Jignesh Shah’s 63 Moons wants to ride the crypto wave but won’t start an exchange

FTIL founder Jignesh Shah.

63 Moons Technologies, formerly Financial Technologies India founded by Jignesh Shah, wants to ride the crypto boom in India but will not launch an exchange as one would have expected because of the businessman’s past association with one.

Instead, 63 Moons through its subsidiary Tickerplant said on December 9 that it launched a ‘Global Crypto Super App’ called CryptoWire. The company categorically said the group’s new venture is not aimed at floating a cryptocurrency exchange in India.

“CryptoWire is neither a Crypto exchange nor a Cryptocurrency, and shall continue to rise above the race of exchanges and focus on providing people with fundamental knowledge on blockchain and crypto assets,” Tickerplant said in an email response to Moneycontrol.

Shah had earlier launched Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) in 2003, India’s first commodity exchange.

The decision by 63 Moons to create content comes as a clutch of groups, backed by deep-pocketed investors, have jumped to float crypto exchanges amid the uncertainty over the fate of cryptocurrencies in India. Media reports have said the government will discourage trading in cryptocurrencies by imposing hefty capital gains and instead classify crypto as an asset class by launching a new bill in Parliament.

Nonetheless, a raft of exchanges such as Wazirx, Unocoin, Coindcx and CoinSwitch Kuber, among others have sprouted in the Indian crypto scene.

All of them smell an opportunity in India because the popularity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and etheruem have soared in India among investors. A recent Reuters report quoted industry estimates and said India has up to 20 million crypto investors and total crypto holdings of around $5.35 billion.

And these companies are getting significant investor interest too. In August this year, CoinDCX raised $90 million led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s fund B Capital, valuing it at $1.1 billion. The deal made it India’s first crypto unicorn — private startups valued at over a billion dollar.

In October, CoinSwitch Kuber raised over $260 million led by new investors Coinbase Ventures and top Silicon Valley fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), bumping up its valuation four times in six months to $1.9 billion and entering the Unicorn club.

Shah’s company doesn’t want to miss the crypto wave before Crypto regulations in India are in place.

According to a company press statement, CryptoWire “seeks to empower participants in the crypto universe with a super app that will provide real-time market prices and insight, news, knowledge, research, training, information and data platform through Crypto University, CryptoTV and CryptoWire for crypto assets and blockchain”.

As mentioned earlier, the announcement came at a time when there is no clarity on the fate of cryptocurrencies in India. The government is on the final stages of bringing in a Cryptocurrency Bill.

Tickerplant, in the email response, told Moneycontrol that the new venture is not affected by the uncertainty on Cryptocurrency in India. “CryptoWire is Neither a Crypto exchange nor A Cryptocurrency. As the uncertainty you suggested is pertaining to the exchange and crypto regulation in India, we are not inflicted by it,” said the company.

Tickerplant has pitched Cryptowire as a learning and awareness platform. “With faith in the government’s vision in regulation of crypto assets in the right direction, CryptoWire seeks to alleviate the concerns that the government has sounded off through learning, awareness and responsible information from the world’s best,” the company said.

The Cryptowire press statement also has a list of members of its new board. Interestingly, the 11 board members include prominent personalities including former Supreme Court Judge Deepak Verma as the Chairman of the Board. Other Board members include former IIM professor R Vaidyanathan, former CBDT Chairman Mukesh Joshi, former Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu a Nagarajan and former RBI Executive Director R B Barman.

None of the board members has a background in crypto industry. The company said board members of TickerPlant have been visionaries and doyens in their respective fields who have safeguarded the systems and regulatory functions at large.

“Guided by their principles, we are proceeding towards achieving our vision of a crypto and blockchain literate universe in India. The basic function of the Board is to provide credible leadership to Key Management Personnel handling CryptoWire, CryptoTV and Crypto Universe, who have domain expertise in areas of blockchain, crypto and technologies,” the Tickerplant statement said.

Tickerplant has launched Cryptowire as its Strategic Business Unit. TickerPlant was a wholly owned subsidiary of 63 moons. Recently, 63 moons diluted its stake in TickerPlant to roughly 77.5 percent.