CBDC Can Give Global Exposure to Indian Currency: WazirX CEO

The Genesis Block Conference 2020, held in Bangalore on January 25^th, 2020, witnessed Nischal Shetty, the Co-founder and CEO of WazirX, the largest Cryptocurrency exchange in India, talking about the utmost need of India’s introducing its own CBDC. Launching its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) will enable Indian Currency to get global exposure which is the most desirable thing for the economic development of the nation.

The software developer turned entrepreneur, Shetty, in his speech on how launching own CBDC can have positive impacts on the country’s future said,

The biggest benefit I see is access to capital that India will get with blockchain’s introduction, which India needs for its growth.

At the conference, Shetty talked about the 3 most promising benefits that blockchain technology and Crypto can bring in for the nation’s development. He said besides providing access to cheaper capital in India, it would create hundreds of job opportunities in the form of Crypto startup companies, once the government starts taking positive steps towards mass adoption of Crypto and DLT (digital ledger technology). Lastly, the crypto adoption would bring the unbanked clans under the banking periphery of the nation.

With the market welcoming new players now, many other nations are also giving it a thought of launching their own CBDCs. Shetty opined that India too, should make immediate arrangements in launching its own CBDC before it is too late.  Because until now, not many nations have the concept of CBDCs. But a time will come when other rival nations will also set their ball rolling by launching their own CBDCs, thus overshadowing the prominence of Indian currency in the market. Then it will be difficult for India to enter the global market. To this Shetty said,

If other countries come up with their own digital currency before India and they start spreading it across, what will happen is India will never have the opportunity to have rupee as a global currency someday. But right now it’s open. The market is open. Anyone can jump in.

WazirX has been recently acquired by the global Crypto leader Binance, which, according to Shetty, will positively impact the Crypto space of the nation. With Binance’s support, WazirX will see speedy expansion and mammoth economic development.