Indian Financial Authorities Visit Regulators in Japan, UK and Switzerland on Crypto Study Tour

The Securities and Exchange Board of India reports that it has sent officials to Japan, the UK and Switzerland on a crypto study tour. The traveling officials aim to examine the relationship between cryptocurrency and financial regulators.

As detailed in its annual report, India’s government has gotten deeply interested in cryptocurrency since instituting a nationwide ban in July preventing financial institutions and regulated entities from participating in any crypto-related activity.

SEBI’s annual report explains that it regularly conducts study tours as a means of gaining a deeper understanding of the systems and mechanisms used by financial regulators in other countries. The report explains that previous study tours have generated a great deal of beneficial insights into how SEBI can improve its own internal processes:

“SEBI organised study tours to Financial Services Agency (FSA) Japan, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) UK, and Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) Switzerland to study initial coin offerings and cryptocurrencies…These study tours help engage with the international regulators and gain [a] deeper understanding of the systems and mechanisms.”

As mentioned above, the Reserve Bank of India has begun to deepen its interest in the potential use cases for cryptocurrencies on a federal level. The RBI’s annual report claims that the RBI is continually examining how other regulating bodies are responding to the developing market. Last week, news surfaced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central bank, has even expressed interest in introducing a rupee-backed digital currency.

“On a global level, regulatory responses to cryptocurrency have ranged from a complete clamp down in some jurisdictions to a comparatively ‘light touch regulatory approach’,” reads the RBI’s annual report. “Japan and South Korea account for the biggest shares of crypto asset markets in the world.”

The RBI states that it’s “keeping a close watch on cryptocurrency.”