In a country as large as India, managing data among various departments, jurisdictions and States is a major challenge. Indian Government is taking strong steps to maintain data privacy based on the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) introduced by the European Union. Our country is moving strongly towards digital innovation under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the digital India project. We believe that Indian developers are always ahead when it comes to innovation in technology. Blockchain is a solution to many of the problems which our country faces relating to data privacy and development.
We propose BharatChain, an India-centric decentralized blockchain which ensures that all nodes are maintained within the country, while being
open-source for our citizens and other developers globally, making it truly decentralized and immutable. This blockchain will also enable development of advanced decentralized applications that our developer community can leverage upon.
As per the data received by CREBACO, India has over 35,000 blockchain developers who are using over 5+ languages to develop smart contracts based on blockchain. However, when it comes to development, there are a few expensive international blockchains that provide a platform for DAPPs and a few public blockchains that burn a lot of ‘gas fee’ (processing fee) for each contract or transaction.
This limits development and puts data privacy at risk, despite it being encrypted, and restricts the opensource aspect at several stages due to regulations. BharatChain would be completely open-source and used for storing Government data, business transactions, banking, smart contracts, etc.
We propose that all nodes and the data remain within India and at the same time we propose to install a surveillance node exclusively for the regulatory authority so that it can monitor transactions and make sure that there are no illicit activities, and the network is not misused. This concept is not very new, as several countries like Estonia and UAE have already installed it and many others are exploring possibilities or running pilot projects.
Key features
-Enables CBDC
-Representation
-Proposed regulatory framework for crypto assets
The key feature of this chain will be that it will easily enable the Central Bank Digital Currency which is expected to be a bold step towards digital payments. Many countries are already running pilots on this and in the next 24 months CBDCs are expected to be widely used by many platforms. Development of India’s own digital currency is a must to be a part of the global CBDC ecosystem. We must not forget that with the strength of the Indian population, India’s CBDC could easily be a global leader in digital currencies.
Other Features
- Decentralized (within India): All the nodes will remain within India.
- Open-source: Global developers can develop on this blockchain, on account of it being open source
- Surveillance & Forensics node(s) for the regulatory authority: The regulatory authority established by the Government will possess a forensic node having higher authority. This node can amend transactions or block smart contracts, subject to acceptance by other nodes and other conditions.
- Easy monitoring: Government may monitor the activities and transactions taking place on the blockchain platform, thereby maintaining a pre-determined minimum compliance standard.
- Reduction in illicit activities: Any fraudulent or suspicious smart contract can be frozen.
- Controlled node behavior: Minimum requirements must be met if a node wants to join the network.
- Compliance and prerequisites for development: Certain development and compliance standards must be met if a financial smart contract is to be issued using BharatChain.
Opportunities and Advantages
- Development of a community
- Will support skill development
- Representation
- Proposed regulatory framework for crypto assets
- Many start-ups and businesses will be born around this chain
- An estimated 25000 jobs could be created in the first year itself
- Developer funding and grants
- Will enable India’s own Central Bank Digital Currency. We hope the Government of India encourages this ecosystem and initiates the BharatChain project at the earliest. Khaitan & Co and CREBACO would be happy and privileged to partner with the Government for Development of BharatChain and submit a detailed project report for this purpose
