India To Use Sovereign Stablecoins To Advance DedollarizationIndia launches a bold debt-backed stablecoin challenge to dollar dominance, blending blockchain innovation with monetary sovereignty amid unresolved regulatory risks
India plans a sovereign-debt-backed stablecoin to retain domestic liquidity, lower borrowing costs, and advance de-dollarisation, though regulatory clarity remains the critical hurdle to success.
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NOTE: This is not unrelated to Gold and Silver being remonetized on blockchain we’d wager.. stay tuned
India’s Debt-Backed Stablecoin Targets Dollar Dominance
GFN – MUMBAI: India is moving toward the launch of a sovereign-debt-backed stablecoin that developers say could accelerate de-dollarisation, lower government borrowing costs, and repatriate domestic liquidity currently flowing into US-dollar-linked crypto assets.
The proposed Asset Reserve Certificate (ARC), under development by blockchain network Polygon and India-based fintech Anq, is designed as a regulated stablecoin fully collateralized by Indian government securities and treasury bills, maintaining a one-to-one backing structure while remaining pegged to the rupee, according to SCMP. Unlike algorithmic or partially collateralized tokens, each unit of ARC would be matched by state debt instruments, embedding the token directly within India’s sovereign funding framework and creating a transparent linkage between digital settlement and public finance.
Backers argue the structure keeps domestic liquidity onshore rather than siphoning capital into offshore, dollar-backed stablecoins that dominate crypto trading and remittances. “Success could establish India as the template for upholding private blockchain innovation while maintaining financial sovereignty,” said Benjamin Grolimund, general manager of cryptocurrency exchange Flipster, adding that ARC could enable “significant crypto market capture” while reinforcing the Asia-Pacific trend toward currency-anchored digital alternatives to the dollar. “India’s move asserts the trend towards de-dollarisation as other hubs advance their own stablecoin frameworks,” he said.
India’s crypto ecosystem remains one of the largest globally, driven by remittance demand from its diaspora and strong adoption among younger, digitally native users. A 2024 Chainalysis study found both trading volumes and wallet adoption accelerating, highlighting the sector’s growing relevance even as national regulation remains unresolved. Cryptocurrencies are neither formally legalized nor banned following a 2020 Supreme Court overturn of a central bank-led restriction, leaving the market functioning in a supervisory grey zone.
That unresolved regulatory backdrop now represents one of ARC’s most significant hurdles. Key questions remain over whether the token would be classified as a digital government security or a payment instrument, how consumer protection rules would apply, and whether oversight would rest solely with the Reserve Bank of India or be shared with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Jurisdictional clarity will determine whether non-resident investors can hold ARC, if offshore settlements are permitted, and how conversion mechanisms between rupees and foreign currencies are structured.
“Without statutory backing, disputes over redemptions, custody failures or censorship could land in legal limbo,” warned blockchain policy adviser Anndy Lian, underscoring the need for precise legislative frameworks before mass adoption can occur.
Internationally, India’s initiative would stand apart from programs tested in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, where pilot projects exist but have not yet produced a publicly tradeable stablecoin fully collateralized by state debt and issued within a private blockchain architecture. Proponents see ARC as a potential global first.
“India may do something no other major economy has attempted; turn its government securities into a programmable digital asset,” said Raj Kapoor, chairman of the India Blockchain Alliance, noting the alignment with the central bank’s broader push toward an official digital rupee. According to Kapoor, the ARC concept seeks to combine the benefits of decentralized finance with national monetary sovereignty, allowing India to gain crypto infrastructure advantages without deepening reliance on dollar-based liquidity rails.
However, implementation risks remain material. Over-centralization could limit innovation, while overly loose supervision could pose consumer protection failures or systemic liquidity risks. “The risk is that, if over-controlled, it becomes just dematerialised G-Secs in a new wrapper with little innovation,” Kapoor said.
Still, supporters argue that, if properly calibrated, ARC could attract decentralized finance activity into India’s sovereign bond market, expanding the investor base while reinforcing rupee-based settlement channels. By linking programmable money to government debt issuance, India could simultaneously modernize funding infrastructure and assert a strategic alternative to dollar-centric stablecoin dominance in global crypto markets. |
