- The Indian government has encouraged continued blockchain technology experimentation, a stark contrast to the reception it is giving cryptocurrencies.
- Blockchain adoption across India’s service sectors is believed to have a potential of adding an extra $5 billion to the economy.
- Currently, the Indian government is observing how other countries are dealing with cryptocurrencies.
In India, the reception cryptocurrency usage is getting is a far cry from the attention blockchain adoption is receiving.
While the country is still skeptical about cryptocurrency, it has embraced the underlying blockchain technology wholeheartedly. In fact, Eleven01, a blockchain protocol developer in India partnered with Tech Mahindra in an effort to further boost the country’s blockchain adoption.
Developing India’s First Homegrown Blockchain Protocol
The team behind Eleven01 is confident about their ability to pull off a major breakthrough—bring India to the forefront of the blockchain revolution. With their ecosystem, the Eleven01 team believes blockchain adoption can skyrocket while allowing other innovators access to their economy at the same time.
Rama Iyer, the president and chief product officer of Eleven01 gave a possible explanation as to why the Indian government favours blockchain adoption over crypto usage.
He said blockchain, akin to other technologies like ML, AI, and data analytics offers end customers with certain features, values, and characteristics. He also added that blockchain is not something the government blindly favours. Rather, it is something it is adopting and integrating in different departments based on merit.
As far as crypto is concerned, Iyer explained it’s still in its early days and as such, is still outside the ambit of any overseeing body. While it is interesting that crypto can be used to raise capital faster, many scam projects have unfortunately also given it a bad rep.
For Iyer, the Indian government does not only have a pragmatic view of crypto, they are also still in the process of finding ways to regulate it before fully accepting it in the business setting.
Hindrances to Legalising Crypto
Since India has the second largest population in the world, its economy is undoubtedly massive. Understandably, the government carefully weighs all the key components first prior to adopting any new framework, financial instrument, or policy.
According to Iyer, “Cryptocurrency has the added colour of store-of-value, trading, and various ways where people are using it to launder money and for other illegal activities. This is definitely a challenge for any government of any country.”
Iyer also added that the Indian government does not want money launderers and other shady characters to use cryptocurrency for questionable activities so they are still studying how other countries are dealing with it.
He added “There is no said deterrent per se but a cautious approach to ensure there is enough regulation before cryptocurrency can be allowed as a legal instrument.”
Becoming the Global Center for Blockchain Innovation
Iyer firmly believes India has the potential to become a global center for blockchain innovation. In fact, during the International Business Congress which was Asia’s largest blockchain event, the government of Telangana expressed its intention to build a “Blockchain District.” He concluded:
“There is a lot of interest and keenness to learn about blockchain adoption in other governments worldwide and explore areas to go after first. There is also a multitude of Proof-of-Concept projects that are happening across the government apparatus and some of it I’m sure will get into mainstream production systems pretty soon.”
