Industry leaders upbeat about crypto in India, want to stay ahead in the game

The FUD around the ban on cryptocurrencies in India has created an uncertain environment for crypto exchanges. Ecosystem players working in spaces like non-fungible tokens and blockchain are also in a tizzy. Needless to say, amid panic selling, crypto proponents urged investors to remain calm, and avoid arriving at any rushed conclusions.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the CEO of leading online payment platform Paytm is currently trending within the crypto community. According to reports, in an interactive session organized by ICC virtually, Sharma discussed his views on digital assets amidst a sea of uncertainty. He said,

“I am very positive about crypto. It is fundamentally based on cryptography and will be the mainstream technology in a few years like the internet which is (now) part of daily life.”

‘Everybody is confused’

At press time, even though, there aren’t any confirmed regulatory steps for these tokens, demand for cryptocurrencies has surged to a massive scale. However, there still are different speculations concerning its future. But, the CEO thinks otherwise.

“Every government is confused. In five years, it will be the mainstream technology”.

He held out hope that soon, (in the future) people will realize the importance of cryptocurrencies, yet “it will not be a replacement of the sovereign currency,” Sharma opined. Not so long ago, Madhur Deora, the company’s CFO too had expressed a similar optimism concerning cryptocurrency adoption.

In addition to this, other enthusiasts in the country also shed light on the sheer importance of cryptocurrencies. Some even portrayed a FOMO narrative, if the Indian government kept delaying crypto-centric regulations. Ashish Singhal, Founder and CEO of crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber opined in an interview,

“We cannot be the late movers in accepting crypto. We already missed the first bus of Internet 1.0. Today 70% of our revenues go to US-based tech giants. We are a net importer of technology. We import over $10 billion of this technology every year and it is expected to grow to $45-30 billion over the next 3-4 years.”

“Early participation in cryptocurrencies could give India the chance to become a net exporter of crypto and blockchain technology,” Singhal added.

Having said that, regulations still remain a big question mark. All eyes are on the upcoming bill in the winter session of the parliament. The government aims to introduce the cryptocurrency bill in Parliament starting 29 November.