Indian National Rupee-backed Stablecoin, Onboarding 35M Indian Web3 Users on Cardano

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Anuj Chaudhary

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Ajay Potnis, 20-year tech infra experience.

ajaypotnis@gmail.com

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

3

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

The first INR-backed stablecoin will make decentralised finance easy to access for Indian users using Cardano blockchain. It will open a gate for Cardano to onboard 1 billion Indian Rupee holders.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Yes, the Stablecoin will have mint and burn mechanisms, led by the smart contract and reserves. Hence, the stablecoin will be an open-source project.

[METADATA] SDG rating

N/A

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

• How do you perceive the problem you are solving

-Indian web3 users pay 90-100 INR per USDT or USDC, which is 9-14 per cent higher than INR to USD conversion. Which makes it difficult for Indian users to partcipate in the deFi ecosystem at its potential. Thus having a compliant and native stablecoin will increase the participation among Indian users and established businesses.

• What are your reasons for approaching it in the way that you have

-After working as a senior crypto policy analyst with one of the largest crypto exchanges in India, WazirX from 2021-22, I got opportunities to interact with regulators and lawmakers. My approach is very straight-forward and aligns with the current regulations around virtual digital assets in India. So currently Indian users face a barrier to enter web3 ecosystem because of higher margin of upto 10-15% charged by USDT and USDC P2P local merchants. This INR backed stablecoin could bring down the margin by 40-50% and offer easy access to DeFi.

• Who will your project engage

-The INR Stablecoin will engage existing Web3 users and attract mainstream financial institutions and investors. The ultimate goal is to introduce 750M internet users in India to DeFi.

• How will you demonstrate or prove your impact

-I will share reports on INR-stablecoin's utility in the current Indian web3 market after consulting with crypto businesses and Web3 Bharat Association.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

• The INR stablecoin will bring more liquidity to the cardano ecosystem and number of users and transactions on Cardano will grow
• The final reserach paper on regional stablecoin and feasibility with the help of existing stablecoin teams, such as Mehen and Mynth
• I will share the milestone reports after every meeting with the industry experts and lawmakers

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Being a part of Indian Web3 Policy Forums and an advocate of virtual digital assets in India, I have gained the expertise to acknowledge the needs of regional users. 

Public visibility: Being a former journalist, I am well-documented across media outlets and social media platforms. For example this report on one of the use cases of blockchain

Well-connected with the regional and global Cardano communities:

• We will deliver a regulatory feasibility report on our stablecoin concept
• We will release a KYC/AML compliance report on our concept after engaging with prominent fintech and digital payment experts
• Along with my co-proposer, who holds 20+ years of experience in tech infra, we will release a tech architecture flow of the project 

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

A: Producing a comprehensive report on INR-backed stablecoin compliance and KYC & Anti-money laundering aspects.

B: This report will be created after having calls with Indian money market experts and KYC/AML lawyers. 

Transparency criteria: After in-person and virtual meetings, we will mention the names and designations of experts in the report.

C: Submission of the report after having sufficient inputs in the form of PDF

A: The second report with inputs from top native Indian crypto exchanges on "Urgency of having INR-backed stablecoin".

B: Quotes and statements from the co-founders of exchanges within the report.

C: Having a record of meetings and submitting the second report

A: Creation of end-to-end architecture flow for the INR stablecoin after consulting with Cardano Devs and existing stablecoin projects, including Mehen and Mynth.

B: These consulting meetings on the concept of regional stablecoin will be held under the supervision of known stablecoin experts.

C: Final infrastructure flow-chart submission

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Anuj Chaudhary

Role: Stablecoin Project Utility and Policy Lead

Expertise: Former Senior Crypto Policy Analyst, WazirX

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuj-chaudhary-2011/

Ajay Potnis

Role: Tech Lead Advisor

Expertise: 20 years of experience in ledger technology infrastructure

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajaypotnis/

Hiring a Legal Team: LegaLogic

Expertise: In the finance sector and payment aggregator licenses

Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/legalogic-consulting/

Important Connection From the Indian Digital Payment Ecosystem (KYC/AML)

Expertise: One Decade of experience with UPI and Payment Aggregators

Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yogesh-sharma-166870b7/

Hiring Nucast Labs For Cardano On-Chain Consultation

Expertise: Successfully built various scalable Cardano DApps.

Website: https://www.nucastlabs.com/

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Milestone 1: The first milestone focuses on the stablecoin compliance report with the Law Firm LegaLogic and required due diligence, including registration with the Financial Intelligence Unit. We (Ajay & Anuj) will hold all meetings with the lawyers and produce the report. We will dedicate 200 hours cumulatively for 10,000 USD to reach this milestone.

Milestone 2: With the help of Anuj's expertise with CEXs like WazirX & CoinW, we will prepare a report on current demands and issues around stablecoins. Additionally, we will consult with the top 3 Indian exchanges, namely WazirX, CoinDCX, and CoinSwitch for the same. This report will elaborate on the demand for native stablecoin and use cases. We will also be consulting money market experts (Existing digital payment bankers from Indian banks - Mostly known connections) to understand KYC and AML regulations for payment aggregators. We will dedicate 200 hours cumulatively for 20,000 USD.

Final Milestone: With Ajay's expertise in tech infrastructure and Cardano dev support from Nucast Labs, we will create an end-to-end infra flow for on-ramp and off-ramp transactions, along with KYC & AML inclusion. With the help of Mehen & Mynth, we will understand the smart contract structure for stablecoin to draw the final flow charts. We dedicate 100 hours to achieve the final milestone of 10,000 USD in expenses. 

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Launch of an Indian National Rupee-backed stablecoin on Cardano will bring:

1. Transaction fee for the network
2. Enhanced Liquidity
3. Millions of new wallet addresses
4. Diverse community

Bottomline: The virtual digital assets compliance report will help the future product/DApp launches on Cardano from India.