- RBI develops blockchain banking platform for financial institutions in the country
- India has taken very hard measures against digital assets
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank of the country, is currently working on a blockchain platform for banking in its R&D branch. The information was released in a report by BusinessLine on June 28. This is very important, considering that the country has been against cryptocurrencies and crypto-related projects in the space.
RBI Works With Blockchain Technology
The central bank of India is currently working on a blockchain platform that aims at hosting and supporting different blockchain applications. The goal is to launch the service next year and help banks and financial institutions have their needs attended.
As reported by the director of The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology, RBI’s R&D branch, the platform will also be supporting blockchain-based apps for governmental agencies in banking.
Although the bank seems to be moving towards distributed ledger technology (DLT), the bank and the whole country have never been in favor of virtual currencies and digital assets. Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies can be transacted in India, but the lack of clear regulations and pressure on different companies operating in the country has affected the whole ecosystem. Indeed, many cryptocurrency exchanges had to leave the country searching for new places where to operate.
On June 27, the co-founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Koinex, Rahul Raj, informed that they were shutting their operations down due to governmental pressure. The RBI has also specified that cryptocurrency projects, including Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), and crypto exchanges would not be permitted in the regulatory sandbox project that they were preparing for different companies.
According to The Economic Times, Facebook is not expected to be registering its virtual currency Libra with the RBI. This is despite the fact that there are several countries and regulatory agencies around the world that have already requested information about how Libra works.
There are many other banks around the world that are already using blockchain technology to offer better services to clients around the world. One of them is JP Morgan Chase that created its own blockchain network called Quorum and a digital currency, the JPM Coin.
