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- India has one of the most fertile ecosystems for cryptocurrencies’ business exploitation
- Legal and government hindrances may be a show-stopper, but the success of existing systems provide optimism
India has had a long, drawn-out skirmish with the concept of cryptocurrencies. Plagued with problems such as looming terrorist threats, cryptocurrencies that provided a certain degree of anonymity did not always seem like the best option to move forward. However, as the world is fast adapting to new trends, India must avoid playing catch-up in the future.
A tug-of-war between RBI and the Centre
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier issued a directive to all financial entities to avoid any contact with firms engaging in cryptographic asset trades or management. Several crypto firms took to the Supreme Court, which provided a verdict in their favor, making RBI’s directive invalid. The government had been a mute spectator all this time, thus leading to a wholly legal and regulatory void in this sector. In recent times, however, the Centre’s attitude seems to have changed to a more welcoming one, evident from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s comments that India would take a calculated and calibrated approach in this arena. This is good news for crypto exchanges and maybe also for the whole economy.
Skilled labor and inexpensive internet
With a population of about 1.3 billion, India has a very skilled workforce who are pretty adept with the latest global economic trends. Moreover, the country also has one of the cheapest data rates globally, with 1 GB costing a mere $0.26. Such factors will surely help enable extensive scale adoption of cryptocurrencies if released.
Moreover, the country already has experience in such massive economic operations, visible from its Unified Payments Interface (UPI). This one-of-a-kind project was a resounding success. “Aadhar” is another monumental project that provides a fast, reliable, and secure way of transactions when linked with UPI. Cryptocurrencies can be integrated with Aadhar to reap the same benefits, albeit transactions are a lot slower to process due to its inherent blockchain-based design. However, once introduced, it is sure to be one of the most significant crypto undertakings in the world.
Much work still needs to be done in this sector, but India must realize that the time to act is now. India needs to ensure that it is not left behind, especially on the current economic, FinTech, and technological fronts.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
