India Wants to Use Crypto Tokens to Digitally Sign Documents

The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) wants to give users the ability to use crypto tokens to digitally sign documents in a new indigenous web browser, it revealed on Wednesday.

The development assumes significance because India has not yet brought forward any legislation in parliament for Web3 or cryptocurrency, even if it has pushed for global rules for crypto as G20 president. India’s central bank has opposed legalizing cryptocurrency and, at the same time, promoted its central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The Indian finance ministry has not yet taken an official position on whether it would legalize or ban crypto despite taxing it and bringing it under global anti-money laundering standards.

” …the browser envisions the ability to digitally sign documents using a crypto token, bolstering secure transactions and digital interactions,” the announcement said as part of the launch of the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge (IWBDC), an open competition to create an indigenous web browser with “its own trust store … cutting edge functionalities and enhanced security & data privacy protection features.”

Among the desired features in the browser, the government has stated the requirement of “support for Web3.” The total prize money allocated is around $400,000 and the deadline to submit the product is July 1, 2024.