India’s Central Bank to Embrace Blockchain Soon

By Prashant Jha

The Reserve Bank of India, the country’s apex bank, is reportedly working to develop a blockchain platform to facilitate banking processes. This move is being undertaken by its research and development branch, according to a recent report by BusinessLine.

The blockchain platform is supposed to host several different blockchain applications, and will be launched sometime in 2020. This will act as a model platform created for the purpose of serving banks and their complex processing needs.The platform is apparently meant to specifically meet the needs of the government in the banking arena and as the director of The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology, RBI’s R&D branch said, it has been designed “for blockchain applications for the government in banking.”

Despite RBI’s newfound interest in blockchain, it has so far not been too positive about an allied form of technology: cryptocurrencies. In fact, in the month of April it had even categorically stated that ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), crypto exchanges and virtual assets will not be included as a part of its regulatory sandbox project, even though crypto would be.

Historically, the government of India and the country’s central bank have not been too keen on allowing the crypto market to flourish within its borders, even though blockchain has been embraced at several levels of the administration.

Clearly, the RBI is in no hurry to change that stance just yet. As far as cryptocurrencies are concerned, India continues to be a no-go for crypto enthusiasts. With the government’s ban still in place, interested people are often shelling out a premium of $500 to get their hands on Bitcoins during its latest bull run.

Yet, RBI’s interest in blockchain tech seems to be quite poignant and could have a great implication as far as the populace’s blockchain literacy is concerned.