Bitcoin- Is it time to sit up and take notice?

Bitcoin, a revolutionary decentralized virtual currency, abbreviated as BTC, is a crypto currency that was launched in 2009, by an individual with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamato.  Its USP is the fact that it is decentralized i.e. it is not governed by a central governing authority, it has no issuers and is usable by any accepting user. The premise on which it was conceptualized was to have a digital currency i.e. online cash, which will enable payments across various e-commerce platforms, eliminating financial intermediaries who tend to be costly and also have regulatory compulsions.

What gives it an edge over traditional forms of payment?

Bitcoins provide the flexibility to make payments for online purchases anywhere in the world, irrespective of time, holidays and it eliminates exchange rate hassles. It also enables one to process transactions at lower costs and no personal information is tied to the transactions which provides complete anonymity. Transactions once recorded cannot be erased and hence are not subject to manipulation as they are cryptographically secure. Currently, on account of its uncertain legal status, it is viewed more as an alternate investment asset class rather than a pseudo currency to transact online.

How does bitcoin function in the absence of a central governing authority? How will a user be assured that the transaction will be completed without any glitches? Here is where the technology comes into play.

Blockchain technology is the foundation on which bitcoins function. Blockchain is a ‘digital ledger’ which will record and track all transactions in ‘blocks' through a public ledger. This activity of processing transactions and updating the ledger in real time can be done by any user utilising computing power of specialized hardware and they would earn bitcoins in return for their services. These users are called miners and the activity is called bitcoin mining.

Every single transaction is authenticated by every single user making fraudulent transactions difficult. The public ledger contains each and every transaction ever processed allowing a user’s computer to verify the validity of each transaction, all done in real time. The authenticity of each transaction is protected by digital signatures corresponding to the sending addresses, allowing all users to have full control over sending bitcoins from their own Bitcoin address.

Despite being transparent in recording of transactions, why have bitcoins remained contentious?

Regulators are wary because of the anonymous structure and cross-border transaction capability of bitcoins. They fear it will be used for illegal activities like drug trafficking or even sponsoring terrorism. Therefore to mitigate this, a number of countries have begun to recognize bitcoins and have bought it under the regulatory purview by legalizing it – Japan being the most recent example. The new law recognizes bitcoin as a payment method but not a legally recognized currency. It will be treated as an asset and will be subject to tax.

The recent developments worldwide, coupled with the surge in demand for bitcoins in India, where local volumes were $300,000 in the first week of April alone, has attracted the scrutiny of Indian regulators. India’s parliamentary inter-ministerial committee held its first meeting to discuss the use virtual currencies in the country. Market participants are of the opinion that the government will come out with tax laws on bitcoins. In order to assist the government, Bitcoin start-ups such as Zebpay, Unocoin, Coinsecure and Searchtrade have collaborated and created a group called “Digital Asset and Blockchain foundation of India (DABFI) to liaise with the government and regulatory authorities to increase its acceptance, visibility and push to give it a legal status.

The likelihood of the Indian government banning the use of bitcoins which was a distinct possibility at one point in time is now highly unlikely as more and more countries are getting it under their legal ambit and purview. One can sense a paradigm shift in the attitude of the government and regulators in India towards this digital phenomenon - the initial sense of skepticism and perhaps even hostility has been replaced with a sort of quasi-acceptance that digital currency is here to stay and legislation needs to evolve to keep pace with this.  

With this interesting backdrop, we come to the moot question, how does one buy or earn a bitcoins?

The easiest way is to register yourself on a bitcoin exchange and buy one. The other mode would be to sell your products online to a buyer who is willing to pay you in bitcoins. If you want to earn your bitcoins by looking at it as an alternative business, you can enter into bitcoin mining. It requires hardware tools, electricity and high internet speeds which is a challenge in India. Easier still would be to invest in a company that is into bitcoin mining and earn a 10% return on your investment for eighteen months.

To store/transact in bitcoins, one needs to have a bitcoin address. How does one get it? In order to have a bitcoin address one needs to buy a bitcoin wallet which is available online. The wallet has only one private key in the possession of the owner and one or many public keys which can be given to other users to receive payments. When one user A transfers the bitcoin to another B, he needs to know the public key of person B which tends to be between 27-51 characters long. The private key is not to be disclosed to anybody and incase the private key is lost it is almost impossible to retrieve or replace the bitcoins.

Why should you exercise caution before taking the plunge?

As is the case with any innovation, bitcoins too come with its own set of challenges which should be taken into consideration. In its existence of 8 years, bitcoin prices have been highly volatile gyrating from $13.36 in January 2013 to $1,124 in November 2013 then falling to $445 in in April 2014 to $1,622. More often than not price movements tend to mirror any positive or negative moves on the regulatory front and thus the price movements tend to be speculative. In the absence of a central governing body, the possibility of market rigging and price manipulation is a distinct possibility. What doesn’t help its cause is the bankruptcy of Mt. Gox, the world’s largest bitcoin exchange in 2013 when half a billion dollars’ worth of Bitcoins ‘disappeared’ after a hacking incident. Also as mentioned earlier transactions are not tied to anyone’s identity so bitcoins can be used for illegal transactions.

So what does the future look like?         

Bitcoin is synonymous to crypto currency on account of its popularity, but it would be interesting to note that, it is just one among the more than 750 crypto currencies currently in existence.

The online market has been expanding at a fast pace with more and more consumers having access to the internet. Directionally we are moving to a virtual economy and therefore virtual currency or digital money has opened up a new avenue for seamlessly transacting online.

Irrespective of whether bitcoins eventually survive because of uncertainty on its legal status and/or technological glitches, digital currency is here to stay and regulators can ignore this only at their peril. As Mark Twain so presciently once said, “The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become.”

Subprime sovereign debt- fall out of the financial crisis

Subprime sovereign debt- That’s the latest we are hearing from the financial world. The other day on CNBC, there was a discussion on how the next big downfall in the financial world could be nations not being able to pay off their debts. Two countries that dominated all discussions on the subject were Iceland and Greece. Not to mention that there are several other nations also sailing in the sinking ship.

The discussion on this subject gathered steam with the crisis situation recently faced by Dubai. Just like some financial organisations are “too big to fail”- wasn’t this terminology very commonly used to justify the bailing out of several financial institutions, governments (countries) are also perceived to be “too big to fail”, so help was bound to come and Dubai got it from Abu Dhabi .

But the question is, it’s not one nation that’s facing this situation. Several nations, particularly the European nations are in trouble (Spain, Ireland among others)- who is going to bail out whom? Will there be a situation where nations will have no rescuers and will be left to default? Sub-prime mortgage had the power to bring down a big financial institution (Lehman Brothers) and trouble several others (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and most of the banks). The impact of a sovereign default is best left to imagination in an already fragile financial and economic atmosphere. Letting a government default has severe repercussion for not only the defaulting country but also the associated countries and parties.

Why are several countries on the brink of sovereign default? What has caused them to be in a situation that could take a toll on their image and reputation and would also result in them being part of history-in the list of defautler nations? 

It all began with the subprime mortgage crisis in the US which had ripple effects world over on account of exposure of institutions to securities of US origin. In order to save the financial world from irreparable damage, governments resorted to bail outs that have burdened them with so much debt that they are now themselves on the brink of a credit crisis. Not only that, in order to pep up the economy, governments world over provided stimulus packages adding to their burden. It is estimated that support given to banks in the UK, USA and euro-zone during the present crisis amounts to US$ 14 trillion and that, of course, does not include the trillions more of ‘stimulus’ spending that has taken place. All of this has led to an explosion of debt.

Japan has debt over 170 times of GDP and the US is also accumulating debt. White House estimates the deficit for the next 5-years to total to $ 4.97 trillion. Possible default by a small country like Dubai send shivers down the spine of financial markets world over; just imagine what a possible default by Japan or US lead to.

While economic recovery is gradually being witnessed with government support, it has come at a cost. A cost that will impact the world in the future. The question is, is the world ready for yet another shock if and when it comes.

Unravelling the complexity of Deflation

Ever since recession hit economies, the word deflation has come to the forefront, and off late discussion on the subject has gathered steam because Japan’s official measure of price patterns recorded a sharpest rate of decline in half a century. Speculation is rife on whether Japan will enter yet another deflationary spiral.

Coincidently, in history, the word deflation is often linked to Japan; the country that witnessed a painful decade in the 1990’s, popularly known as the 'lost decade' on account of a deflationary spiral. Economic expansion came to a complete halt.

What is so damaging about deflation? According to most of the learned, deflation means fall in prices and that’s what I too learned when I was in college. Fall in prices- Isn’t it good? It should spur consumption and that’s what is required to pep up an economy. Then why is it feared? Out of curiosity, I happened to look up for some write ups and I came across something that caught my attention and took me by surprise. It said, the definition of deflation that I have known, ever since I was introduced to the word, is incorrect. Fall in prices is the impact of deflation and not deflation per se.

So here is an attempt to unravel this deceptively simple word.

Since most of us understand inflation, let me start from there. Inflation, as we all know, is too much money chasing too few goods. The cause is an increase in money supply. The effect of inflation is general rise in prices of goods. Deflation on the other hand, as is understood, has the opposite impact of inflation– fall in prices is the effect caused by a contraction in money supply. Simply put, deflation is fall in money supply.

Fall in money supply normally occurs is an economic downturn because of caution exercised by consumers fearing loss of job in the light of deteriorating economic conditions. The preference to save and hoard cash, results in fall in demand for goods, forcing corporates to reduce prices. Reduction in prices means coporates will rationalise resources to remain profitable which will lead to loss of jobs. The fear of losing jobs and the fact that prices could fall further, results in consumers holding back spending creating a vicious circle- a deflationary spiral. Thus, deflation is feared not because prices are constantly falling but because of a reduction in money supply which negatively impacts economic activity.

Governments world over dread a deflationary like situation because it is tough to uplift an economy from this downward spiral. Japan took a decade to get rid of this phenomenon and pep up economic activity. The only way to fight off deflation is, by recapitalising financial institutions, injecting liquidity in the economy and increasing public spending till the time negative sentiment turns around.

If deflation is dreadful, it seems inflation is the lesser of the evil and more preferred. The question then is, how much is acceptable? Spare a thought!

Carry Trade - Path to another financial turmoil?

For financial sector enthusiasts, the word ‘carry trade’ is not new. It has been in existence for over two decades and has been popularly known as “yen carry trade”. This investment strategy has come to the limelight in the last fortnight, as noted economist, Mr. Nouriel Roubini know as Dr Doom, spoke about the US dollar milking the mother of all carry trades. Nouriel Roubini’s claim to fame has been his prediction of the current economic recession and hence his view invites scores of thinkers and market analysts to analyse the subject.

Carry Trade- How does this investment strategy work?
Simply put, investors which include financial institutions and hedge funds, borrow money in a currency that is cheaply available ( in this case the US dollar) i.e. at phenomenally low rates of interest and invest in off-shore asset classes that provide higher rates of interest. The asset classes could include stock, bonds and commodities among others.

The risks involved include exchange rate risk (movement of the funding currency) and risk of the asset class in which the investment has been made. Likewise, the return from this strategy includes gains/losses from movement in currency and gain/losses from the investment in the asset class.

The premise on which carry trade functions is

• The funding currency (in this case the US dollar) will weaken or at best remain stable and

• The Central Bank of the funding country intends keep the borrowing costs low

Currently the US dollar is available at near zero rates and the US Fed has indicated that rates will remain low for an extended period. This has encouraged traders to resort to the “US dollar carry trade” investment strategy (US dollar is used as the funding currency) for quick bucks. After all, who doesn’t want to make hay when the sun shines?

What has been past experience on Yen carry trade?

The past two decades had seen the yen carry trade grow to several billions of dollars, the quantum of which is debatable, on account of easy availability of funds at low interest rates in Japan- the loose monetary policy stance adopted to awaken the sleeping giant. The most popular trade then was the dollar yen trade. The gain was twosome- return on the asset class and profit on exchange rate on account of a deprecating Yen.

Tables were bound to turn at some point in time. In 2007, Yen took an about turn and started appreciating. The appreciation was significant enough forcing traders to unwind the Yen carry trades. This had an impact on markets as positions were getting liquidated. The unwinding of carry trade coincided with the downward spiral that the Dow witnessed from around 14,000 to 7,000 levels.

Will dollar carry trade lead to carnage in the financial markets?

For traders, carry trade with US Dollar as the funding currency is an excellent money making opportunity as the Fed has indicated that rates will not head upwards anytime soon. Also the latest reading of the unemployment numbers which has now crossed the 10 per cent mark in the US will make it difficult for the Fed to think of interest rate hardening in the immediate future. Besides, the depreciating US dollar adds to the gains of the traders.

The dollar carry trade is currently on full-fledged. This means that money is flowing out of the US and moving into countries that provide attractive returns on various asset classes. Is this the reason why all asset classes are moving in one direction only i.e. upward? Equity and commodities have been rallying for several months now. Surely fundamentals have improved with pressures on the global economy easing but aren’t valuations looking stretched? Is this a situation of too much liquidity chasing these asset classes? One needs to answer the critical question of whether the economic recovery warrants such a quick run up in prices of the various asset classes. If not, it’s time to exercise caution as an asset bubble is being formed.

When the interest rate cycle in the US turns, it will be accompanied by an appreciation in the currency. That will create havoc in the financial system as traders will rush to unwind their carry trade positions. A downward spiral in the asset classes funded by traders will be witnessed and it will cause pain to the financial markets.

Also, we cannot deny the fact that the dollar as a currency commands immense investor faith and we all fend for it a situation of crisis. If any such situation were to arise, you will find traders of carry trade running for shelter bringing about carnage in several asset classes.

Market movements- Too much hype?

Set aside the last couple of weeks, the run up in the Indian equity market has been impressive. One would say that it has been in line with an emerging economic recovery - GDP numbers bettering, companies beating analyst expectation and the global economy giving indications of stability and gradual growth. India being the second fastest growing economy after China, has but naturally attracted FII flows which have been to the tune of Rs 181 bn so far this year, domestic institutions which stayed away from the previous rally have started participating and retail investors are gradually gaining confidence. The negative news of deficit rainfall has been practically brushed aside by markets because of the now not so significant contribution of agriculture to GDP of  less than 20 per cent. Markets have appreciated by over 80 per cent in 10 months.

In the last couple of weeks though, the situation seems to have changed - correction to the tune of ~12% since Muhurat trading. Sentiment has turned cautious. Don’t forget that this is happening in the midst of an earnings season which in my assessment has been relatively good barring a few exceptions. Yesterday’s live mint said, “Nifty companies have posted best results in seven quarters.” Then why is it that markets are reacting the way they are? Correction in a market that was running up fast was warranted, but 12 per cent in two weeks? It does seem like something is amiss. That leads me to the question; do equity markets give you an indication of where the economy is headed?

In an ideal scenario, equity markets should reflect the economy’s performance and they do over long stretches of period as is evidenced by history. In the short term, anomalies tend to have a grip on the market- factors such as excess liquidity, FII participation among many others. What else can explain a dramatic fall in 2008 in a market that had nothing fundamentally wrong with it apart from the fact that growth would slow on account of recession globally?

A classic case in point is the current corrective phase. No significant negative news has emerged w.r.t to the Indian economy. The only visible parameter impacting markets is the fact that FII’s have turned net sellers. Whether we are decoupled or not, as a nation we can’t deny the fact that FII’s still have a strong hold on our markets. This clearly brings to us the fact that growth is not the only parameter that impacts markets in the short term. Several compulsions and aberrations can overpower rationale and logic.

Interestingly, after cricket scores, the most favoured discussion in the last few days has been the shape of recovery because of the sudden change in direction of markets. Is it U, V, W or some other mathematical sign? It’s amusing that one can base an argument of the shape of economic recovery on market movement over a few days. Take short term market movements with a pinch of salt, they make portray a picture which may be different from reality. It is also easy to get carried away with the hype created- you may make an investment decision which may look foolish in hindsight. Look beyond the surface.

RBI Policy- No surprises on the rate front, stiffer norms for banks

In a complex economic environment, we look up to the erudite to give us direction, perspective and knowhow of the situation we find so difficult to comprehend; difficult because of conflicting information flow and sometimes on account of too much of information. The monetary policy review which was announced on 27th October was much awaited by markets for the same reasons.

The tone of the policy statement has shifted to hawkish from a soft stance adopted during the recession. The focus has clearly been on supporting economic growth, ensuring price stability by anchoring inflation and strengthening the banking sector that was responsible for the financial crisis which then blew up into a full-fledged economic crisis.

Globally the economic scenario is improving and India too is seeing recovery as is indicated from the IIP numbers and improvement in the business confidence index is what the RBI maintains. But the RBI has just stopped short of announcing a rate hike because export growth is still in the negative territory and it does not want to hamper economic growth which has gradually begun to take off. A premature exit would hamper all the good work done over the past several months but at the same time a delayed exit would lead to spiralling inflation. So RBI has decided to exit in a calibrated manner.

The special liquidity support measures have been withdrawn. They include the limit for export credit refinance facility and the non standard refinance facilities.

To contain inflation, the liquidity lever is being tightened. Capital flows into the country have increased significantly over the last 9 months (increase in rates would have increased the flows on account of interest rate differential) and the average daily amount absorbed by the Reserve Bank under the LAF window was to the tune of Rs.1,20,000 crore indicating that there is ample liquidity in the system. The RBI has thus increased the SLR to 25 percent from the 24 percent level. That will reduce some amount of liquidity in the hands of the banks. This should have a minimal impact on banks because currently the SLR they are maintaining is in excess of the threshold limit set and currently there is ample amount of liquidity in the system.

Caution and prudence in policy making always follow a financial crisis. To the credit of RBI, the Indian banking system has remained almost unscathed in the current crisis purely because of caution exercised by the RBI which most of us were critical of at that time. But in hindsight, it has proved to be the best thing that could have happened to the banking sector.

The RBI continues to work towards its goal of further strengthening the banking sector by undertaking a slew of measures.
Provisioning requirement for standard loans to the commercial real estate sector has been increased to 1 percent from 0.4 percent. This is done because loans to this sector was growing at a fast pace and the RBI wanted to tackle asset inflation. The short term impact would be seen on the bottom line of banks. The cost of funds to the developers will increase which in turn would result higher cost to buyers.
Increase in the provisioning coverage ratio to 70 percent by September 2010 will affect banks profitability as they will have to set aside funds to meet this new stipulation.
Lock in period and minimum retention has been introduced for securitisation exposures so as to ensure that proper due-diligence is done by originators.

The ground has already been set for monetary tightening with the current policy document stating unequivocally that there is a shift from managing the crisis to managing the recovery. As growth comes back on track with some amount of certainty, the RBI will act swiftly and tighten interest rates. I do not expect this to happen till early next year. In the interim, expect RBI to continue to introduce measures to strengthen the banking system in line with global counterparts.

2010 Commonwealth games- Crowning glory or sorry story!

In 2003, when India won the rights to host the 2010 Commonwealth games over Canada, we Indians were a happy and proud lot. So much so, that it made headlines and people were talking about how this would be the platform on which we could launch a bid for the 2020 Olympics. India got a lot of publicity in the international media too for being only the second nation in Asia to have an opportunity to host a multi-sport event.

It was an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our culture, our ability to host large events and it would also have been a reason for us to resurrect our ailing or should I say non-existent sports infrastructure. With our reputation and image at stake, it would only be fair to assume that no stone would be left unturned as far as preparation goes. Alas - this was not to be. We have made news albeit for all the wrong reasons. Preparations are behind schedules for 14 of the 19 sports venues. The Commonwealth Federation maintains that, if India is not able to buck up, this sporting event would have to be cancelled. What a disgrace this would turn out to be for us Indians! Given the amount of time we had at hand – 7 years no less, it is extremely disappointing that a country of a billion plus population is struggling to host an international event of this stature.

And what has been our response to this so far - Instead of taking this time to introspect and initiate corrective action, the reaction has been typically confrontational with mudslinging and name calling. The latest being, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, the head of the organising committee, accusing the game’s CEO, Mike Hooper, of being useless and demanding his repatriation. Is precious time not being wasted doing blame storming?

So is this the end of the road –or is there still a small ray of hope, maybe not – but I’m an incurable optimist. If one goes back in time, and I mean way back, there does seem to be an uncanny parallel / precedent – the 1982 inaugural Asian Games. With only a year to go and preparations nowhere close to where there should have been, there was chaos. But after the reins were handed over to a young and vibrant Rajiv Gandhi, he along with a bunch of ‘technocrats’ turned it around and made it one of the most memorable events in our sporting annals.

We still have a chance to emerge with our heads held high - A chance to protect our pride from getting bashed. The moot question is will history repeat itself! The countdown has begun. Wake up India and Chak de !!!