The Indian Government is Considering its Own Cryptocurrency

India is also building out regulations for how digital currencies will operate in the country. A complete ban on cryptocurrencies appears unlikely, but which agency will oversee them remains an open question. The RBI is the leading candidate, though some have suggested the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) should handle regulation. The lack of a ban has allowed bitcoin to gain traction in India. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley noted last month that bitcoin's market had seen "notable growth" across the country.

Estonia is taking the opposite approach. Three years ago, the Baltic nation launched its e-residency program, which lets anyone from anywhere register as a digital resident. Today the program includes over 23,000 e-residents from 138 countries. Last month, Kaspar Korjus, who runs e-residency operations, proposed that Estonia could become the first country to issue its own cryptocurrency through an ICO. They called the planned token "estcoin," which would let residents and others pay for services within Estonia and serve as currency abroad.

That plan is now off the table. Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, rejected the idea. Speaking at a conference in Frankfurt earlier this month, Draghi said: "No member state can introduce its own currency; the currency of the eurozone is the euro." China's ban on ICOs has soured the environment for token launches globally. Estonia has shelved the estcoin project.