The Central Bank of India has formed a new subdivision, which will study the issues of creating regulatory frameworks for brokers, cryptocurrencies and related technologies.
According to a Monday Economic Times report citing sources familiar with the matter, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched a new unit about a month ago to "explore and possibly develop rules" for the new technologies.
"As a regulator, RBI also has to explore new emerging areas to find out which of them can be adapted to the current system and which ones are not ... This department works on an experimental basis and will evolve over time".
Even though RBI has not officially announced the formation of the group, the news follows a statement from the central bank itself.
Early last year, the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), founded in the 1990s RBI, completed the testing of the block-platform. As indicated in the report published by the RBI in February, IDRBT tested the proof of the concept of settling trade finance transactions through a distributed network involving several parties, including banks and payment providers.
In addition, last autumn the government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh announced the conclusion of a strategic partnership agreement with WISeKey, a company dedicated to providing cybersecurity to protect the data of Indian citizens through blockchain technology. And in August of this year, the Telangana government began to cooperate with the multinational IT services giant Tech Mahindra to create an area for blockchain-startups in the state capital. This also confirms the authorities' interest in technology and the need to develop appropriate regulation.
In addition, in the middle of the month there was information that India will introduce rules for the regulation of the cryptocurrency industry by the end of this year. It is expected that in autumn the decision will also be made regarding the ban on banking services for crypto-exchange companies, which was initiated by the Central Bank of the country in April this year. It is possible that the first bills that regulate the cryptocurrency and blockchain-industry, will appear on the eve of the trial, which is scheduled for September 11.