Officials from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have reportedly sounded the alarm bells again over crypto adoption, which they claim will ultimately lead to the “dollarization” of the local economy. According to a Monday report from the Indian branch of the Economic Times — which cited unnamed sources — the RBI’s concerns are focused on U.S. dollar-dominated cryptocurrencies taking away market share from the Indian rupee. The publication notes that RBI officials, along with its governor Shaktikanta Das, provided a briefing to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance this week. In it, they took a very skeptical stance toward …

Just three days after debuting in the Indian market, United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase abruptly stopped using United Payments Interface (UPI), the most popular payment service in the region. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong later revealed that the service disruption was due to an “informal pressure” from India’s central bank. During Coinbase’s 2022 Quarterly Earnings call, Armstrong spoke about the company’s global expansion plans while acknowledging Coinbase’s role in starting the conversation with regulators related to crypto adoption. When asked about the impact of the recent disruption related to offering payment services in India, Armstrong stated: “So a few days after …

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in), which falls under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, issued a new directive on Thursday, forcing crypto exchanges, virtual private network (VPN) providers and data centers to store a wide range of user data for up to five years. Under the newly issued directive, crypto exchanges operating in India will be required to store customers’ names, ownership patterns, contact information and various other data. Crypto exchanges and VPN services providers are also required to report any cyber incident within six hours of its occurrence and must hand over the collected data to …

India’s 30% crypto tax came into law on March 31 and was effective April 1, despite warnings from several stakeholders about its possible ill impact on the budding crypto industry. As predicted, within just a couple of weeks of the new crypto tax law coming into effect, trading volume across major crypto exchanges dropped as much as 90%. The decline in trading activity was attributed to traders either moving their funds away from centralized crypto exchanges or adopting a holding strategy over trading. Many crypto exchanges were hoping that a crypto tax would at least offer some form of recognition …

Coinbase Ventures, an investment arm of American crypto exchange Coinbase, shared a plan to invest $1 million in various Indian cryptocurrency and Web3 initiatives via an in-person pitching event. In a blog post drafted while he was in India, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that the venture firm intends to tap into India’s software talent with the crypto and Web3 technologies and help accelerate India’s economic and financial inclusion goals. Calling India’s cryptopreneurs! Coinbase Ventures is partnering with @BuidlersTribe to host an in-person pitch day in Bangalore in April. $1M+ is up for grabs, including $25k bonus grants provided by …

The Indian Finance Bill 2022 with new 30% crypto tax rules was approved by the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, to make it a law today that will come into effect starting on April 1. The approval of the bill by the upper house of the parliament comes within a week of the lower house (Lok Sabha) approval. The Finance Bill was introduced during the budget session 2022-23 of the parliament in January. The Finance Bill amended tax rules to impose a 30% crypto tax on digital asset holdings and transfers. Apart from that, traders cannot …

The Government of Maharashtra, one of India's state governments, has started issuing caste certificates over the Polygon blockchain to citizens residing in Etapalli village, Gadchiroli district, as a part of the Digital India campaign. In partnership with LegitDoc, a blockchain-based application, the Maharashtra state government is in the process of rolling out 65,000 caste certificates to aid the process of delivering governmental schemes and benefits. As cited by Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Shubham Gupta in an article co-authored by LegitDoc CEO Neil Martis, the caste certificate issuance via neutral web3 platforms aims to target 1.1 million economically challenged residents …

It was relatively quiet in the digital asset policy department last week, as regulators and lawmakers in most key jurisdictions retreated to their offices to do the necessary homework. In the U.S., federal agencies got on with the various reports that President Joe Biden’s recent executive orders directed them to produce. Over in the United Kingdom, both the central bank and the Financial Conduct Authority also dropped position papers on crypto-related issues. After thorough deliberation, Thailand’s financial authorities spoke out against using crypto as a means of payment, while rumors of potential legal tender adoption of crypto emerged and died …

A tax framework on cryptocurrencies introduced by India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will become law in the country after being passed as an amendment to the Finance Bill. India’s lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, passed the 2022 Finance Bill on Friday, which included 39 amendments proposed by Sitharaman. The amendment on crypto established a 30% tax targeting digital asset and nonfungible token transactions, which did not allow for deductions from trading losses while calculating income. In addition, taxpayers in India will have an additional 1% tax deducted at source, or TDS. As per the new amendment proposed in …

Indian crypto tax policy has become the hottest topic for Indian crypto traders and exchange operators as it is set to become law on March 24 and will come into effect starting on April 1. The proposed 30% crypto tax is the highest in the country and is equivalent to the tax imposed on gambling and lottery tickets. While the high tax bracket was already a cause of concern for many new and small traders, a recent clarification from the government has made things even more complicated for the Indian traders. The parliamentary clarification on March 22 indicated that each …

The Advertising Stands Council of India (ASCI) released a set of 12 guidelines for promotions and advertisement of virtual digital assets (VDA), including cryptocurrencies, on Wednesday. The chief advertising watchdog has developed the new guideline after extensive consultation with the stakeholders of the crypto ecosystem as well as the government, ASCI said. The advertising guidelines also mark the first legal framework related to the digital asset market in the country at a time when the government is yet to finalize the crypto bill. The new crypto advertising framework is set to come into effect starting April 1, the same date …

Earlier in February, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a tax proposal that would bring the relatively unregulated digital asset space under the purview of tax authorities. The proposal includes a 30% income tax on crypto returns and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) by crypto exchanges on transactions above 10,000 Indian rupees ($133). The announcement came during the parliamentary budget session for 2022, and the government has already set April 1 as a deadline for crypto exchanges to comply with the new tax regulations. The introduction of the crypto tax was widely misreported as a form of legal …