#FactCheck- Viral Image Falsely Claims RBI Has Issued New ₹500 Plastic Note Replacing Gandhi With Ashoka Pillar
Executive Summary
An image of a purported new ₹500 plastic banknote is being widely shared on social media. Users claim that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued the new note and replaced Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait with the Ashoka Pillar.The CyberPeace Research Wing research found the claim to be misleading. The probe revealed that RBI has not issued any new ₹500 plastic banknote. Furthermore, no official announcement or decision has been made regarding the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait from Indian currency and its replacement with the Ashoka Pillar.
Claim
An Instagram user shared the viral image with the claim: “RBI has issued a ₹500 plastic note in which Mahatma Gandhi’s image has been removed and replaced with the Ashoka Pillar.” The claim has been widely circulated on social media, with many users sharing the image as genuine. The post link, archived version, and screenshot can be seen below.
Fact Check
To verify the claim, we conducted a keyword search on Google. However, we found no credible media reports suggesting that RBI had issued a new ₹500 plastic note featuring the Ashoka Pillar in place of Mahatma Gandhi. We then searched the official RBI website for any notification or announcement related to the claim. Our search yielded no official communication supporting the viral claim.
During the research, we also came across a report published by Business Standard. According to the report, the Reserve Bank of India is exploring the possibility of introducing polymer (plastic) currency notes in the future. The report states that RBI is studying and discussing the proposal in view of the growing global adoption of polymer notes and their greater durability. However, the report does not state that RBI has already issued a new ₹500 plastic note. Nor does it mention any decision to remove Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait from existing currency notes and replace it with the Ashoka Pillar.
- https://www.business-standard.com/finance/news/rbi-set-to-unveil-polymer-rupee-notes-amid-rising-currency-demand-126052801725_1.html
Conclusion
The research found that the viral claim is misleading. RBI has not issued any new ₹500 plastic banknote, and there has been no official announcement or decision to replace Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait on Indian currency with the Ashoka Pillar.
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Executive Summary
A shocking video claiming to show snakes raining down from the sky is going viral on social media. The clip shows what appear to be cobras and pythons falling in large numbers instead of rain, while people are seen running in panic through a marketplace. The video is being shared with the claim that it is the result of “tampering with nature” and that sudden snake rainfall occurred in an unidentified country. (Links and archived versions provided)
CyberPeace researched the viral claim and found it to be false. The video does not depict a real incident. Instead, it has been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
Fact Check
To verify the authenticity of the video, we extracted keyframes and conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens. However, we did not find any credible media report linked to the viral footage. We also searched relevant keywords on Google but found no reliable national or international news coverage supporting the claim. If snakes had genuinely rained from the sky in any country, the incident would have received widespread media attention globally. A frame-by-frame analysis of the video revealed multiple inconsistencies and visual anomalies:
In the first two seconds, a massive snake appears to fall onto electric wires, yet its body passes unrealistically through the wires — something that is physically impossible. The snakes falling from the sky and crawling on the ground move in an unnatural manner. Instead of falling under gravity, they appear to float mid-air. Around the 9–10 second mark, a person lying on the ground has a visibly distorted hand structure, a common artifact seen in AI-generated videos.
Such irregularities are typical indicators of AI-generated content. The viral video was further analyzed using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which indicated a 96.5% probability that the video was AI-generated.
Additionally, image detection tool WasitAI also classified the visuals in the viral clip as highly likely to be AI-generated.
Conclusion
CyberPeace ’s research confirms that the viral video claiming to show snakes raining from the sky is not authentic. The footage has been created using artificial intelligence and does not depict a real event.
Introduction
Law grows by confronting its absences, it heals through its own gaps. States often find themselves navigating a shared frontier without a mutual guide or lines of law in an era of expanding digital boundaries and growing cyber damages. The United Nations General Assembly ratified the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime on December 24, 2024, and more than sixty governments were in attendance in the signing ceremony on 24th & 25th October this year, marking a moment of institutional regeneration and global commitment.
A new Lexicon for Global Order
The old liberal order is being strained by growing nationalism, economic fracturing, populism, and great-power competition as often emphasised in the works of scholars like G. John Iken berry and John Mearsheimer. Multilateral arrangements become more brittle in such circumstances. Therefore, the new cybercrimes convention represents not only a legal tool but also a resurgence of international promise, a significant win for collective governance in an uncertain time. It serves as a reminder that institutions can be rebuilt even after they have been damaged.
In Discussion: The Fabric of the Digital Polis
The digital sphere has become a contentious area. On the one hand, the US and its allies support stakeholder governance, robust individual rights, and open data flows. On the other hand, nations like China and Russia describe a “post-liberal cyber order” based on state mediation, heavily regulated flows, and sovereignty. Instead of focusing on ideological dichotomies, India, which is positioned as both a rising power and a voice of the Global South, has offered a viewpoint based on supply-chain security, data localisation, and capacity creation. Thus, rather than being merely a regulation, the treaty arises from a framework of strategic recalibration.
What Changed & Why it Matters
There have been regional cybercrime accords up to this point, such as the Budapest Convention. The goal of this new international convention, which is accessible to all UN members, is to standardise definitions, evidence sharing and investigation instruments. 72 states signed the Hanoi signature event in October, 2025, demonstrating an unparalleled level of scope and determination. In addition to establishing structures for cooperative investigations, extradition, and the sharing of electronic evidence, it requires signatories to criminalise acts such as fraud, unlawful access to systems, data interference, and online child exploitation.
For the first time, a legally obligatory global architecture aims to harmonise cross-border evidence flows, mutual legal assistance, and national procedural laws. Cybercrime offers genuine promise for community defence at a time when it is no longer incidental but existential, attacks on hospitals, schools and infrastructure are now common, according to the Global Observatory.
Holding the Line: India’s Deliberate Path in the Age of Cyber Multilateralism
India takes a contemplative rather than a reluctant stance towards the UN Cybercrime Treaty. Though it played an active role during the drafting sessions and lent its voice to the shaping of global cyber norms, New Delhi is yet to sign the convention. Subtle but intentional, the reluctance suggests a more comprehensive reflection, an evaluation of how international obligations correspond with domestic constitutional protections, especially the right to privacy upheld by the Supreme Court in Puttaswamy v. UOI (2017).
Prudence is the reason for this halt. Policy circles speculate that the government is still assessing the treaty’s consequences for national data protection, surveillance regimes, and territorial sovereignty. Officials have not provided explicit justifications for India’s refusal to join. India’s position has frequently been characterised by striking a careful balance between digital sovereignty and taking part in cooperative international regimes. In earlier negotiations, India had even proposed including clauses to penalise “offensive messages” on social media, echoing the erstwhile Section 66A of the IT Act, 2000, but the suggestion found little international traction.
Advocates for digital rights such as Raman Jit Singh Chima of Access Now have warned that ensuring that the treaty’s implementation upholds constitutional privacy principles may be necessary for India to eventually endorse it. He contends that the treaty’s wording might not entirely meet India’s legal requirements in the absence of such voluntary pledges.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised the agreement as “a powerful, legally binding instrument to strengthen our collective defences against “cybercrime” during its signing in Hanoi. The issue for India is to make sure that multilateral collaboration develops in accordance with constitutional values rather than to reject that vision. Therefore, the path forward is one of assertion rather than absence, careful march towards a cyber future that protects freedom and sovereignty.
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Introduction
Purchasing online currencies through one of the numerous sizable digital marketplaces designed specifically for this purpose is the simplest method. The quantity of cryptocurrency and money paid. These online marketplaces impose an exchange fee. After being obtained, digital cash is stored in a digital wallet and can be used in the metaverse or as real money to make purchases of goods and services in the real world. Blockchain ensures the security and decentralisation of each exchange.
Its worth and application are comparable to those of gold: when a large number of investors choose this valuable asset, its value increases and vice versa. This also applies to cryptocurrencies, which explains why they have become so popular in recent years. The metaphysical realm is an online space where users can communicate with one another via virtual personas, among other features. Furthermore, money and commerce always come up when people communicate.
Web3 is welcoming the metaverse, and in an environment where conventional currency isn't functional, its technologies are making it possible to use cryptocurrencies. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) can be used to monitor intellectual rights to ownership in the metaverse, while cryptocurrencies are used to pay for content and incentivise consumers. This write-up addresses what the metaverse crypto is. It also delves into the advantages, disadvantages, and applications of crypto in this context.
Convergence of Metaverse and Cryptocurrency
As the main form of digital money in the Metaverse, digital currencies can be used to do business and exchange in the digital realm. The term "metaverse" describes a simulation of reality where users can communicate in real time with other users and an environment created by computers. The acquisition and exchange of virtual products, virtual possessions, and electronic creativity within the Metaverse can all be made possible via cryptocurrency.
Many digital currencies are based on blockchain software, which can offer an accessible and safe way to confirm payments and manage digital currencies in the Metaverse. By giving consumers vouchers or other electronic currencies in exchange for their accomplishments or contributions, cryptocurrency might encourage consumer engagement and involvement in the Metaverse.
In the Metaverse, cryptocurrency can also facilitate portable connectivity, enabling users to move commodities and their worth between various virtual settings and platforms.
The idea of fragmentation in the Metaverse, where participants have more ownership and control over their virtual worlds, is consistent with the decentralised characteristics of cryptocurrencies.
Advantages of Metaverse Cryptocurrency
There are countless opportunities for creativity and discovery in the metaverse. Because the blockchain is accessible to everyone, unchangeable, and password-protected, metaverse-centric cryptocurrencies offer greater safety and adaptability than cash. Crypto will be crucial to the evolution of the metaverse as it keeps growing and more individuals show interest in using it. Here are a few of the variables influencing the growth of this new virtual environment.
Safety
Your Bitcoin wallet is intimately linked to your personal information, progress, and metaverse possessions. Additionally, if your digital currency wallet is compromised, especially if your account credentials are weak, public, or connected to your real-world identity, cybercriminals may try to steal your money or personal data.
Adaptability
Digital assets can be accessed and exchanged worldwide due to cryptocurrencies’ ability to transcend national borders. By utilising a local cryptocurrency, many metaverse platforms streamline transactions and eliminate the need for frequent currency conversions between various digital or fiat currencies. Another advantage of using autonomous contract languages is for metaverse cryptos. When consumers make transactions within the network, applications do away with the need for administrative middlemen.
Objectivity
By exposing interactions in a publicly accessible distributed database, the use of blockchain improves accountability. It is more difficult for dishonest people to raise the cost of digital goods and land since Bitcoin transactions are public. Metaverse cryptocurrencies are frequently employed to control project modifications. The outcomes of these legislative elections are made public using digital contracts.
NFT, Virtual worlds, and Digital currencies
Using the NFT is an additional method of using Bitcoin for metaverse transactions. These are distinct electronic documents that have significant potential value.
A creator must convert an electronic work of art into a virtual object or virtual world if they want to display it digitally in the metaverse. Artists produce one-of-a-kind, serialised pieces that are given an NFT that may be acquired through Bitcoin payments.
Applications of Metaverse Cryptography
Fiat money or independent virtual currencies like Robux are used by Web 2 metaverse initiatives to pay for goods, real estate, and services. Fiat lacked the adaptability of cryptocurrencies with automated contract capabilities, even though it may be used to pay for goods and finance the creation of projects. Users can stake these within the network virtual currencies to administer distributed metaverses, and they have all the same functions as fiat currency.
Banking operations
Lending digital cash to purchase metaverse land is possible. Banks that have already made inroads into the metaverse include HSBC and JPMorgan, both of which possess virtual real estate. "We are making our foray into the metaverse, allowing us to create innovative brand experiences for both new and existing customers," said Suresh Balaji, chief marketing officer for HSBC in Asia-Pacific.
Purchasing
An increasingly important aspect of the metaverse is online commerce. Users can interact with real-world brands, tour simulated malls, and try on virtual apparel for their characters. Adidas, for instance, debuted an NFT line in 2021 that included customizable peripherals for the Sandbox. Buyers of NFTs crossed the line separating the virtual universe and the actual world to obtain the tangible goods associated with their NFTs.
Authority
Metaverse initiatives are frequently governed by cryptocurrency. Decentraland, a well-known Ethereum-based metaverse featuring virtual reality components, permits users to submit and vote on suggestions provided they own specific tokens.
Conclusion
The combination of the virtual world and cryptocurrencies creates novel opportunities for trade, innovation, and communication. The benefits of using the blockchain system are increased objectivity, safety, and flexibility. By facilitating exclusive ownership of digital assets, NFTs enhance metaverse immersion even more. In the metaverse, cryptocurrencies are used in banking, shopping, and government, forming a user-driven, autonomous digital world. The combination of cryptocurrencies and the metaverse will revolutionise how we interact with online activities, creating a dynamic environment that presents both opportunities and difficulties.
References
- https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/blog/metaverse-and-cryptocurrencies-what-is-their-relationship/
- https://hedera.com/learning/metaverse/metaverse-crypto
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unleashing-power-connection-between-cryptocurrency-ai-amit-chandra/
