Lipulekha lies on nepal maps

Lipulekh and Kalapani lies on Nepal

Lipulekh (elevation 5,200 m or 17,060 ft) is a Himalayan pass on the border between India's Uttarakhand state and the Tibet region of China,^[1] near their trijunction with Nepal. Nepal has ongoing claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, which is controlled by India.^[2][3] The pass is near the Chinese trading town of Taklakot (Purang) in Tibet and used since ancient times by traders, mendicants and pilgrims transiting between India and Tibet. It is also used by pilgrims to Kailas and Manasarovar.

 Tourism

This pass links the Byans valley of Uttarakhand, India with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and forms the last territorial point in Indian territory. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a Hinduism pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, traverses this pass. Lipulekh pass is connected to Chang Lobochahela, near the old trading town of Purang (Taklakot), in Tibet.

India-China Trading Post

The pass was the first Indian border post to be opened for trade with China in 1992. This was followed by the opening of Shipki La, Himachal Pradesh in 1994 and Nathu La, Sikkim in 2006. Presently, Lipulekh Pass is open for cross-border trade every year from June through September.

Products cleared for export from India include jaggery, misri, tobacco, spices, pulses, fafar flour, coffee, vegetable oil, ghee and various miscellaneous consumable items. The main imports into India include sheep wool, passam, sheep, goats, borax, yak tails, chhirbi (butter) and raw silk.

India-China BPM (Border Personnel Meeting) point

In 2014, India and China discussed using the pass as an additional official Border Personnel Meeting point between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army of China for regular consultations and interactions between the two armies to improve relations.

 

Nepalese claims

The Nepalese claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, are based on 1816 Sagauli Treaty between British East India Company and Nepal. The treaty delimited the boundary along the Kali River (also called the Sharda River and Mahakali River). India claims that the river begins at the Kalapani village as this is where all its tributaries merge. But Nepal claims that it begins from the Lipulekh Pass.^[5] The historical record shows that, some time around 1865, the British shifted the border near Kalapani to the watershed of the Kalapani river instead of the river itself, thereby claiming the area now called the Kalapani territory.^[6] This is consistent with the British position that the Kali River begins only from the Kalapani springs,^[7] which meant that the agreement of Sugauli did not apply to the region above the springs.^[8]

After the Indian prime minister's visit to China in 2015, India and China agreed to open a trading post in Lipulekh, raising objections from Nepal.^[2][3] The Nepalese parliament stated that 'it violates Nepal's sovereign rights over the disputed territory'.^[9] Nepal now intends to resolve the issue via diplomatic means with India.^[10]

India responds to Nepal’s objection to road link via Lipulekh

India responds to Nepal’s objection to road link via Lipulek

India on Saturday said that the road section to Lipulekh lies within the territory of India.

“We have seen the press release dated May 9, 2020 issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal pertaining to the inauguration of a road in India,” said a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a press statement. “The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Under the present project, the same road has been made pliable for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals and traders.”

[Read: Nepal objects to India’s unilateral opening of road link via Lipulekh]

A day after India’s Ministry of Defence announced that India inaugurated alink road from Dharchula to Lipulekh, identifying Lipulekh as the “China border”, Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday issued a statement, saying that India opening a road via Lipulekh was against the understanding reached between the two countries.

The ministry also called on the Indian government to refrain from carrying out any activity inside Nepali territory.

“The Government of Nepal has learnt with regret about the ‘inauguration’ yesterday by India of ‘Link Road’ connecting to Lipu Lekh (Nepal), which passes through Nepali territory [SIC],” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Saturday. “The Government of Nepal has consistently maintained that as per the Sugauli Treaty (1816), all the territories east of Kali (Mahakali) River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh, belong to Nepal.”

The ministry said that India’s “unilateral act” runs against the understanding reached between the two countries at the highest political level that a solution to the boundary dispute would be sought via diplomatic negotiation.

In response, New Delhi said that India and Nepal have established a mechanism to deal with all boundary matters.

“The boundary delineation exercise with Nepal is ongoing,” said the Indian ministry. “India is committed to resolving outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue and in the spirit of our close and friendly bilateral relations with Nepal.”

Nepal’ Foreign Ministry said that the government of Nepal twice proposed dates for a meeting of the foreign secretaries of the two countries, as mandated by their leaders.

“It is still awaiting a response from India,” said the ministry.

In response, India has said both sides are also in the process of scheduling Foreign Secretary level talks which will be held once the dates are finalised between the two sides after the two societies and governments have successfully dealt with the challenge of Covid-19 emergency.

Ruling party asks India to immediately halt road construction in Lipulekh area

In a statement signed by two chairs KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Nepal Communist Party calls on Delhi to refrain from carrying out any activity ‘that will further complicate the matter’.


The ruling party said the action has undermined Nepal’s sovereignty

The ruling Nepal Communist Party said on Saturday that its attention has been drawn to India’s move of opening a link road via Lipulekh.

“[Our] serious attention has been drawn to the ‘inauguration’ by India of a link road to Lipulekh of Nepal via Nepali territory,” said the ruling party in a statement signed by chairs KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

The ruling party said the action has undermined Nepal’s sovereignty.

India’s Ministry of Defence announced on Friday that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the link road from Dharchula to Lipulekh, identifying Lipulekh as the “China border”.

“Raksha Mantri today inaugurated the Link Road from Dharchula to Lipulekh (China Border) famously known as Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra Route,” the Indian Defence Ministry tweeted on Friday.

The ruling party statement follows the Ministry of Foreign Affairs objection to India’s move of opening the road via Lipulekh, which Nepal claims as its own territory.

“The Nepal Communist Party believes in good neighbourly relations between Nepal and India based on the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, mutual respect and benefit,” said the party. “All historical facts and evidence, including the Sugauli Treaty, clearly stipulate that the areas east of Kalli (Mahakali) River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh are territories of Nepal.”

Lipulekh is a strip of land on the northwestern edge of Nepal, lodged between Nepal, India and Tibet. While some call it a tri-junction between these three countries, Nepal has been claiming the southern part of the pass and has refused to recognise it as a tri-junction.

India and China had in 2015 agreed to expand a trade route via Lipulekh, prompting Nepal to take the issue up both with Delhi and Beijing, saying the territory belongs to Nepal.

The party said it notes that the same fact was reiterated by Nepal on May 15, 2015 in response to the inclusion of the Lipulekh pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent in the joint statement issued during the official visit of the prime minister of India to China.

But in November 2019, India published a new map in line with Delhi’s decision to split up Jammu and Kashmir as federal territories, which showed Kalapani within Indian borders, prompting uproar in Nepal.

After rising public furore, Nepal had sought a date from Delhi to hold talks, only to receive a cold shoulder.

“The NCP is aware of the initiative taken by the government of Nepal by proposing dates for the meeting o foreign secretaries who have been mandated by the leaders of the two countries to resolve boundary issues through diplomatic means taking into consideration the age-old friendly ties between the two countries,” said party in the statement. “The current unilateral action has come contrary to Nepal’s repeated requests for resolving the boundary issues through an established mechanism as agreed upon by the two governments at the highest political level.”

The ruling party said it urges governments of Nepal and India to immediately take necessary initiatives to resolve all the boundary issues through diplomatic means as per the understanding reached between the two sides.

“The NCP calls for immediate halting of the road construction work in that area by India and urges it to refrain from carrying out any activity that will further complicate the matter,” reads the statement.

India opening a road via Lipulekh, a territory that Nepal claims, is a diplomatic failure

Despite the furore in Kathmandu over the inclusion of Kalapani on a new Indian map, the government has done little to reclaim lands that Nepal claims as its own.

Coinbase Launches Price Feed to Help Secure $1 Billion DeFi Economy

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has released a price oracle that allows anyone to publish price data on-chain. The Coinbase Oracle, a signed price feed, grants users free access to data for BTC-USD and ETH-USD markets, the company announced Thursday. The idea is to make decentralized finance more secure.

The price feed is sourced from Coinbase Pro and is updated every minute, the company explained. An oracle is a real-time price feed provided by a third party to decentralized financial networks (DeFi). The most widely used oracles are those of Uniswap and Kyber. Decentralized networks use oracles to provide services that include derivatives, collatedal liquidations, and margin trading.

However, existing price feeds, which anchor a $1 billion DeFi economy, have been criticized for a lack of security and a failure to provide accurate prices. There are instances of attacks. Crypto lender Bzx lost more than $645,000 worth of ETH in an oracle attack in February — the second such violation it has endured.

With its oracle, Coinbase is promising more safety. In a statement, the exchange detailed:

"Anyone can publish the prices on-chain and since the data is already signed by Coinbase’s private key, there is no need to trust the publisher. Using the Coinbase price oracle public key, anybody can verify the authenticity of the data."

Coinbase highlighted the risks associated with getting data from off-chain sources. Using off-chain data requires trusting the publisher to post correct prices and keep the signing key safe, it said, adding that “the latter historically has proven to be a difficult problem, especially when stakes are high.”

By comparison, the Coinbase Oracle claims to host a filtering mechanism that rejects data points, which significantly deviates from the expected volatility of each asset while protecting against exchange price manipulation or invalid data.

Coinmama Appoints Unicorn IronSource GM Sagi Bakshi as CEO

Unicorn startup IronSource’s general manager, Sagi Bakshi, has joined cryptocurrency exchange Coinmama as CEO, saying he believes that the future of money is Bitcoin.

Since 2013, Coinmama has been at the forefront of the financial revolution, working to simplify the way the world does crypto. With Bakshi at the helm, the exchange will focus on growing its mission of making cryptocurrency accessible worldwide, with the aim of becoming the go-to on-ramp for the 500 million potential Bitcoin users the next decade will bring.

Coinmama believes that the future of money is open source, borderless, and decentralized; that it’s by the people and for the people, and that economic freedom should be available to all. It provides a simple and friendly way to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies online with a debit card, credit card, or bank transfer, as well as to sell Bitcoin.

“What’s most exciting to me about Bitcoin is that it’s disruptive. It’s a new financial system, unlike any system we’ve seen before,” says Bakshi. “But in order for Bitcoin to succeed in the long term, it needs to be adopted on a much wider scale. Our goal now at Coinmama is twofold: to continue to make crypto as easy as possible by automating as much of the process as we can and providing the best quality of crypto service available. And in tandem, to use our platform to educate new and potential users about the benefits of cryptocurrency in order to drive mass adoption.”

Coinmama’s community of 2 million users in 188 countries is already expanding to reach territories that it was previously closed to. At the same time, Coinmama is streamlining its onboarding process, adding new payment options, and building partnerships with wallet providers in order to support its mission of simplicity and accessibility of cryptocurrency.

Sagi Bakshi is a computer science engineer with over 20 years of experience in the tech industry and an extensive background in telecommunications, ad-tech, and blockchain technologies. He joins Coinmama from tech unicorn IronSource, which recently raised funds with a $1.6 billion valuation, where he was a member of the founding team and, from 2011-2018, served as General Manager of the company’s biggest division. Bakshi, a longtime crypto enthusiast who is passionate about Bitcoin and participated in the Ethereum DAO token sale, is eager to bring his expertise to Coinmama and help lead the financial revolution.

'Boomer Generation' In for a Rude Awakening - Macro Economist Predicts $1M Bitcoin by 2025

Just recently, a report from Global Macro Investor (GMI) called “The Unfolding” claims that the world is experiencing the biggest economic event that hasn’t been seen in the last 150 years. GMI’s CEO Raoul Pal authored the report and he strongly believes the digital asset bitcoin will go from a $200 billion asset class to a $10 trillion asset class, within the next few years. In fact, Pal’s macro report stresses that the “Baby Boomer” generation is screwed and he expects this generation to sell away their nest eggs.

‘The Biggest Economic Event in the Last 100 Years’ as ‘Baby Boomers Will Sell Every Rally’

A 120-page Global Macro Investor report explains that the world economy is headed for disaster. The coronavirus outbreak has added a lot of fear into our everyday lives, but the economic after-effects are extremely concerning. GMI’s Raoul Pal says that during the next several years, society will experience three phases; panic, hope, and insolvency. Pal remarks that he believes the world is currently in a “panic” phase, where liquidity starts to dry up and there’s a lot of selling. The “hope” phase will be the first big correction, which will lead to the last and final phase called “insolvency.” This period will be a “brutal phase” says Pal and it will change everything, including all beliefs in the system itself.

Pal’s charts and statistics show the economy is dragging downwards with great force, as his findings show China’s falling Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) has been falling like a rock. Chinese retail sales continue to plummet, the country’s industrial production is sliding, car sales are bombing, Fixed Assets Investment is dropping significantly, and consumer confidence is imploding.

All of these negative factors are all relatively the same in economically powerful countries like the U.S., Japan, Australia, and various regions in Europe. Moreover, one large piece of evidence that something is horribly wrong is the “worst unemployment data imaginable and the market rallied.” Pal’s report also discusses the similarities between now and the Great Depression that took place years ago. On page 31, Pal explains that he believes the Baby Boomer generation is in for a rude awakening.

“The damage this does to the U.S. pension system is incomprehensible. The Baby Boomers will sell every rally they can to protect their last, rapidly diminishing nest egg,” Pal’s report details. “The Baby Boomers are totally f**ked [and] I have been publicly warning and warning about this.” Pal added:

All of this is going to destroy the velocity of money for a very long time.

‘Bitcoin Is a Call Option On It All — It Is the Future’

Pal’s research says that gold is performing well through all this and it “will continue to do so.” The report notes that a break past $1,800 an ounce, will be the initial trigger and “massively outperform equities.” Pal expects gold to rise by possibly 3-5x in the next few years.

When Pal gets to the subject of Bitcoin, he stresses that the digital asset’s performance will be a “different story.” “I think [bitcoin] can get to $1 million in the same period. I think it can go from a $200 billion asset class to a $10 trillion asset class. Gold as a comparison is around $15 trillion now, including paper gold,” Pal said. “If gold goes up 5x, it becomes a $60 trillion asset, so would it be crazy for bitcoin to have a $10 trillion valuation?” Pal stated further:

[Bitcoin] isn’t just a currency or even a store of value. It is an entire trusted, verified, secure, financial, and accounting system of value that can never be created outside of the cryptographic algorithm. It is nothing short of the future of our entire medium of exchange system, and of money itself and the platform on which it operates.

With all the other crypto projects and blockchains being created, Pal says the entire crypto economy could easily be a $100 trillion market valuation. “Bitcoin is a call option on it all — It is the future,” Pal concluded. He also added that he wholeheartedly believes that bitcoin is the “biggest trade of our lifetimes and just at the time when we need it most.” The report from GMI and its chief executive Raoul Pal follow the recent research by Bloomberg that says: “Bitcoin will be digital gold in 2020.

Additionally, Bank of America (BoA) just published a report that indicates gold may jump 50% from its current price and possibly touch a high of $3K per ounce in the near future. “Beyond traditional gold supply and demand fundamentals, financial repression is back on an extraordinary scale,” the BoA report’s author said.

Bitcoin to Be Digital Gold in 2020, Says Bloomberg Report

Bitcoin will mature into a gold-like store of value this year, according to the latest projections by Bloomberg. The financial magazine’s report, “Bitcoin Maturation Leap,” notes that the cryptocurrency is poised for a bull run, after being temporarily dragged by the coronavirus-induced stock market tailspin.

With its correlation to gold jumping to all-time highs, BTC is poised to transition from a risk-on speculative asset to the crypto market’s version of the metal.

“This year marks a key test for bitcoin’s transition toward a quasi-currency like gold, and we expect it to pass,” the report says. The damage to world economies caused by Covid-19 is prompting governments to dole billions of dollars in stimulus. Bloomberg expects bitcoin to gain amid the circumstances, helped on by mainstream adoption.

Per the report, despite BTC’s annualized volatility that’s averaged about 5x that of the S&P 500 in the past year, the crypto is down 5% in 2020 against 22% for the stock index as at April 2. Bloomberg said:

For more-established assets, this would be considered a sign of divergent strength. For the nascent crypto, it’s also an indication of a transition toward gold-like adoption, maturity and performance.

As digital gold, BTC appeals to the cashless internet economy largely on account of its characteristics that include round-the-clock price transparency, and the lack of limits, interruptions or third-party oversight, notes Bloomberg.

The report shows BTC’s decline this year holding above its 2018 low “which was about an 80% drawdown from the peak.” The stage for a strong comeback is set. It states: “On sounder footing after its previous shakeout, bitcoin is gaining relative fuel as stocks reset, if history is a guide.”

While Covid-19 will witness the enduring decline of cryptocurrencies, BTC, is considered a hedge asset, that will appreciate. “The macroeconomic effects of the coronavirus accelerate bitcoin’s process of gaining value relative to other cryptos.” In the year to April 2, BTC outperformed the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, surging 40% versus 13% decline in the index.

The Bitcoin futures tamed the BTC bull market, a development Bloomberg interprets in terms of the maturation of the cryptocurrency. “Increasing futures open interest, declining volatility, and relative outperformance despite the stock-market shakeout indicates bitcoin is maturing from a speculative crypto asset toward a digital version of gold,” it added.

13 Crypto Debit Cards You Can Use Right Now

If cryptocurrency is designed to reconstruct the financial world while introducing major improvements in transaction speed, privacy, cost and convenience, debit cards represent a useful bridge between old and new. A preponderance of crypto debit card options now exist that allow cryptocurrency to be exchanged for spendable fiat currency at the touch of a button. Let’s take a look at a baker’s dozen of them.

European Crypto Debit Cards

Plutus is one of the longest running crypto card services, having pitched up in 2015. The London startup has its own loyalty token (PLU) which is awarded to users every time they use their debit card. Notably, though, it’s a noncustodial platform which lets users retain control of their private keys. Usable in almost 200 countries, the card can be topped up using GBP or EUR, with ETH and PLU the only supported cryptos at the current time. Plutus also doubles as a virtual bank account, which is offered to residents anywhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) region for free.

Wirex is another popular option for Europeans. Founded in 2014, the London fintech firm was the first to release a contactless, multi-currency Visa card and boasts over three million customers in 130 countries, having processed $2 billion worth of transactions. Wirex’s slick light-green debit card supports conversion from several major cryptos, has a native built-in utility token (WXT), and gives users 0.5% BTC on in-store purchases through its Cryptoback program, rising to 1.5% if you hold 500,000 WXT tokens. There’s a modest card account maintenance fee of £1.00/€1.20/$1.50, with all other fees and limits broken down here. Having achieved success throughout Europe and the APAC region, Wirex intends to expand into Canada, Japan and the U.S. in 2020.

Monolith is a noncustodial option that allows ETH and ethereum-based tokens to be stored in its mobile wallet before being converted and spent on the Monolith Visa card. Billed as a “decentralized bank,” Monolith is closely aligned with the defi movement that has come to define Ethereum. DEX integration will be added soon, together with support for the Ethereum Name Service.

Since 2017, UK digital bank Revolut has let users from the EEA buy, hold and exchange crypto, with the possibility of instantly exchanging any of 30 fiat currencies directly into bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and XRP (and vice-versa). Revolut takes a flat 1.5% cut but it’s possible to transfer crypto to other Revolut members in seconds without paying a fee. Buy goods in-store or online using the Revolut debit card or app; if you only have crypto in your account, Revolut will exchange it into fiat in the retailer’s local currency at the point of purchase. Cryptocurrencies are only available on Revolut’s paid plans: it’s £6.99 a month for a Premium card and £12.99 for a Metal one.

Cryptopay is one of the original bitcoin payment cards, and offers a plastic prepaid card (for ATM withdrawals and offline shopping, $15) and a virtual equivalent (online, $2.50). Available in the U.K., Russia and soon to be available in Singapore, Cryptopay supports only bitcoin alongside fiat currencies GBP, USD and EUR. For a breakdown of the relevant fees for both cards, see here.

It’s fair to say Europe is one of the best regions for those wishing to use crypto-fiat debit cards; in addition to the aforementioned options, there are cards from Bitnovo, Coinbase, Uquid (89 cryptos supported) and 2gether.

North American Crypto Debit Cards

With support for BTC, ETH, XRP, GUSD, USDC, PAX and BCH, Bitpay’s debit card remains one of the best options for U.S. residents. In fact, it’s available to U.S. citizens only. The card costs $9.95 and can be topped up using eight fiat currencies from the Bitpay wallet, then used anywhere that accepts Visa. Bitpay’s currency conversion fee stands at 3% of the transaction, and a $3 charge is due every time you use an ATM outside the U.S. Transaction limits are set at $10,000 a day and you can’t withdraw any more than $1,500 a day or $5,000 a month.

Wirex is planning to launch in the U.S. in the next month, however, meaning that American citizens will soon have another way to exchange their cryptocurrency for fiat.

Global Crypto Debit Cards

Singapore-based financial platform Paycent claims to have onboarded 94,000 customers to its crypto-fiat debit card since it launched in April 2018. While initially supporting only bitcoin, Payment now offers a wide range of cryptos – ETH, BNB, LTC, XRP and DASH included – and represents a global solution, accepted by 36 million merchants in 200 countries. With Paycent cards, you can convert your virtual currency into fiat then spend it online or in physical stores; you can also withdraw cash in the local tender at ATMs throughout the world.

Three Paycent cards are available: Ruby, powered by China Union Pay, has a daily spending/withdrawal limit of $5,000; Sapphire, powered by Union Pay International, has a daily spending limit of $5,600 and a withdrawal limit of $1,650; and Solitaire, powered by Mastercard, carries a daily spending limit of $13,000 and a withdrawal cap of $10,000. Each card costs $49, and while Ruby has no monthly fee, the other two cost $2 per month.

Launched in 2019, Crypterium‘s card lets you spend crypto at over 50 million merchants in 178 countries, as well as withdraw in fiat from 2.5 million ATMs. The physical and virtual card are priced together at $25 and there are no monthly fees unless you jump onto a Plus or Premium plan, where benefits include higher crypto-to-fiat transaction limit, priority support, a savings account, insurance and even a personal manager. Supported cryptos at present are bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and the native CRPT token, with transaction limits set at $10,000 (daily) and $60,000 (monthly).

Crypto.com’s MCO Visa card (formerly the Monaco Card) is quasi-global, in the sense that it’s available in the U.S., Europe and many countries in APAC. Five different cards are available, with MCO cashback paid in a tiered fashion (1-5%) on every purchase. Up to $120,000 per year can be withdrawn from ATMs with the MCO card, and for holders of the top-tier MCO card up to $1,000 can be withdrawn per month with no fee.

Crypto debit cards make the process of spending digital assets easier. After all, no one wants to jump through hoops selling their bitcoin on an exchange to fund lunch or coffee. If you want to use your tokens for everyday purchases, get yourself a debit card and start spending those satoshis.

Which crypto debit cards do you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.