India’s Maharashtra state has begun preparing policies to tokenize up to 50% of selected electricity transmission assets to finance new power lines and solar energy storage facilities.

Maharashtra considers tokens tied to power revenue

Praveen Pardeshi, chief economic adviser to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and CEO of the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation, outlined the plan at The Box Launch, an invitation-only event held at the World Trade Center in Mumbai.

Real estate tokenization company RealX and MST Blockchain hosted the event, where Pardeshi described how Maharashtra could use digital tokens to raise money against revenue-producing state assets without selling the assets outright.

Under one possible structure, the state could tokenize 40% to 50% of an electricity transmission line. Investors who purchase the tokens would then receive a share of the income earned by Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company, commonly known as Maharashtra Transco.

Pardeshi said Maharashtra could direct the capital raised through token sales toward additional transmission lines. Funding could also support storage centers designed to hold solar power until electricity demand rises.

Rather than transferring full control of the infrastructure to private owners, the proposed model would allow investors to take part in the income generated by a defined portion of a public asset. Pardeshi described tokenization as a financing tool that could open public infrastructure development to more citizens.

Detailed terms have not been disclosed, including which transmission assets could enter the program, how token holders would receive revenue, who could invest, or which blockchain network would record ownership. The state has also not announced the size or timing of a possible token sale.

Limited grid capacity leaves solar power unused

Maharashtra’s interest in new financing stems partly from a mismatch between its solar power output and transmission capacity, according to Pardeshi.

The state produces more solar electricity than it can use during certain periods, yet its grid cannot always move the power to areas where demand exists. Without enough transmission lines and storage, low-cost electricity generated during surplus hours may not be available when consumption reaches its daily peak.

Pardeshi said electricity can be traded for as little as two paise per unit on the power exchange when supply exceeds demand. During peak hours, however, distribution companies may have to purchase power at rates ranging from 16 rupees to 18 rupees per unit.

Energy storage facilities could hold part of the daytime solar surplus and release it later, while new lines could carry electricity from generation sites to consumption centers. Maharashtra plans to use proceeds from any infrastructure tokenization program for both types of projects, based on the model presented at the event.

Token holders would rely on the revenue rights and legal protections attached to each asset rather than owning the entire physical transmission line. The final structure would therefore need to define how income is calculated, distributed, and recorded, as well as what rights investors would have if revenue falls below expectations.

Liquidity would present another consideration for any tradable version of the tokens. As crypto.news reported in September, the value of tokenized real-world assets had reached $34.6 billion, but only $3.79 billion was being used within protocols, leaving about 89% of the issued value inactive.

Falcon Finance chief RWA officer Artem Tolkachev said in the report that low utilization should be assessed against an asset’s intended use. A token designed primarily to distribute yield may still serve its purpose without frequent trading, while an asset created for use as collateral would face a different test.

DELTA Act would set rules for property tokenization

Alongside its power infrastructure proposal, Maharashtra is drafting the Maharashtra Digital and Land Token Asset Trading Act, known as the DELTA Act.

If enacted, the proposed law would make Maharashtra the first Indian state to adopt legislation specifically covering blockchain-based property tokenization, according to details presented at The Box Launch. The available information does not provide a legislative timetable or state whether a draft has reached the Maharashtra legislature.

Pardeshi used Mumbai’s Express Towers commercial building to explain how property tokenization could operate. The building was tokenized through a real estate investment trust structure, dividing an interest in the property into smaller investment units.

A June 2026 explainer described real-world asset tokenization as the process of representing rights to an off-chain asset through tokens recorded on a blockchain. Depending on the legal structure, a token may represent ownership, income rights, debt, or another contractual claim.

In Maharashtra’s proposed infrastructure model, the legal connection between a token and Maharashtra Transco’s revenue would be central. Blockchain records alone would not determine whether investors hold enforceable claims; those rights would depend on the state’s legislation, offering documents and contractual framework.

Pardeshi also rejected the idea that tokenizing a portion of a government asset automatically amounts to privatization. Under the model he presented, the state would continue creating and operating public infrastructure while token buyers would participate financially in the asset’s revenue.

U.S. rules show why token rights matter

For American investors, any access to Maharashtra-linked tokens would depend on the eventual offering terms and applicable U.S. securities rules. No plan has been announced to market the proposed tokens in the United States or make them available through U.S.-registered platforms.

Recent disputes involving stock tokens show why the legal rights attached to a digital asset matter. Robinhood’s conflict with AMC Entertainment raised questions over third-party tokens linked to publicly traded shares, including whether buyers receive the same rights as shareholders in the underlying company.

Robinhood’s tokenized stock products cited in the September report were offered through an offshore unit and were unavailable to U.S. users. AMC CEO Adam Aron objected to an AMC-linked product created without the company’s approval, while Robinhood said the tokens followed the value of the underlying shares through a custodial structure.

Maharashtra’s proposal differs in form because the state is considering a direct financing arrangement tied to public infrastructure revenue. Pardeshi’s presentation indicates that Maharashtra would establish the model through state policy and the proposed DELTA Act, though the final investor protections, eligibility requirements, trading rules and revenue-distribution process remain subject to the legislation and any later offering documents.

The U.S. Department of Justice has restrained more than $52 million in cryptocurrency while targeting wallets and online channels linked to the Xinbi Guarantee scam network.

Tether said in a Sep. 11 statement that the DOJ credited the stablecoin issuer’s “proactive assistance” in an operation against Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language marketplace linked to international scam groups.

The coordinated action restrained more than $52 million in cryptocurrency in one day. U.S. authorities also seized two wallets that Xinbi allegedly used to receive about $12 million in payments and sought restraint orders covering 47 additional wallets tied to suspected money laundering.

Xinbi operated as a service hub rather than a single scam site. According to U.S. authorities and blockchain researchers, its vendors connected fraud groups with money launderers, operators of fake investment platforms, and recruiters involved in human trafficking.

DOJ targets Xinbi’s financial infrastructure

Instead of focusing only on individual fraud schemes, the enforcement action went after the payment tools that supported Xinbi’s marketplace. Vendors allegedly used the platform to advertise services, receive payments, and move proceeds from online scams through cryptocurrency wallets.

The two wallets targeted for seizure had collected about $12 million in payments, Tether said. Restraint requests involving another 47 wallets expanded the action to addresses that U.S. authorities associated with money laundering activity.

A post from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia described Xinbi as a Chinese-run network and confirmed that authorities restrained $52 million during the operation. The office said the action raised the Scam Center Strike Force’s running enforcement total to $938 million.

Authorities did not say in the available announcements whether every restrained wallet contained USDT or identify the other digital assets involved. The disclosed figures also refer to different legal steps: two wallets were seized, while the government sought restraints against 47 others.

Xinbi’s payment network had drawn scrutiny well before the latest DOJ action. Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic estimated in May 2025 that the marketplace had processed at least $8.4 billion in transactions since 2022, according to a report on Xinbi published by Wired.

Elliptic linked the market to money laundering, stolen data, fake investment operations and services used by human trafficking networks. Wired also reported that the business behind Xinbi had been incorporated in Colorado in 2022, giving the case a direct U.S. connection beyond the use of dollar-linked cryptocurrency.

By April 2026, Elliptic estimated that Xinbi’s cumulative transaction volume had reached $21 billion. The firm recorded another $505 million in transactions during the 19 days after the United Kingdom sanctioned the marketplace in March 2026, Wired reported.

Tether assists with wallet restraints

Tether’s involvement gave authorities access to controls that do not exist in the same form for assets such as Bitcoin. As the issuer of USDT, the company can block specific tokens held at identified addresses after receiving valid requests from law enforcement.

CEO Paolo Ardoino said criminal groups should not assume that using cryptocurrency places their funds outside the reach of investigators. According to Ardoino, stablecoin infrastructure allows authorities to trace transactions and stop illicit funds when the relevant wallets have been identified.

Tether said it has worked with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 67 countries. The company attributed more than $5 billion in frozen assets connected to suspected illicit activity to that cooperation.

The Xinbi action is not the first U.S. case in which Tether has helped investigators trace or control stablecoins. In June 2025, the DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint covering about $225.3 million in cryptocurrency connected to investment fraud affecting more than 400 suspected victims.

According to the DOJ complaint, the FBI and U.S. Secret Service traced seven groups of Tether tokens through a laundering network after Tether and crypto exchange OKX flagged suspicious accounts in 2023. The government alleged that the funds came from confidence-based investment scams, often called “pig butchering” schemes.

Reported losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud reached $5.8 billion in 2024, according to an FBI figure cited in the earlier DOJ case. Such schemes commonly begin when fraudsters build trust through social media, messaging services, or dating platforms before directing victims to fake investment websites.

Xinbi rebuilt after an earlier Telegram purge

Telegram blocked channels connected to Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee in May 2025 after researchers documented their alleged role in crypto scams and money laundering. The two Chinese-language markets had processed more than $35 billion combined since 2021, according to Elliptic data cited by Reuters.

Telegram said at the time that scamming and money laundering violated its terms. Xinbi, however, later returned through new channels, while other guarantee marketplaces absorbed business displaced by the removals.

By June 2025, Elliptic found that Tudou Guarantee, a market partly owned by Huione Group, had more than doubled in size and was handling about $15 million in daily crypto payments. Xinbi had also rebuilt its user base, demonstrating that removing messaging accounts had not eliminated the payment networks behind the marketplaces.

The guarantee-market model provided escrow and deposit services intended to keep vendors from cheating their customers. Researchers said operators used the same structure to connect scam groups with sellers of stolen data, laundering services, telecommunications tools and equipment linked to forced-labor compounds.

In Southeast Asia, some scam centers have relied on trafficked workers who were recruited with false job offers and then forced to contact potential victims. U.S. authorities have treated the fraud committed against investors and the trafficking of workers as connected parts of the same criminal system.

U.S. agencies increase pressure on crypto scam networks

The Xinbi operation adds to a series of actions by the DOJ, FBI, Secret Service, and Treasury against overseas networks accused of targeting Americans through fake cryptocurrency investments.

U.S. enforcement has included wallet seizures, civil forfeiture complaints, website takedowns and sanctions against financial companies accused of processing scam proceeds. In each type of action, authorities must identify the specific assets, accounts, or infrastructure connected to the suspected offense.

Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network took separate action against Cambodia-based Huione Group in May 2025, identifying it as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern. FinCEN said Huione had laundered at least $4 billion in illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2025.

According to FinCEN’s findings, the total included at least $37 million linked to North Korean cyber theft, $36 million from crypto investment fraud, and $300 million from other cyber scams. The agency also cited weak or absent anti-money laundering and customer-verification controls across Huione’s business network.

Three events could shape currency markets this week, with UK inflation and two key central bank decisions scheduled within just two days.

In this video, Gary Thomson looks at the latest UK inflation data, the Federal Reserve’s unusually uncertain rate decision and the Bank of Japan’s expected policy tightening — and what they could mean for GBP, USD and JPY.

👉 Key topics covered:

✔️ UK Inflation — 16 September — With inflation risks building again ahead of the Bank of England’s September meeting and the UK government’s October Budget, could stronger price growth increase expectations for another BoE rate hike later this year and support the British pound?

✔️ Fed Interest Rate Decision — 16 September — Markets are pricing in around a 62% probability of a 25-basis-point hike. With a September hike far from fully priced in, the decision itself could trigger a notable market reaction. Economic projections and the press conference may have an additional impact on the US dollar.

✔️ BoJ Interest Rate Decision — 18 September — Markets expect a 25-basis-point rate increase, with USD/JPY already falling to its lowest level since February 2026. Could signals about further quarterly hikes provide additional support for the Japanese yen?

With GBP, USD and JPY all sensitive to changing rate expectations, these three events could bring volatility to currency, commodity and equity markets.

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