Powerful Indian Tech Lobby Urges Central Bank to Favor Bitcoin Startups
By CCN: Dominant Indian tech lobby, NASSCOM, is pushing the Reserve Bank of India to be inclusive with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin in its regulatory sandbox to shape the future of the country’s fintech industry.
NASSCOM, which represents the $154 billion Indian IT sector and is a powerful voice in the industry, is calling for the RBI to include crypto in its so-called ‘Draft Enabling Framework for Regulatory Sandbox’ after they shunned its inclusion in the official document on the framework, and excluded cryptocurrency, crypto trading and ICOs from testing.
Bitcoin inclusion
A NASSCOM spokesperson said including crypto in the framework would help the bank better understand the risks and opportunities presented by cryptocurrencies:
Since cryptocoins and tokens are an important component of the blockchain technology, the draft regulations appear to exclude testing of smart contracts and other approved blockchain technology under the sandbox.
The decision to keep cryptocurrencies, trading of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings out of the purview of the regulatory sandbox is still not clear.
The call is backed by the Payments Council of India (PCI), which is also seeking a more open regulatory structure.
Naveen Surya, chairman emeritus of PCI, said:
