19th May 2021, Kathmandu
In a notable move that will streamline cryptocurrencies, S&P Dow Jones recently started three indices linked to Bitcoin and Ethereum; they are the most popular digital tokens, with the list expected to expand to include other digital coins later in the year.
Meanwhile, back home in India, some banks are severing ties with crypto interchanges and other entities directly involved with the digital assets. The country’s largest private-sector banker ICICI Bank has directed some payment gateway partners to block transactions with merchants facilitating buying or selling cryptocurrency. These are similar steps to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 2018 directive that disallowed banks and non-banking financial institutions under its ambit to carry any crypto-related transactions. The Supreme Court had set apart RBI’s circular in March 2020.
The Indian government solved the regulatory labyrinth in the high time, as per industry stakeholders, to not just safeguard investor’s money but also provide a clear direction to financial institutions.
The Indian government can follow suit and introduce a regulatory sandbox for startups to innovate. Edul Patel, co-founder and COO, mudrex, a digital asset interchange and a platform that allows cryptocurrency traders to automate trading strategies. A regulatory sandbox will allow supervised space to test various technologies, understand their use cases and how they can pose some regulatory challenges.
