Ripple
Ripple’s Policy framework for India, more like an expansion strategy
India has been noting great attention from the leading crypto businesses in the current time. Binance announced Thursday about joining the Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] to aid the growth of the blockchain industry in the country. Following Binance, Ripple has turned to India, a country that receives the highest remittance and could be one of the largest markets in the Asia Pacific in terms of remittances.
On 18 June, Ripple published a policy paper to provide Indian legislators with recommendations for a regulatory framework for digital assets. Even though the paper extensively covered the policies and regulations adopted by countries around the world to keep crypto in check, the paper’s main focus appeared on Ripple’s on-demand liquidity [ODL] service and XRP. Considering the population of crypto users and the remittances received and sent by Indians, it would be a great market for Ripple to enter. However, the current regulatory environment has been wary of Ripple’s services.
In March 2019, Ripple had partnered with a commercial private bank in the country, Federal Bank to enable it to use its cross-border remittance system. However, the draft bill surfacing and calling for a ban in crypto transactions did make matters complicated not only for crypto businesses in India but international businesses seeking to establish their presence in the country. Ripple has had a way with the regulators as in 2019, in an open letter to Congress the company urged for fair regulations for crypto when the world regulators were shaken by Facebook’s Libra announcement.
Ever since Ripple has expanded into Washington DC to remain close to the regulators and aid the office in regulations. Ripple may be looking at a similar game plan in India, but this time it was mainly business. Apart from detailing regulations around the world, the company has dedicated enough pages to convince the regulators about XRP’s use case in ODL transactions.
Nonetheless, the framework outlined a regulatory framework for the country that listed five steps from creating digital assets taxonomy to creating and enabling a framework for governing digital assets. These recommendations may be brought to the regulators when the conversation stirs back to crypto in the country.