Yes, it is the real deal. The airdrop is being managed by Magnum Wallet. You'll find the announcement with the link to the bot in their Ann channel: https://t.me/magnumwalletannn

If it becomes a law, this amounts to full fledged banning. And on top of this, they are mulling enforcing a state-backed crypto: https://qz.com/india/1418897/after-strangling-bitcoin-india-may-launch-its-own-cryptocurrency/
While they keep calling it crypto, it will probably be a CBDC which is basically fiat in digital form. And the panel which set out to "study and research" crypto's effects in India constitutes RBI, SEBI and Ministry of Finance officials. All 3 bodies have been anti-crypto from the start. Not sure if Govt enforces a crackdown, there is much that can be done except for an appeal to the Supreme Court. Though, even that seems like a losing battle considering the petition filed by crypto exchanges against the banking ban is still awaiting a hearing date from the Court after the last set of hearings got over several weeks back.

We can't afford to be left behind. Again. I remember commenting on this thread earlier this year about Kazakhstan banning crypto (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3232750) without even realising that we could be in their shoes before the year ends  

I think the cryptosphere, in general, will also lose out if a billion people are suddenly cut out of crypto completely. Other countries could take cue from this and start banning crypto too. This is now everybody's battle and should raise a hue and cry across the world.

+1
It's just a funny spot. Not to be taken too seriously.
That bit is probably an extension of Ronny Chieng's previous coverage on cryptocurrencies for The Daily Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRItzSX0aCM

Agree with dabsV12 on this. The helplessness is palpable. Authorities here are intent on outlawing every other crypto other than the state backed one: https://qz.com/india/1418897/after-strangling-bitcoin-india-may-launch-its-own-cryptocurrency/

From the article: What’s worse is that the government may also kill or ban the existence of other digital currencies if a government-backed cryptocurrency is rolled out.

“The panel is also discussing amendment of the Currency Act to make possession of any cryptocurrency, not approved by the government, a punishable offence,” said the government official.

Funny thing is the authorities invited crypto exchange reps to learn about crypto and then stopped banking services to them. We are now in the august company of only two other countries that are planning to or have already implemented a state-backed crypto, Venezuela and Iran. And just like always we will look on while the rest of the world progresses.

Update. This just came in: https://www.ccn.com/indian-govt-panel-could-propose-illegalizing-holding-of-unregulated-crypto-assets-report/

While I thought that we could not go further backwards, looks like I underestimated the powers that be. This is heartbreaking to say the least. TBH, I have nothing more to say  

Nah, not finished really. It's been going on for quite some time and this is a pretty old piece of news that keeps popping up from time to time. But it's stuff like this that causes knee-jerk reactions here like banking services ban on crypto.

His twitter page is very depressing to be honest. A lettered man like him being spiteful all the time in his regular communication. Surely he must have some benefit from the constant FUD. Otherwise, how can someone learned keep spewing malice like "crypto barking dog", "stinking cesspool", "brainless dwarf" etc.?

That is one of my major worries. All this uncertainty and confusion will leave us way behind while the rest of the world progresses on.

Thanks for the link. That's a scary timeline indeed.

Yup. Next hearing will be most likely on 22-Oct-18: https://twitter.com/cryptokanoon/status/1050386026475245573

Yup. He has always been a crypto detractor no matter what the market does. Just putting this out there, this is Roubini in 2013: https://twitter.com/nouriel/status/324105305464131584 

Hey bubblebubble, rewards for each phase are distributed weekly approx. 2 weeks after a phase ends. Rewards for week 7 onwards are a bit delayed though since the Team is working on the product beta, but confirmations (of amt to be distributed) have been received on time. So Phase 2 rewards got distributed approx. during Phase 4, Phase 3 rewards went out during ~Phase 5 and so on. Just make sure that you submit claim every week on https://cryzen.com/bounty

It got solved by 3 guys and they split the amount between themselves (can be seen in the txn link posted by NeuroticFish above). There was a dedicated community of people trying to solve it in the Neon District Discord. They announced the puzzle getting solved and being split by 3 people. So there's only BTC dust left in the wallet now.

Here's the Reddit thread maintained by the person (Pip) who set up the puzzle: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/9kq7it/introducing_the_310_btc_bitcoin_challenge/

This is the official response to anything crypto: https://www.ccn.com/indias-securities-regulator-tight-lipped-on-crypto-regulation-inquiry-reveals/

TLDR: Unsatisfactory and incomplete response from regulator to queries on its research and work so far on crypto, study tours to crypto friendly nations etc.

RTI (Right to Information) Application filed by Blockchain Lawyer (https://twitter.com/Blockchainlaw91): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SLFxZjhf-vwhwXZo__IU6pWt0rPmtUwv/view

Revert by SEBI: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cQh2sCmguHndVG_Vid5Oslgl01MQz9NT/view

SEBI is India's securities market regulator. And they largely reflect the sentiment of the Reserve Bank and the Govt. Looks like the uncertainty wrt official stance on crypto will continue for quite some time. Will try to keep this thread updated with the latest on the Indian situation if and when I find the time.

So Period 10 is the last bounty phase? Aw shucks! Really enjoyed this while it lasted. Great stuff. Especially the Learn Python bounty.

Would be interesting to watch how Dash does in this situation and especially post launch of Petro in November.
So far, Dash has been adopted by quite a few Venezuelan merchants (more than 50% of Dash accepting merchants are from Venezuela; https://twitter.com/StayDashy/status/1048678327693856768). And to top it all, there are allegations of Petro being a Dash lookalike.
Personally, I don't think a state-backed (in this case, state enforced) crypto like Petro will do well anywhere outside the country. Venezuela had offered a 30% discount to India if they purchase oil with crypto but they declined the offer (https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/India-Wont-Pay-For-Venezuelan-Oil-With-Petro-Cryptocurrency.html).

Rightly said. He is now a part of history. Laszlo Hanyecz is also one of the early contributors to bitcoin code and in multiple interviews has mentioned that he does not regret parting with the 10k BTC (For example, https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-pizza-guy-laszlo-hanyecz-on-why-bitcoin-is-still-the-only-flavor-of-crypto-for-him). In fact, most early bitcoin adopters/developers gave away a lot of BTCs. In fact, Gav Andresen (who is also one of the early devs) had created a faucet in 2011 that gave away a total of 10k BTCs (@5 BTC/person/day) that he had supposedly purchased for only 50$.

You're welcome

And with that, my 100th post in the forum. Woot woot!

Detailed some steps to follow to avoid scam ICOs here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5024445.msg46019400#msg46019400

But the most important point of all is to find whether it is absolutely necessary to have the coin/token in the first place (i.e. would the project not be possible without a coin/token Eg. ETH for smart contracts) or whether having the coin/token actually solves an existing problem/fills a gap (Eg. Streamr - data ownership and tokenization) or whether it's a novelty item that captures a niche market (Eg. cryptokitties). If any of the above is true, then it is an ICO worth exploring.

Ah, this was cool!
For TLDR fans: 2 Pizzas -> iPad -> 1oz Gold -> Berkshire Hathaway Class A share -> Tesla Model S -> Ellen Degeneres’ ranch -> first Superman comic book -> 2 special edition Lambos -> Paul Newman’s Rolex -> Mark Rothko’s No. 6 -> Lockheed Martin F-35A jet -> Excellence V yacht
It has been a roller coaster ride indeed. But we are just getting started. Transactions topped USD 1B only last year. For anybody interested, there is a Twitter handle that tracks the value of those 2 pizzas in US dollars everyday: https://twitter.com/bitcoin_pizza?lang=en

For sure! Exchanges have started P2P with escrow services. And it works very well already. Tried that for the first time few days back. Fiat transfer + transfer confirmation + crypto transfer took less than a minute all together. Fiat transfer took the majority of the minute.

To add to what mrcastelo said above, almost all signature and bounty campaigns pay in their own tokens/coins. Campaigns that pay in BTC (For example, Merit.me) are mostly restricted to Senior Members. The Merit project signature campaign's lowest rank requirement was Senior Member.
To earn BTC, you can try surveys and odd jobs online from bitcoinget.com but don't get your hopes up about making a lot . For example, each of the surveys there take ~20-30 minutes to complete and pay ~10k sats.

There's no easy answer to this. But it probably has some relation to 2 other pieces of news:
1. RBI (India's Central Bank) mulling a Central bank digital currency i.e. CBDC (https://cointelegraph.com/news/reserve-bank-of-india-confirms-it-is-looking-into-making-a-central-bank-digital-currency)
2. The Govt. sending teams to Japan and Switzerland to study crypto (https://cointelegraph.com/news/india-sends-officials-to-us-japan-and-switzerland-to-study-cryptocurrency-and-icos)
The Court is probably waiting for expert reports on these studies before reaching a final verdict. Because the appelants (crypto lobbyists, exchanges) have already made their final set of submissions last week itself. So nothing is left from their end.