Regulatory issues in India and Facebook would not launch crypto in India.  While the RBI order has been challenged in the Supreme Court of India, the case is in limbo pending directions from the court.

Spokesperson for Facebook stated, “There are no plans to offer Calibra in India. As you may know, there are local restrictions within India that made a launch of Calibra not possible at this time.”

Though too early, the Libra Association is talking to potential “partners” providing a hint that there might not be any use case for Calibra in India.

Alexandru Voica stated, “Calibra will respect the legislation.”  The social media giant is working with the local lawmakers in order to find out if legislation can be amended.  He further added, “The blockchain project has multiple uses in smart contracts, supply chain management and so on – it’s not just for cryptocurrencies.”

Several cryptocurrency exchanges have closed in India and the operators were citing difficulties in continuing with the operations due to lack of banking support.

Meanwhile the European Central Bank has stated that Bitcoin was not a currency.  The ECB fails to recognize it as a currency.  In a response to a private Twitter Program the bank stated that they did not have plans to add Bitcoin to their reserves.

Philip Lane stated, “Bitcoin is not a currency, it rather is an asset and it is very volatile.”  The entire phenomenon had very little impact on the traditional economy.  However, Pierre Rochard tweeted:  “Bitcoin is money.”

According to another user, the inflation calculator of ECB showed a decline in the purchasing power of the Euro.  The user reinstated that the trend of Euro is worse than the temporary bouts of volatility seen concerning Bitcoin.

Shell, Oil and Natural Gas Giant is continuing exploration of Blockchain by investing an undisclosed amount in LO3, which is a New York based startup who are using a modified version of the Ethereum Blockchain making it easier for individuals to buy and sell energy that is produced locally by making use of the existing network of power cables.  The Bitcoin blockchain thus permits users to track the flow of value without the need for the banks to audit the system.

Kirk Coburn, Shell Venture Investment Director stated, “We see that it’s society’s ambition to live in a lower carbon environment.”

Earlier, shell had plans to raise capital by selling tokens which will be used on the platforms by using the ICOs; however, it has been put on hold.