Is Central Bank of India Exploring Blockchain?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working on the development of a blockchain platform for banking at its R&D center according to the reports by BusinessLine.

The blockchain platform will host a number of blockchain applications and is expected to launch next year. According to the director of The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology RBI’s R&D center this kind of platform is being designed to serve banks. The platform is being developed for blockchain applications for the government in banking.

While RBI seems to be moving forward into the blockchain industry, it has historically never been keen on cryptocurrencies. In April this year, the RBI specified that cryptocurrency projects, including initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges, would not be permitted in its regulatory sandbox project, unlike blockchain tech.

Earlier this month, reports by The Economic Times additionally revealed that social media giant Facebook is not attempting to register its upcoming virtual currency Libra with the RBI, possibly due to the banks ban on serving the cryptocurrency-related business.

Some previous reports reported that banks in South Korea are also exploring blockchain tech while remaining averse to cryptocurrency adoption. Similarly, the South Korean government does not permit ICOs in the country.

Korean crypto influence Hyun-sik ‘Soso’ Choi has commented on the state of blockchain and crypto in South Korea and said that the Korean banks are jumping into the blockchain field. According to him, this proves there is huge interest in the technology from traditional finance, all the attempts are on the tech side. He also said that they are ignoring the cryptocurrency part.