The Indian government and central bank have received proposals to restore Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a real-time payment system, access to the crypto industry, sources said.
Two proposals have already been made, and a third proposal by India’s newly formed cryptocurrency policy advocacy group Bharat Web3 Association (BWA) will be presented in the coming weeks, a person familiar with the matter said.
The proposals, while uncoordinated, appear to be the first major push by Indian cryptocurrency stakeholders for policy changes to govern the fledgling industry, as it suffers a series of blows in the form of draconian taxes, a crypto winter and a “shadow ban.” The ban led to Indian payment processors cutting off banks’ access to cryptocurrency exchanges, with UPI services suspended last year.