• Although India’s CBDC is still in its pilot test phase, the Indian Central Bank aims to enroll one million CBDC users soon.
• Monero, ZCash, and Dash are experiencing massive influxes of users as users choose truly decentralized and private financial tools.

India’s CBDC is nearing its final launch with the Indian Central Bank aiming for one million CBDC users soon. Rabi Shankar, the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that although there is no official timeline, the launch and usage will be done gradually and calibrated. Dubbed the Digital Rupee, the government aims to enhance financial inclusion for the marginalized and make financial transactions faster and safer.

The Central Bank has openly admitted that the launch is also in an effort to restrict crypto use and adoption and simultaneously reduce dollar dominance. However, there are concerns that any CBDC could be used as a political and censorship tool used to control the masses.

The ongoing pilot program that started in December is running in major cities including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar, involving regular users and merchants.

Shankar has already confirmed that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) QR codes interoperable with India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI is a popular digital payments platform that allows users to make payments using their mobile phones in a safe and convenient way.

With more than one hundred countries working on digitizing their fiat currency, CBDCs are looking inevitable, but they could lead to greater harm than benefit. Market leaders are concerned that once CBDCs are fully adopted, governments will have complete control of their citizen’s financial life.

With this in mind, supporters of truly decentralized digital assets that is cryptocurrencies have been calling for a complete rejection of government CBDCs. Even better than regular cryptocurrencies are privacy-centric coins such as Monero and ZCash. These coins make it hardly nearly impossible to track transactions, keeping the identity of the sender and receiver anonymous and ensuring their financial life is private.

Users are now rushing to Monero, ZCash, and Dash which offer the benefits of CBDCs without the risk that comes with government-controlled financial tools. Unfortunately, the coins are still highly volatile and holders run the risk of their value drastically dropping which is why some prefer stablecoins.

Central banks all over the world believe that cryptocurrencies are undermining banking systems which could destabilize the economy of a nation. However, in the views of adopters, cryptocurrencies solve the injustice created and supported by the traditional banking system. Furthermore, they promote financial inclusion and freedoms that have proven impossible with fiat and traditional financial systems.