Offshore crackdown may bring crypto party home
IT ministry to block their URLs for not adhering to regulatory norms is expected to level the playing field, Indian crypto exchanges have said.
The move may lead to a resurgence in Indian exchanges, they said, as many investors who had shifted to trading on global exchanges to save on tax are expected to return to local ones now.
«The major impact will be on the trading activities on the foreign crypto bourses, and we may see a significant shift of trading volume to Indian exchanges, which are FIU-compliant,» said Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin, India's second-longest-running digital asset exchange.
WazirX native token WRX was up 23% at the time of going to press.
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View Details»Following the announcement in the Union Budget 2022 of a 30% tax on gains, 1% tax deducted at source (TDS), and no provision to offset losses, domestic centralised crypto exchanges had seen an over 95% drop in trading volumes in February and March 2022, per a study by Esya Centre, a New Delhi-based technology policy think tank. The study said cumulative trade volumes worth $3.852 billion shifted from domestic exchanges to foreign ones during February to October 2022.
Crypto Investors a Worried Lot
Over the last year and a half, Indian crypto investors have continued to transition to global exchanges in droves, crypto executives said.
These investors are a worried lot now, after the news of possible blocking of URLs of nine foreign crypto exchanges — which were not adhering to anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines and the requirement of a 1% TDS on crypto
