This year appears to be the year companies take on the suffix “-coin” after their names. Few days ago, Kodak, a dying photography company, announced it would be issuing its own cryptocurrency, KodakCoin.
Appears, the next cryptocurrency flight warming up for takeoff will be the Indian telecom company, Reliance Jio. To show that they mean business, Reliance Jio intends to build a 50-member strong team of young developers to build their cryptocurrency on blockchain technology. Perhaps, unlike Kodak, the company intends to establish a sustainable infrastructure, rather than exploit the crypto hype. This could also be the reason the JioCoin project is being led by Akash Ambani, Mukesh Ambani’s elder son.
Reliance Jio is well known in India for its amazing free offers and super-competitive subscription plans. Apart from cryptocurrency, other areas the company intends to adopt blockchain includes smart contracts and a use case in supply chain management logistics.
An anonymous insider had this to say: “The company plans to hire 50 young professionals with an average age of 25 years for Akash Ambani to lead. There are multiple applications of blockchain (for the company). The team would work on various blockchain products.”
Although blockchain has been seen by most people as synonymous with bitcoin, they both mean different things. Blockchain is a public ledger that stores data which is accessible by everyone who has access to the ledger. This data is stored in the cloud, so there is no issue of space which is the case with physical servers. This data could be financial records or just information, and anyone can access it in real time.
Bitcoin, being the first use case of blockchain, is the reason the technology has become so popular. Now, Reliance Jio intends to get on board with its own JioCoin. But that’s not all, according to the anonymous insider, “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.” Although, all these are still “in proposal stage”.
In addition to the above, Anonymous Insider further added: “Reliance Jio also aspires to get into Internet of Things (IoT). Blockchain technology would come in handy there.”
Think IoT, think machines and devices connected to the internet. Think of a band you wear which checks your heart rate and alerts your doctor of a stroke several minutes before it happens. That’s IoT; smartphones, smart TVs, smart washing machines, smart home appliances and other wearable devices which are connected to the internet.
Because of the huge amount of data involved in IoT, industry experts have been emphasizing the big role Blockchain will play in the coming years. Issues like security, tracking, and encryption of exchanged information will be addressed with the help of blockchain.
On the legal climate of cryptocurrency in India, the government appears to still be studying the novel phenomenon, as said by Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister. Citizens have been advised to be cautious when involving in cryptocurrency as they are not recognized as legal tender, nor do they have any backed assets and are known vehicles for money laundering.
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