Wipro Develops Blockchain Banking Solution For Thai Bank, RBI Remains Passive

Wipro, India’s major IT Technology firm has partnered with R3 consortium to develop a decentralized banking system for Thailand’s central bank which would allow the bank to settle dues with other banks through a decentralized network using digital currency.

The decentralized project is named project lnthanon, which was launched by the Thailand central bank back in August 2018. The current banking solution in the form of a decentralized network comes under the first phase of the project, which will be followed by further blockchain initiatives. Wipro in a statement said,

“Developed as part of the first phase of Project lnthanon, the solution will enable de-centralised interbank real-time gross settlement (RTGS) using wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to prove that the technology can perform key functionalities of payment and enhance efficiency.”

While Indian Firms Are Helping Other Nations, RBI Remains Passive

Wipro is helping Thailand’s central bank in their blockchain initiative, while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), another major IT recruiter has teamed up with Ripple to help it simplify its cross border transactions. India’s major tech firms have been quite bullish on blockchain and cryptocurrency, while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is quite passive in their stance.

In April 2018, the RBI also announced that they are looking to issues a Central Bank issued Digital Currency (CBDC). However, the plan was put on hold after a three-month-long feasibility study, which was not put in the public domain. The study was followed by a banking ban on crypto use, which led to many crypto exchanges in the country to shut their operations due to difficulty in getting banking services.

While countries around the world including Singapore, UK, France, Sweden, and Cambodia are working extensively on making crypto use feasible and most of them are looking to issue CBDC, India’s approach and stance are quite passive. The only reason they have given is uncertainty and privacy features might lead to crypto related crimes.

Final Thoughts

India has the potential to become a major part of the crypto revolution, but the governance and central banks are over cautious over the use of crypto. The main problem is, they are not ready to hear from the stakeholders of the decentralized space, and since they believe that can’t completely control it, it is not worth legalizing.