Future Tech

Lakshmi: government moves to introduce cryptocurrency

A new cryptocurrency seems to pop up on a fairly regular basis, starting with Bitcoin it wasn’t long before we had Dogecoin and, the latest of the bunch, Ethereum, looks set for big things – to name just a few.

India’s government, meanwhile, has taken a more arms-length approach to cryptocurrencies until now having nurtured a distrust of Bitcoin. However, growing popularity and a reported 50,000 Bitcoin wallets in India might be what he spurred the Indian government to think again.

The Indian government is now looking to implement its own form of cryptocurrency according to Business Standard. A committee of government officials have come to the conclusion that blockchain technology would be useful for official financial services. The government retains its scepticism towards Bitcoin but suggested instead it might set up its own cryptocurrency.

The new cryptocurrency might be called ‘Lakshmi’ after the Goddess of Wealth, as per Hindu traditions, who is prayed by billions during the holy festival of Diwali.

Vaibhav Parikh, partner at Nishith Desai Associates, told Business Standard, “I won’t be surprised if the government comes up with its own cryptocurrency because banks are trying blockchain as a technology and to make blockchain work it would need some cryptocurrency. Since it doesn’t trust Bitcoin it may come up with their own currency.”

According to Economic Times The State Bank of India is in partnership with some of tech’s biggest names, including IBM, Microsoft, Skylark and KPMG plus ten commercial banks. The Blockchain system would be used to tackle fraud and bad loans, both of which are particularly acute problems in India, with bad loans accounting for 20% of Indian bank’s loan book.

The People’s Bank of China, Bank of Japan, European Central Bank and the Dutch Central Bank are all currently in the midst of dedicated trial or research programs to implement blockchain technology.

Ben Allen

Ben Allen is a traveler, a writer and a Brit. He worked in the London start-up world for a while but really prefers commenting on it than working in it. He has huge faith in the tech industry and enjoys talking and writing about the social issues inherent in it's development.

Recent Posts

The latest innovations propelling humanity’s space exploration & geospatial abilities forward

Humanity is constantly trying to make sense of the great beyond, namely space. For this,…

2 days ago

Navigating the future of semiconductors: The critical role of IP management in advancing chiplet technology

As technology evolves, industries are seeking more efficient, high-performance semiconductor solutions to power the next…

3 days ago

KIP unveils first truly autonomous self-learning Superior AI Agents

KIP Protocol, the Web3 Base Layer for AI, launched what are called Superior AI Agents, the…

3 days ago

Robotics industry set to reach even more impressive heights in 2025

As lower cost AI models boost adoption, this global investor believes we’re on the cusp…

4 days ago

X outage: “X remains one of the most talked about platforms making it a typical target for hackers marking their own territory”

Yesterday, Elon Musk's social media site X experienced three separate outages, which Musk attributed to…

5 days ago

New tech on the block: Streaming, Gen AI, telecom, Fintech, EdTech, security, biotech & 3D printing

The Tech Panda takes a look at recent tech launches. Streaming: BSNL launches BiTV for…

5 days ago