Indian central bank leaders speak out on digital currency

Earlier this month, the governor and two deputy governors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central bank, made statements about bitcoin at a gathering, hinting at ongoing discussions on bitcoin regulation in the region.

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor斯利•R•甘地addressed the FIBAC 2015 banking conference on technological breakthroughs and financial HP held in Mumbai on August 25.

At the end of his speech, he mentioned two topics: digital currency and crowdfunding. Gandhi acknowledged that digital currency technology has the potential to subvert the traditional financial market, but he also worried that if digital currency is not regulated, it may also lead to some adverse consequences.

“Cryptocurrencies and crowdfunding have the potential to be used to support criminal and other anti-social behaviour, such as money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion. We have not received any reports of criminal activity using crowdfunding, but we are very skeptical (and the public is very skeptical) that cryptocurrencies could support financial crime. We must therefore monitor developments in the digital currency space closely.”

Gandhi acknowledged that digital currency technology could help financial inclusion and could also help solve problems in transaction settlement.

Last year, the Indian government revealed that the Reserve Bank of India was already exploring digital currency technology. As early as December 2013, the bank warned of the problem of digital currency and said it had begun investigating the technology.

Deputy Governor萨博哈什•修拉坦•蒙德拉said coordination among global regulators is necessary to reduce volatility and crime risks in digital currencies, The Economic Times reported.

“Digital currency technology is a global innovation…it will require global coordination rather than some kind of framework in one region.”

Earlier, Reserve Bank of India Governor拉古拉姆•拉詹revealed the bank's policy on digital currency.

According to The Financial Express, Rajan told a conference hosted by the State Bank of India that a careful investigation must be carried out before the central bank decides on any action.

“Until we have a better understanding of digital currency technology, we should not intervene strongly in it. We can observe and study it. But we must monitor it closely, which means we must be more active in collecting intelligence, preventing some obviously illegal behavior, and gradually attracting the attention of law enforcement agencies to digital currency.”