By Staff Writer
Technology industry lobby groups and founders have urged India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, to include cryptocurrency and crypto assets in its fintech regulatory sandbox announced on May 8, the Economic Times has reported.
Cryptocoin and digital tokens are important components of the blockchain technology, the draft regulations appear to exclude testing of smart contracts and other approved blockchain technology under the sandbox, Nasscom said in a statement.
Nasscom said in a statement that the “decision to keep cryptocurrencies, trading of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings out of the purview of the regulatory sandbox is still not clear,” it said.
The trade body said that the other regulators in the developed world such as the United Kingdom permits cryptocurrencies into the sandbox, pointing out that letting them in would allow them to learn about the potential risks.
The chairman of the Payments Council of India (PCI), the payments industry lobby group, has also sought a more open-minded attitude from the part of the Indian regulators. Naveen Surya, the chairman emeritus of PCI, has been quoted as saying that the exclusion was uncalled for since there is no outright legal ban on cryptocurrencies in India.
