With cryptocurrencies and NFTs dominating conversations worldwide, why are major players in this space eyeing the exit door for their Indian investments?
1. Lack of proper oversight
Many of the existing cryptocurrency exchanges do not embody well-defined operational, risk and governance practices. As crypto becomes increasingly mainstream, the impact on the wider economy as a result of trip-ups in the crypto markets is bound to increase.
On a more micro level, traders have and will continue to be unprotected in incidents of hacks unless the government brings in policy changes.
2. Heavy Taxation
As of April 1, of this year, the Government of India has decided to have any income derived from crypto-based investments at 30%. On top of this, a 1% TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) is to be levied on all transactions that exceed 10,000 INR.
Smaller transactions that collectively add up to 50,000 are to also come under such taxation. An additional GST charge of 28% is also currently under consideration.
Read more : ResearchED: What Is The Status Of Cryptocurrency In India After FM Announced RBI’s Digital Currency Issuance In 2022-23?
3. Unclear stance
As of now, the Government’s stance on cryptocurrencies and virtual assets is fairly nebulous. While their trading is not technically banned, there also exists any clear regulation dictating their usage.
4. Plans to weed out private players
The long-touted crypto bill which has still a long way to go before it is concretized in Parliament plans to introduce rules and regulations aimed at creating an environment compatible with the introduction of the Government’s own digital currency while prohibiting the usage of any other private cryptocurrencies barring a few in order to ‘promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses’.
5. Permissioned coin in a permissionless world
In the recent Union Budget, we learned that the RBI is set to introduce India’s very own digital coin in FY 2023. Making RBI the sole validator of all transactions of this coin, takes away the whole point of having a decentralized financial system that cryptocurrencies foster.
While a big selling point for crypto is that it is inherently ‘permissionless’, the Government’s plans for the underlying technology will prove to be difficult for private players to adapt to.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Indian Express, Protocol, Asianet Newsable
Find the blogger: @SreemayeeN
This post is tagged under: Crypto, cryptocurrency, india, confusing rules, policies
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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