Indian Officials Visit Regulators in Japan, UK, Switzerland to Study Crypto

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has sent officials to Japan, the UK, and Switzerland to study cryptocurrency and initial coin offerings from each of the three countries’ financial regulators. The securities watchdog aims to engage with international regulators and gain a deeper understanding of their crypto mechanisms and systems in order to improve its own process.

Officials Sent to Japan, UK, and Switzerland

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) revealed in its annual report 2017-18 that it sent some officials to three countries to study how the regulators there deal with cryptocurrencies.

For the fiscal year 2017-18, the regulator detailed:

RBI Also Observes Foreign Regulators

SEBI is not the only Indian regulator to pay attention to other jurisdictions. Recently, the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), published its annual report for 2017-18 with a section on cryptocurrency. After referencing how a few foreign regulators deal with crypto, the central bank wrote:

When the circular was issued in April, Quartz quoted Shubham Yadav, co-founder of Indian crypto exchange Coindelta, commenting that “several firms are looking at registering their head offices out of India.” The news outlet added that these locations include Singapore, Switzerland, Estonia, Malta, Japan, Dubai, and the Cayman Islands.

Crypto Regulations in India

The Indian government has been working on cryptocurrency regulations. According to Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, the proposal was supposed to be ready in July. Garg heads the panel, set up in December last year, tasked with proposing crypto regulations. However, it was reported earlier this month that the regulations are unlikely to be ready before the year-end.

Meanwhile, the country’s supreme court is hearing all petitions against the central bank’s crypto banking ban on September 11. SEBI will also be at the hearing. The crypto industry is hopeful that the court will lift the ban imposed by the RBI.