On Wednesday, the United Kingdom's advertising watchdog ruled against several crypto ads saying crypto-assets are a 'red alert' priority. The regulator said its decisions follow active monitoring of the ads for crypto assets and will form part of an ongoing project which will look to shape specific guidance in 2022. The ASA said it would also observe ads for fan tokens and NFTs.

1️⃣SBI & Amundi Asset Management plan to offload a combined 10% stake in their Indian MF joint venture, extending a record year for listings in the South Asian nation. 2️⃣State Bank aims to sell a 6% stake in SBI Funds Management Pvt. & Amundi 4%. 3️⃣The IPO seeks to raise about $1 bn. 4️⃣SBI owns 63% of SBI Funds & Amundi holds the rest. 5️⃣The listing may happen early in the next financial year.

Switzerland’s SEBA Bank stated that it is rolling out a digital token that allows investors to own physical gold. The release posted that the Gold Token will be “a regulated digital token for investment in and delivery of physical gold on-demand.” Each token reportedly represents 1g ($57) of the metal with divisibility of up to four decimal places.

✍Today, the Union Cabinet cleared the PLI for semiconductors. Aiming to make India an electronics hub. The scheme includes provision for 25% incentives on capital expenditure for establishing a unit of Compound Semiconductor Wafer(Fab), assembly, testing, & packaging facility. The Govt. proposes to provide incentives of ₹76,000 cr. over the next 6 years, reducing India's dependence on China.

✅India’s installed nuclear power capacity has grown from 4,780 MW to 6,780 MW, ⬆️ by over 40% in the last 7 years. The indigenous three-stage nuclear power programme is to provide long term energy security in a sustainable manner. The Minister said the current annual production of uranium is not enough to meet the annual fuel requirement of all the operational uranium-based nuclear power plants.

Coinbase, eToro & Luno were among a pack of virtual asset industry participants to receive a warning from the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority for promotions that were misleading about the risk associated with such investments. Other companies censured include pizza chain Papa John’s, which in May offered to give away £10 in bitcoin with orders over a certain amount.

On Wednesday, BSE announced that the registered investor accounts have hit the 9 crore mark, completing the last one crore journey at the quickest pace ever. The accounts have grown amid the increased financialisation of Indians. As per the government data presented in Parliament, there were a total of 3.5 crore Demat accounts at the end of 2018-19 in India.

The Confederation of All India Traders stated on December 15, that the US-based e-commerce giant Amazon should not have participated in the hearings conducted by the Competition Commission of India, in connection to the Future Coupons deal, if it believes that the antitrust agency has no revoking powers. Amazon is accused of concealing facts from the CCI while seeking approval for its 2019 deal.

The price of Bitcoin is attempting a recovery wave above the USD 47,500 level. BTC even surpassed the USD 48,000 level. It is currently consolidating, and it could rally if there is a clear move above the USD 48,500 level. The price of Ethereum is also showing positive signs above the USD 3,800 level. ETH is facing resistance near the USD 3,880 level.

Dogecoin has confirmed that the cryptocurrency developer has minted the first-ever NFT on its blockchain. The developer confirmed the mint only cost 0.1 DOGE, a stark contrast to NFT minting fees on blockchains such as Ethereum that at times can set you back hundreds of dollars. 2022 will be an interesting year for Dogecoin, which currently ranks as the 10th biggest cryptocurrency.

Ledn, a Cryptocurrency lending platform, has raised $70 million in a Series B funding round at a $540 million valuation and plans to use some of the capital for its new bitcoin-backed mortgage product. The platform says there is a waitlist for the product and eyes to reach over $100 million in bitcoin-backed mortgage originations by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Ethereum Foundation announced that it was launching a Client Incentive Program. Its primary intention is to encourage more diversity in the client ecosystem. Each client team will garner grants approximately 144 validators, or 4,608 ETH valued at almost $17.8 million at current prices, to operate on the mainnet. At the time of the press, there was 8.62 million ETH staked on the Beacon Chain.

Third Wave Coffee, the Bengaluru-based coffee quick-service restaurant startup, has raised $6 Mn in Series A funding round from Sujeet Kumar (cofounder, Udaan), Arpan Sheth (Bain & Company) and Ayyappan Rajagopal (CEO, Cleartrip), and others. The company operates 35 cafés and outlets across four cities—Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.

The operator of the world's biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in western India, India's Reliance Industries Ltd, intends to get the first cargo of oil from its new Abu Dhabi-based trading unit in December, according to a report. The Indian conglomerate eyes to get about a 500,000 barrels cargo of United Arab Emirates' Das crude from RINL.

Against the US dollar, the rupee opened flat, as investors preferred to avoid large bets pending more clarity on the global economic impact of the Omicron strain. The risk appetite was also weak, ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy statement next week. Some traders took the opportunity to lock in profits after the sharp rise in prices following the RBI’s policy on Wednesday.