hey guys how are you doing today so I'm
in this beautiful state of Uttarakhand
in India and doing some solo thinking
regarding what can be done for
blockchains in India there have been
lots of messages to me especially after
the inter-ministerial Committee under
the Department of Economic Affairs
Ministry of Finance in India there has
come up with a report stating that it
should be banned so I was just thinking
can something more be done can we ramp
up efforts so one of the key things in
that ground which which is iterated many
times in that draft is that crypto
currencies or crypto assets if I may say
but try to be compared with currencies
only the narrative I think that that the
narrative in India has been set wrong
why it has been set wrong because
whenever we talk about the term
cryptography we generally talk about say
tokens and when tokens and cryptography
get together the term crypto currency is
then created now this crypto currency
term it seems did not go down very well
with the Indian government and hence
when they compared crypto currencies per
se with the sovereign currency of the
country hence the report very strictly
mentions that it's only the government
of India which can issue the currency
notes so from that perspective there is
no doubt about this this notion that erm
the sovereign currency would still
remain that only Howard Howard how about
changing the narrative in India changing
the narrative wrong removing the term
currency out of crypto currency let let
me give you one example what happened
recently in Japan in Japan there they
are regularly updating the regulations
so one of the recent changes which gets
enacted from April 2020 is a very
interesting change Japan has done away
with the definition of virtual
currencies Japan
has done away with the definition of
virtual currencies and they have
replaced it with a more generic term
called cryptographic assets now this is
very interesting very interesting they
have removed virtual currencies
definition and replaced it with
cryptographic assets what is the focus
here what is the interpretation of
course that has yet to be enacted but
what is a current interpretation that we
are looking forward to here the app
current interpretation it seems is that
they are moving to a more mature
definition from virtual currencies to
cryptographic assets how about doing the
same thing in India can you achieve the
same thing in India can we can be
explained to the government or the
higher-ups in the authority that this is
not currency look at Japan that they are
removed or replace the term virtual
currencies with cryptographic assets of
course they're making more regulations
and they are making it more stricter
there are also talks that exchanges
might get specific licenses from 2020 in
Japan how about this example so our solo
thinking and this example just came up
which it's very simple however it can
actually help move the regulations in
the right direction in India how about
this a person goes and buys some
clothing say for example from Pantaloon
and whenever you buy our 2000 rupees say
a trouser from Pantaloon you get certain
points say or 200 say 200 points in a
certain card or a virtual card or it
gets connected to your mobile number so
the next time you go you can actually
get some discount of that 200 credit
that you've received from that as a
result of the previous purchases that
you've made now analyze this transaction
purchase one you paid 2,000 rupees in
kaien are you receive 200 points which
are then redeemable or exchangeable as a
discount in the next purchase that you
make now what is this in the next
purchase say for example you make
another purchase for 4000
Pease you get say 200 rupees off one
point equivalent to one rupee no one
talks about these points as currency no
one talks about these points at currency
and we easily do it it's it's purely
acceptable how about taking it a notch
higher you now book a certain flight
ticket and you receive what is called as
say points again from the website from
from where you've booked so that next
time you're able to get certain discount
again
now analyzing distant transactions you
get certain points which are then
redeemable for transactions to be done
in future how about merging these two
concepts together a portal that actually
allows a person to exchange the points
that you received from the clothing
company say pantaloons and you receive
certain points from the airline tickets
on yatra a person meeting Pantaloon
points and a person needing yatra points
are then exchanging each other's points
again I don't think so that the Indian
government or any government for that
matter would have challenges with such
transactions
this is where the first step towards
crypto assets gets developed can they
build a narrative in India like this
that bigger enterprises we feel going
forward will will make this point system
very mature and once these point systems
gets matured you will also have portals
or exchange platforms where you are able
to exchange one point I went from say
PDM versus one point I won't buy someone
else by booking a flight ticket
how about petrol points you put petrol
in your car and you receive certain
points
how about converting these points to a
person who's needing Pantaloon points to
purchase certain clothing this is the
first step towards building a crypto
exchange a swap an exchange between two
tokens can we explain it to the
government
can we change the narrative that these
points that are issued by certain bigger
organizations and we we feel that going
forward smaller organizations will also
step in every point that is then offered
by bigger organization has a tangible
value attached to it their words use
like Ponzi schemes in the draft that was
issued by the inter Ministerial
Committee by the Department of Economic
Affairs can be given explanation that
the intrinsic value of every point which
is then issue say from pantaloons
or from yatra or from petrol
actually has a tangible value attached
to it how about these points getting
generated this I feel should be the
first step towards explaining and
changing the narrative in India
I don't think so that the government
will have any problems to understand
that bigger organizations to reward its
customers will start giving points and
it does it already does future maybe one
year down the line five years down the
line you will have interoperability
between bigger organizations point
systems he then acquire different
companies points as per your need how
about adding another angle to it we
received one of the response from
Reserve Bank of India and to our RTI
which stated that the crypto assets do
not fall under the definition of foreign
exchange I know it is slightly debatable
but how about adding this fourth point
to it how about one organization in
India say an IBM having offices outside
India as well then allowing
inter-country exchanges of these points
someone here in India is willing to then
exchange points with someone say in
France say in Japan say in Spain now we
feel that this is surely about to come
and it will surely challenge and test
how the Indian regulators are thinking
we look at the Japanese example they are
getting far more mature when they are
coming up with terms like cryptographic
assets it is amazing can we also change
the narrative from calling kurtosis
Ponzi schemes if there is a tangible
business from where the intrinsic value
of the token is derived then the
narrative can this this notion can be
explained to the higher-ups men in the
Indian government
and of course that is that is what them
conform base of putting through
regulatory framework of allowing
companies to put their entire point
system on block chains and then from
those block chains you have
interoperability of points that I feel
should be the first step towards making
India blockchain ready what are your
thoughts there must be some techies
watching can you throw in more examples
that we can then try to discuss with the
government and change the current I
would say not so great blockchain seen
in India what are your thoughts about it
happy to hear your thoughts in the
comment section below thank you so much
for watching bye
