Does Corona deserve the attention it is receiving?

Coronavirus has taken the world by storm, and it’s a once in a lifetime event. Never had the

surroundings been so silent and it’s all because of the lockdown imposed throughout the country. The

measures taken by the government behind this issue is courageous and applaudable since it was the

need of the hour, what has done wrong is that it has irked the citizens from the lower strata of society.

The daily wage workers who migrated to various parts of the country for a better future were stuck

there without family. Since transportation wasn’t allowed for the general public, they had no

option but to stay there. The plight of workers led other people to question the actions of the government.

Some people went on to say that the government should have made everyone aware of its decision while
other went on to point out how the common men were suffering and bureaucrats returning from
Abroad were roaming around freely.

There have been concerns regarding the activities of government as well, for instance, deaths due to hunger.
Has crossed around 1million mark per year still nothing permanent was done while coronavirus with a mortality rate of less than 3% was considered overhyped by many. Many people came down to give
their opinion regarding the same with the prevailing notion being that the government doesn’t care
about the poor but about the rich, had it been a disease to be transmitted among the poor people living
in unhygienic conditions without sufficient amenities, the government wouldn’t have dared to give a
Damn about it.


We can always interpret any outcome positively or negatively, it depends wholly on the mindset.
And thinking of the onlookers. Considering the large population of India and lack of medical.
facilities, the situation would become outrageous, and the nationwide lockdown might be painful for
most of the people out there, It was indeed the need of the hour, and it’s the vaccine which can come
Handy fighting the exponentially growing ‘Coronavirus’.

Signing Off

KC

ICOs: New way to raise funds for wannapreneurs

We can't ignore the importance of capital for an emerging startup and Venture capitals often come to the rescue when it comes to the financial backing. VCs were designed to pour a hefty sum of money into a small number of companies that could be sold for over a billion dollars. It wasn’t designed to distribute capital across many companies that have the potential to succeed, hence the chances of funding are significantly lower that inhibits the number of ideas that get funded and the number of companies that are created.

To inspire innovation and empower more people we need a more flexible system that doesn't crunch entrepreneurs and investors for access to capital. We need a balance in the start-up ecosystem just like the marine ecosystem where the big, as well as small fishes can thrive together. We need to democratize access to capital and that’s where blockchain comes in with its concept called cryptocurrency.

As an early start-up, you can’t go for an IPO in a stock exchange since the company needs to deliver profits in at least 3 of the last 5 years so an ICO(Initial Coin Offering) is the best way to raise money from everyday people provided they trust the start-up and its fundamentals. ICOs are a way for young companies to raise money by issuing a digital currency tied to the value and services that the company provides for reference. 

Ethereum's ICO in 2014 was an early pioneer, raising $18 million over a period of 42 days. The currency acts similar to shares in a company, like on the public stock market, increasing in value as it's traded online. ICOs expanded the investor pool, from a limited number of VC firms to millions of common folks who were excited to invest. This led to the influx of more people increasing the chances to get funded. After taking out the middleman fees of venture capital investors had a chance to get better returns, which they eventually did as tokens purchased in ICOs returned an average of 12.8x on the initial investment in dollar terms. 

And these people took their money out and reinvest it despite knowing it to be largely unregulated and are rife with fraud and scam, in search of even better returns like the 'Bitcoin boom' which made many millionaires overnight and this creates a virtuous cycle of capital that allows many more entrepreneurs to get funded in realising their dreams and it's illustrious that access to capital is access to opportunity.

ICOs despite having caught on in the west is still in the nascent stage in India and with the recent lifting of the ban on cryptocurrency by SC, the likelihood of cryptocurrencies being recognized as an excellent choice for investment is fairly high. KC (signing off....)