Reliance Jio planning its own cryptocurrency called JioCoin

Reliance Jio is planning to build a team of 50 young professionals to work on blockchain technology for JioCoin, its very own cryptocurrency.

After creating a disrupt in the telecom sector with its free offers and amazingly competitive tariffs, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd plans to create its own cyptocurrency, which they are planning to call it as ‘JioCoin’.

It is said that Akash Ambani, Mukesh Ambani’s elder son will lead the JioCoin project, with a team of 50 young professionals to work on blockchain technology, which can also be used to develop applications like smart contracts and supply chain management logistics.

“The company plans to hire 50 young professionals with average age of 25 years to work on this project under the leadership of Akash Ambani. Though there are multiple applications of blockchain (for the company). This young team would work on various blockchain products,”  in inside source confirmed on condition of anonymity.

For your knowledge, Blockchain is a digital ledger for storing data including, but not only limited to, financial transactions. In a nutshell , blockchain decentralizes information without it being copied. Through blockchain the information is held on through a shared database which can be accessed on a real-time basis. This database is stored on cloud and not on physical servers, which makes it easy to store unlimited data.

The most popular application of the technology has unquestionably been cryptocurrency, and Reliance Jio also plans to create its own version of it which will be called as JioCoin.

“One (application) is cryptocurrency. We can deploy smart contracts. It can be used in supply chain management logistics. Loyalty points could altogether be based on JioCoin,” the person confirmed adding that all of this was “in proposal stage”.

“Reliance Jio also aspires to get into Internet of Things (IoT). And this Blockchain technology would come in handy there,” the person said.

IoT is a network of devices such as smartphones, home appliances, wearable devices and vehicles, connected to the internet, which enables these objects to connect and exchange data. Industry experts have also suggested that blockchain could potentially address security risks to IoT as it provides a shield against data tampering by labelling each block of data.

Significantly, the Indian government has cautioned everyone against cryptocurrencies, mentioning that virtual currencies were not backed by assets and posed risks such as money laundering. In the first week of January 2018, finance minister Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha that the government was still studying the issue.

“A committee under the chairmanship of secretary, department of economic affairs, is deliberating over all issues related to cryptocurrencies to propose specific actions to be taken,” Jaitley said, adding that cryptocurrencies will not be a legal tender for government.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have come under the scanner of governments across the world as their elevating prices attracted speculators and unsophisticated retail investors. This week, Bitcoin dropped as much as 12% to $12,801, its lowest since Christmas day, as South Korea’s justice minister re-proposed a ban on local cryptocurrency exchanges, Bloomberg reported.