Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm plans to launch its own cryptocurrency called, JioCoin, Mint reported citing an anonymous source. Cryptocurrency has been in the news for the past one and half month as Bitcoin, the most traded among them, hit around $19,000, however, fell lately to $13,000.
"The company plans to hire 50 young professionals with an average age of 25. There are multiple applications of blockchain (for the company). The team would work on various blockchain products," a person aware of the development told the business daily.
The source further said that Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani's elder son Akash Ambani will be leading the project.
The virtual currencies which are being encrypted are built on the Blockchain technology, that decentralises information without it being copied.
In the wake of the significant spurt in the valuation of many virtual currencies, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) warned public that it has not given any licence to anyone to operate such virtual currencies.
In a notification, the central bank, last month said, " ...users, holders and traders of Virtual Currencies (VCs) including Bitcoins regarding the potential economic, financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks associated in dealing with such VCs."
Earlier the RIL chairman predicted that India will be ahead of the US in terms of data infrastructure by 2019. He further said Reliance aspires to get into Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain technology to disrupt the global market under various sectors.
"One (application) is cryptocurrency. We can deploy smart contracts. It can be used in supply chain management logistics. Loyalty points could altogether be based on JioCoin," the source told the business daily.
Meanwhile, India government is cracking down on cryptocurrencies, as Income Tax (I-T) Department in December conducted survey operations at major Bitcoin exchanges across the country.
Also, the Union finance ministry recently cautioned the citizens who are investing in virtual currencies (VCs) such as Bitcoin and compared them with ponzi schemes.
Earlier this month, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha that the government was still studying the issue but clearly stated that it does not consider cryptocurrencies to be legal tender.
"A committee under the chairmanship of secretary, department of economic affairs, is deliberating over all issues related to cryptocurrencies to propose specific actions to be taken," Jaitley said while speaking in the upper house.
