Daily Crunch: India’s proposed cryptocurrency ban creates path for official digital currency

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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for November 23, 2021! Yes, we are one day closer to Thanksgiving. No, you still can't stop working. One more day! One more day! But before we get into the news, a reminder that our space event is dialing closer and closer. - Alex

TechCrunch's Top 3

• Apple sues NSO: If you read international political news, you have probably heard of the NSO Group. Governments have used their hacking tools to spy on dissidents and journalists alike. Turns out Apple has had it with the group's "Pegasus nation-state spyware", as TechCrunch put it. So Apple is suing the NSO Group, calling the company "immoral mercenaries of the 21st century who have created highly sophisticated cyber surveillance machinery that invites flagrant and routine abuse."

• India seeks to ban cryptocurrencies: A plan to "introduce, evaluate and enforce a bill to ban 'all private cryptocurrencies' in the country" is slated to come with the winter legislative session in India. That it would not be the first country seek to supplant private market blockchain technology with plans for a national digital currency. China is another one of those countries. The bill may include exceptions, but it is not a promising trend for India's crypto sector.

• Forget about unicorns; we need new terms: Remember when startup unicorns were rare and reaching a billion dollar valuation was big news? It was some time ago. Now, with more than 900 unicorns around the world, the term has lost its meaning. What should we replace it with?

Startups / VC

• AR tomatoes: London-based Dent Reality wants to bring augmented reality, or AR, to the grocery store. Sure, there's a lot of talk these days about the metaverse thanks to Facebook's parent company, but smaller, more specific AR products could have a place in our collective future. The startup just raised $ 3.4 million.

• Your AI therapist will see you now: UK-based startup ieso has raised a whopping $ 53 million Series B for its work to bring cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to its country's National Health Service (NHS). According to the company's website, it is "integrating artificial intelligence and automation" into the therapy market.

• Verbit uploads (again) for AI transcription software: Transcribing words from audio is big business. Many people get paid to do it by hand. There are startups like Otter that are also competing in space. But Verbit surely has more money than its competitors, having just closed a $ 250 million Series E at a $ 2 billion valuation less than half a year after its latest raise. The company combines software and humans in its approach.

• Peek shows that Doing Things is making a comeback: If Airbnb allows you to rent houses, Peek allows you, or your business, to rent experiences. And the company just got a round of $ 80 million with a valuation of $ 2 billion. We assume that the investment means that people are away from home again, despite the remaining risks of COVID.

• Today's news from BNPL Land: The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) boom continues this week, with TruePay raises $ 23 million for its Brazilian solution and Industry giant Klarna launches "buy now" option.

• Column tax preparations for tax season with new round: Filing taxes in the United States is as much fun as fixing a car in the dark, alone, without tools. It's a mess, thanks in part Intuit deliberately spending money to ensure that you can continue to collect tax preparation income. Regardless, Column is targeting the younger market, integrating with the technology that people already use, and hopes to have its tax preparation service in time for US tax season.

• And because it's that time of year here's a TechCrunch gift guide with a hint of chlorophyll.

Einride founder Robert Falck on his moral obligation to electrify autonomous transport

The story continues

Image credits: Bryce durbin

Swedish autonomous transportation company Einride recently raised $ 110 million to finance its expansion into the United States. In partnership with US brands such as Oatly and GE Appliances, the company will operate autonomous trucks and autonomous electric vehicle pods that connect to Saga, its proprietary IoT system.

Founder and CEO Robert Falck spoke with TechCrunch on why you think climate tech solutions are more likely to come from startups and why you don't believe in Level 5 autonomy, where a vehicle can perform all driving tasks under any conditions.

(TechCrunch + is our membership program, helping founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

• Maybe Square buying Tidal ends up being good? When the fintech consumer and the commercial payments company Square bought Tidal, there was a fair amount of head scratching. Well, it seems they both had plans. The music service has partnered with DistroKid to offer "a direct payment system for artists." TechCrunch placed the new work under Tidal's broader rubric "experimenting with streaming payment models that are believed to distribute funds more equitably to musicians who don't get millions of streams on any given day."

• NASA launch satellite for the express purpose of harassing large space rocks: If you are an asteroid, be careful. NASA wants to give you a boost. And it's launching the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission to do so. Jokes aside, having the ability to deflect rocks out of the way of Earth is a good idea, as long as you're not in favor of wrapping up our global experiment with highly evolved primates.

• Forget drone boats, how about helicopter recovery? Do you want to catch a rocket booster? You can do it in several ways. SpaceX has little flat boats for work. Rocket Lab wants to get its Electron rockets out of the air with helicopters. Either way, the approaches are better than the old method of allowing boosters just kersplat in the ocean.

• If you're on the business side of things, our very own Ron Miller has a good blog about what are you waiting for - waiting for? - hear from the new AWS boss next week.

• Netflix games, redux: We're watching Netflix's push into gaming with some attention, as it's a notable pivot of the streaming service. Word has spread that the US video company is releasing "a reboot of Asphalt Xtreme from Gameloft, which was officially shut down in September." Is that a cool thing? It's hardly a AAA rate, but Netflix has to do anyway something different to stand out.

TechCrunch experts

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