Bitcoin News and Finance India’s Central Bank Reveals 50,000 Users and 5,000 Merchants Now Using Digital Rupee Skip to main content

India’s Central Bank Reveals 50,000 Users and 5,000 Merchants Now Using Digital Rupee

India's Central Bank Reveals 50,000 Users and 5,000 Merchants Now Using Digital Rupee

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has revealed that 50,000 users and 5,000 merchants are now using its central bank digital currency (CBDC). Digital rupee transactions are currently processed by eight banks, with five more banks set to join the pilot soon, said RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar.

Digital Rupee Now Has 50,000 Users

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar said Wednesday that the central bank’s digital currency pilot has reached its first milestones.

The RBI official revealed that India’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) now has 50,000 users and is accepted by 5,000 merchants. The retail digital rupee pilot, which began on Dec. 1 last year, is taking place in five Indian cities but the central bank plans to gradually add nine more cities. So far, about 770,000 digital rupee transactions have been processed by eight banks. The RBI plans to add five more banks to the pilot soon.

The central banker emphasized that the Reserve Bank of India intends to move forward cautiously with the digital rupee initiative to prevent taking actions without a full understanding of their potential impact.

“We have our targets in terms of users, in terms of merchants. We will go slowly,” he stressed, elaborating:

We want the process to happen, but we want the process to happen gradually and slowly. We are in no hurry to make something happen so quickly.

India’s largest retailer, Reliance Retail, announced last week that it plans to accept payments in digital rupees. The retail chain has partnered with ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and fintech Innoviti Technologies to add support for the central bank’s digital currency in its gourmet store line Freshpik across the country.

According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker, 114 countries, representing over 95% of global GDP, are currently exploring a central bank digital currency.

RBI Still Skeptical of Cryptocurrencies

Meanwhile, India’s central bank has continued to recommend a complete ban on cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has warned that cryptocurrencies are a risk to the country’s financial system and will cause the next financial crisis if they are not banned.

Moreover, the RBI governor said last month that “cryptocurrency does not have any underlying value,” warning that “It will undermine the authority of the RBI and lead to the dollarisation of the economy.” Other RBI officials have similarly cautioned that crypto could lead to the dollarization of a part of India’s economy “which will be against the country’s sovereign interest.”

What do you think about the progress of the digital rupee pilot? Let us know in the comments section below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Blogarama - Blog Directory