Regulatory uncertainty regarding cryptocurrencies continues to cause a fair bit of confusion. Nevertheless, countries around the globe are looking to issue their own national digital currencies. It remains to be seen if any nation will actually do so, although it appears India may be closest to doing exactly that. Its currency is allegedly going by the name of Lakshmi, although most specifications remain unknown at this time.
What is India Planning With Lakshmi?
All of this information is subject to heavy debate, as there is no statement from official sources confirming this project even exists. That is not entirely surprising, considering other countries are exploring similar concepts and current plans may differ wildly from end results. There is a lot of merit to creating central bank digital currencies, but no country has fully tested let alone implemented one yet.
That being said, there are rumors circulating about the new digital currency in development by the Reserve Bank of India. The RBI recently confirmed it has no immediate plans to oppose Bitcoin, even though some form of regulation is in the drafting stage. No one knows for sure if this will be positive or negative for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, though. Nor do we know how long it will take until something tangible comes to fruition.
All of this makes it even more intriguing to consider how the RBI may be working on their own national digital currency. In a way, such a currency makes a lot of sense for India. The country has been focusing on digital payment efforts for quite some time now. A lot of people use their mobile devices to complete transactions on a regular basis, which goes to show there is a good chance digital currency and even cryptocurrencies may succeed in this country over the next few years.
This makes the Lakshmi project all the more intriguing, assuming there is any truth to it in the first place. The Reserve Bank of India is not comfortable with non-fiat cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, that does not necessarily warrant the introduction of a national digital currency either, although it would make an odd sort of sense in a way.
According to RBI Executive Chairman Sudarshan Sen, there is a group “looking at fiat cryptocurrencies.” That is still a rather vague statement, but it leaves little to the imagination when looking at the bigger picture. This statement does not mean India will create its own central bank digital currency in the near future, though. The concept is merely being explored, as creating the Lakshmi will not be easy.
A lot of interesting things are set to happen in India moving forward. The regulation of cryptocurrencies is one of the main priorities right now. Exploring ways to create the Lakshmi is something else entirely and may not even impact the regulation of existing cryptocurrencies whatsoever. For now, there is very little information out there regarding the exact purpose of this particular venture.
