The Hedera Hashgraph council for decentralized governance has welcomed the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM). The Institute will test use cases around the Hedera Token Service, a public blockchain for payments.
IITM is one of India’s top technical education institutes, and it is under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Education.
IITM is one of the 39 global organizations that host initial network nodes for administering the Hedera public ledger, which is based on distributed ledger technology, as a member of the Hedera Governing Council (DLT).
IITM proposes to develop use cases for public blockchains for payments via the Hedera Consensus Service and the Hedera Token Service, in addition to advancing DLT capabilities in education and research.
Professor Prabhu Rajagopal of IITM’s Center for Nondestructive Evaluation spoke on assisting other members of the council in identifying sustainable use cases:
“I am particularly enthused by the opportunity to test and scale our solutions in blockchain-backed information systems in healthcare, industry and digital media.”
IITM researchers released BlockTrack, a blockchain-based phone application that helps consumers and organizations digitize and manage medical records, in May.
The Maharashtra State Board of Skill Development recently launched LegitDoc, an Ethereum blockchain-based tamper-proof credentialing system, in support of national programs.
Mainstream universities, such as the National Institute of Technology and Ashoka University, are in talks to install similar systems to combat document fabrication, according to LegitDoc CEO Neil Martis.
Indian regulators are said to be in talks to approve a crypto bill that would tax cryptocurrency trading, but entrepreneurs believe the move might help cryptocurrencies gain popular acceptance.
The Income Tax Department of India is intent on taxing earnings obtained from crypto trades and exchanges, according to Cointelegraph. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, will not be classified as a viable asset class under the new tax legislation.
This approach is seen positively by Indian crypto specialists, who believe that a crypto tax will eventually give regulatory certainty for Indian investors.
