Reliance’s Blockchain Dream for India and How BlackRock and Modi Will Play a Role in It
Adekunle Joshua
On Aug 27, 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended and addressed the B20 summit
He touched several topics among which emerging technologies like blockchain, crypto and AI received a good spot
This comes when the Reliance Group, through its subsidiary Jio Financial Services, took a decision to kickstart blockchain development with Blackrock
PM Modi said global consensus is required to regulate and make frameworks around disruptive technologies like AI (and also crypto)
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI Chief Shaktikanta Das remain vocal critics of cryptocurrencies
Sitharaman said at the G20 meet that there was a need for G20 members to come together to regulate crypto
RBI Chief Shaktikanta Das has been far ahead in criticizing cryptocurrencies and has often towed the line of other central banks across the world
Jio Financial, a subsidiary company of Reliance Group, which is led by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, has forayed into the blockchain development space with an aim to create Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
On July 26, 2023, Jio announced that it formed a 50:50 joint venture with BlackRock, a company that has already went deep into crypto with its spot Bitcoin ETF