Government mulling India's own cryptocurrency

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The central government is considering a proposal to introduce its own cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin, according to a report in the Business Standard.

The idea to set up a blockchain for financial use was found useful by a committee of government officials who discussed the proposal.

According to the report, the government might name the cryptocurrency "Lakshmi".

Vaibhav Parikh, Partner, Nishith Desai Associates, told the newspaper, “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."

Earlier, Sudarshan Sen, Executive Director, RBI had spoken about the central bank's discomfort with Bitcoin. He had also hinted at a need for India to have its own cryptocurrency.

China, Russia and Estonia are also considering having their own cryptocurrencies.