CoinSwitch CEO Says India’s Crypto Space Needs More Certainty

The CoinSwitch CEO, as the leader of India’s biggest crypto platforms, thinks that the crypto industry in the country needs clear regulations that will benefit both investors and companies so let’s have a closer look at today’s latest cryptocurrency news.

The CoinSwitch CEO Ashish Singhal called for clear regulatory frameworks to resolve the uncertainty in India’s crypto space. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, he added:

 “Users don’t know what will happen with their holdings—is the government going to ban, not ban, how is it going to be regulated? Regulations will bring peace … more certainty”

His exchange is based in Bengaluru and it is the biggest platform In India with over 18 million users and even got backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, and Tiger Global. However after the 30% tax on crypto was proposed, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Shakitkanta Das said that the private crypto was a huge threat to the macroeconomic stability and the financial stability:

“Keep in mind, that cryptocurrency has no underlying value—not even a tulip.”

Last month, two major crypto exchanges in India were stopped because of regulatory uncertainty. No official data was available on the size of India’s crypto market but CoinSwtich estimated that about 20 million investors had holdings worth up to $6 billion:

“We are pushing for regulations. With the right regulation, we can get the clarity.”

The call for reducing Tax Deduction at Source on crypto transactions Is only intensifying among the crypto ecosystem players in the country and a TDS of 1% on virtual assets has been approved by the Union Budget 2022-23. Terming this too high can drive traders away from the market and hurt the volumes as the Indian crypto reps call for rules change and to bring it down to 0.01% and 0.05%.

The Budget 2022-23 brought some clarity about taxes on crypto profits but a 30% capital gains tax levied on profits made the crypto transactions without provision to offset losses. The tax rate is the same as applicable to the income from speculative transactions like horse racing. It also proposed 1% TDS on payments above 10,000 RS and made for the acquisition of the virtual digital assets in one financial year. The threshold was raised to Rs 50,000 for the individuals and families required to get their accounts audited. The capital gains tax became effective in April but the TDS will be levied in July.