India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced last week that it had successfully cracked down on a massive online gaming app scam called E-Nugget, which ED began investigating in 2022, Golden Finance reported. In the course of the investigation, nearly 2,500 mule/fake bank account were found and the account were analysed and cash totalling around Rs 19,000 crore was seized. Aamir Khan, the mastermind of the scam, has also been arrested and is currently in judicial custody. It is reported that E-Nugget, under the guise of a lucrative gaming platform, promises users a high return on investment through real money games and decent commissions. However, the app ceased operations after the investment, resulting in users not having access to the funds.

1. Iraq and Kazakhstan have submitted plans for compensatory oil production cuts. 2. G7 energy ministers will work to gradually reduce gas imports from Russia. 3. Government of India: Reduced the windfall tax on crude oil from Rs 9,600 per tonne to Rs 8,400 per tonne with effect from May 1. 4. OPEC crude oil production fell by 50,000 b/d to 26.81 million b/d in April, and output remained stable, and the new production cut plan has not yet been completed. 5. Venezuelan President: Venezuela lost more than $2 billion in the first four months of this year due to renewed U.S. sanctions on the oil industry. 6. Bets that sticky inflation will keep raw material demand strong, with investors pouring into broad commodity ETF at their highest level in two long years. 7. Argentine industry officials: Argentine grain ports affected for the second day in a row due to strikes.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway sold its entire stake in India's Paytm for about INR13.71 billion ($164.7 million) in a block deal on Nov. 24, Golden Finance reported. Berkshire-owned BH International Holdings sold more than 15.6 million shares of the digital payments company at a weighted average price of Rs 877.29 per share, exchange data showed.

According to Bloomberg on October 23, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Indian mobile payment platform Paytm, announced the launch of the investment fund "VSS Investments Fund" with a total size of 300 million (about 26.43 million yuan) rupees. The fund is sponsored by VSS Investco, an entity owned and controlled by Sharma. Other outside investors will also participate in the fund and will be actively managed by professional investment managers. The new fund will invest in AI and electric vehicle (EV)-related start-ups that are incubated in India and specialize in serving Indian consumers and businesses.

It’s been a tough month for the Indian rupee (INR), with India’s fiat currency losing significant value in the foreign exchange market despite India’s recent price deflation. It is worth noting that in August 2023, the US dollar reached an all-time high of 83.44 rupees against the Indian rupee, which proved that the Indian rupee had lost its international purchasing power. In this context, Bitcoin (BTC) can also be considered an index of value in financial markets, as it has the characteristics of a global and supranational monetary system and can also be used as a store of value, a means of exchange, and a unified accounting. And the price performance of BTC is crushing the Indian rupee. In 2023 alone, Bitcoin surpassed the Indian rupee with a price appreciation of 74.39%. It rose from Rs 1,657,684 on January 1 to Rs 2,884,539 on September 23.

A man in Kolkata has been arrested on suspicion of defrauding others on the pretext that cryptocurrencies can double cash, Mumbai police officials said Saturday. The accused, Hamza Anwar, allegedly tricked the Mumbai resident complainant into paying Rs 75,000 online by promising that his cash would be doubled within 30 to 35 days, the official said. Anwar was arrested under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 420 (Dishonesty) and the Data Professions Act.