Despite maintaining a strong position against cryptocurrency, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced in its annual report for 2017-2018, published on Wednesday, the establishment of an interdepartmental committee charged with creating a cryptocurrency mechanism for financial transactions in the country.
Price bubbles in cryptocurrencies market still raising concerns of the RBI
The RBI devotes a full section to cryptos in the annual report 2017-2018, under the title “Cryptocurrencies: Evolving Challenges,” in which it begins by ratifying the strong cryptocurrency regulatory policy that this institution has deployed against cryptos across India.
“Although cryptocurrencies do not pose systemic risks at present, their growing popularity leading to price bubbles raises serious concerns in the area of consumer and investor protection, as well as for market integrity,” said the Reserve bank of India (RBI) in its Annual Report 2017-2018.
The Reserve Bank of India plans on launching a crypto token to conduct financial transactions across India
On August 10th, local sources reported the creation of an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) composed of members of the RBI, the Ministry of Information Technology and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). This committee is responsible for considering the launch of a crypto token for financial transactions in India, including a set of regulations and a roadmap for its use.
“Rapid changes in the payment industry, coupled with factors such as the emergence of private digital tokens and the rising costs of managing fiat currency, have led central banks around the world to explore the option of introducing digital fiat coins. In India, an interdepartmental group has been set up to study and provide guidance on the feasibility of introducing a crypto token issued by the central bank,” the Annual Report 2017-2018 of RBI reads.
Even though the RBI kept its negative stance regarding cryptocurrencies, they plan on releasing a crypto token to conduct financial transactions across India.
