Cryptocurrencies and More: Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Conversation with Charlie Shrem

Rajeev Chandrasekhar is a respected member of the Indian Parliament and a tech billionaire, who happens to be one of the most well-known entrepreneurs from India. Apart from being the Founder and Chairman of the media company called Junior Capital Limited, he also has the distinction of being a member of important government committees like the standing Committee of Defense and the Committee of Finance.

Mr. Chandrasekhar recently came to the podcast called Untold Stories, presented by Charlie Shrem and offered his valuable ideas and views on technological innovations, cryptocurrency in India, and the need for self-regulation in the country. Here are some of the important points that he highlighted during the interview.

How does technological advancement help in better governance?

According to Mr. Chandrasekhar, its mind boggling how it has been over 70 years since India achieved its independence and yet more than four hundred million citizens live in poverty. He feels that this goes on to show the faults of the governance because the people in power sat too far from the population centers to actually realize the problems and make policies to that effect.

However, the present government believes that proper use of technology can help in reaching out to the masses. It brings governance to their doorsteps and gives them the freedom to express themselves through the power of connectivity.

What are the parallels between the cryptocurrency space of today and the early eighties?

The internet became truly powerful and wide-reaching during the early 2000s when its commercial elements came to the forefront and more money was invested in it. The same thing happened with cryptocurrency, which began its journey as a step towards innovation, before going off in different directions.

The awareness about the internet and its benefits and dangers are widely-known now. The pushback to these happened earlier in crypto, which makes the situation a lot similar to internet of the eighties and nineties. But, the challenges that crypto faces are more complex than, what the internet had to go through.

Read: Kaun Banega Crorepati Exposes Millions of Indians to Cryptocurrency

Can the crypto movements in India be successful at a certain point in time?

Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar feels that when it comes to the cyber technology space, the nation’s abilities, architecture, and framework are all playing catch-up, which is natural for a country like India. He added that he had petitioned Supreme Court for making privacy a fundamental right, and the ruling in its favor came in 2016.  Now, the right to privacy comes with several restrictions and it can stand cancelled for National Security exceptions.

The same thing applies to the crypto space because there is no policy framework for it and invasion of privacy is not too difficult for it. India is still not in a position where the legal and policy frameworks can allow crypto innovations to materialize.

The discussions, thus, highlighted India’s future in the crypto space and the government’s stand on it, and further enlightened the crypto enthusiasts all over the world. You can listen the conversation here.