to universities in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Leap, which recently announced hiring 500 employees for strengthening its product and tech stack, plans to use the fresh capital towards extending its offerings to students in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.
Tweet Of The Week ✨
Coinbase CEO explaining the SEC situation:
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That’s all folks. See you next week, Bye! 👋