FM flags anonymity as 'inherent risk' in use of blockchain
The Hindu
Tech use imperative but uncertainty is ‘powerful imponderable’: Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday flagged anonymity as an ‘inherent risk’ in blockchain technology and called for precautions in future with the increase in the use of the technology.
The Minister made it clear that using distributed ledger technology (DLT), also called as blockchain, is ‘absolutely imperative’ and that the government also supported the use of the same.
Her remarks come ahead of the unveiling of the budgetary announcement of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is based on blockchain technology and is billed as being similar to the paper currency carried in our wallets.
“The anonymity is... one unknown element in this whole thing. The anonymity of the person or whoever or the robot is the one which we have to be absolutely readying ourselves [for] as … a future challenge,” Ms. Sitharaman said, addressing an NSDL event here.
She said DLT was a ‘beautiful’ technology that would help in democratisation but flagged anonymity as an ‘inherent risk’ that “we need to guard ourselves from”.
Terming anonymity as a ‘powerful imponderable’ in the whole equation, Ms. Sitharaman said, “unless we are able to guard ourselves against that anonymous element which can itself pose an inherent risk, we probably will be exposing ourselves much more than ever we would have imagined.”
She commended capital markets regulator SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch, who spoke before her at the same event, for “rightly warning us” about the risk of anonymity, and also for advocating DLTs.
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