The bank still claimed that government bodies and regulators in India are both “skeptical” and “apprehensive” about crypto.
Less than a year after the Indian supreme court overturned the
Reserve Bank of India’s ban on crypto businesses, and the bank’s
position on digital assets is looking slightly more bullish.
According to a booklet on payments released today
by the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI, the bank is “exploring the
possibility as to whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat
currency.” The bank added that if it found a need, it would look into
ways to put digital currency into use.
The RBI booklet
acknowledged the popularity surrounding cryptocurrencies worldwide, but
claimed that Indian regulators and local government bodies are both
“skeptical” and “apprehensive” about them. The bank refers to central
bank digital currencies as legal tender in the country, but also called
them “a central bank liability in digital form.”
India’s
government has had a complicated relationship with digital currencies.
Last March, the country’s supreme court effectively overturned a blanket ban on crypto
that the RBI had imposed on crypto businesses since April 2018. The
number of exchanges has grown in response to the supreme court ruling,
but many in the crypto space have expressed their concerns over the
future of the industry in the nation.
Such a large bank developing a digital currency could easily further crypto adoption in India
and beyond. RBI reported that there has been an “exponential growth of
digital payments” in the country with a 12.5% and 43% increase by volume
and value since 2011, respectively. The bank added it may expand
adoption by targeting “the generation which is most responsive to
technology and digital age” — people born between 1982 and 2004.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/reserve-bank-of-india-exploring-the-possibility-of-a-digital-currency
