Blockchain evangelist Jehan Chu has noted that despite India lagging behind other countries in adoption of the technology, it has the advantage of using work that has already been done to maximise blockchain’s potential.
Mr. Chu was speaking on the sidelines of the International Blockchain Congress on Friday where he said that India can start on a ‘clean slate’ as it does not carry ‘baggage’ which blockchain and cryptocurrency come with, such as ‘the idea’ that it is associated with drug trade and money laundering.
“In India, you have a clean slate. You don’t have so much of a legacy kind of concept of what Bitcoin necessarily is. You actually have the ability to create government backed, endorsed, as well as socially valuable infrastructure in blockchain technology so that when you are introducing blockchain and cryptocurrency to the wider public, you can do it in a way which is more consistent with the actual potential of cryptocurrency and blockchain and not with just what it started from,” he said.
Most technologies started in the ‘shadows’ and once they develop, they serve the public.
“I think in India, you are actually able to start leveraging the development that has already been done and create strong structures and develop use cases with integrity,” he said.
Touching upon the Reserve Bank of India’s stand on cryptocurrency, Mr. Chu hoped that it would carry out more research and open up regulation. “It is important for the government to take a stand and responsibly regulate cryptocurrency. There needs to be regulatory clarity so that the average person knows it is okay to do things and not in the shadows.”
