BENGALURU: For a few months now, the crypto industry has been expecting a bill to regulate the assets. But it has been getting delayed, and now crypto players in the country have high hopes that the upcoming Budget will provide clarity on the taxation of cryptocurrencies.
Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-Founder and CEO, Unocoin, says, “I am not expecting anything amazing to come out of the Budget this time. If at all, the income tax confusions may get cleared up.” Unocoin is the first entrant into the bitcoin industry, and it has been adding new tokens now and then for Indian crypto investors and traders.
“Besides regulatory clarity, we expect better clarity from the government on crypto taxation. India has been witnessing an economic recovery despite the Covid waves. A regulatory clarity will give the crypto sector a boost, accelerate its growth and potential to contribute to our $5 trillion economy vision,” says Nischal Shetty, CEO, WazirX.
The bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange also expects the Budget to present fine-tuned clarity on the crypto landscape. “While the legal implementation still seems a while away, any initiative announced in the Budget would at least open a direct line of conversation on crypto classification as an asset class, its taxation policies and the blue-ocean opportunities available in this globally emerging segment. This would not only encourage institutional investments in the space but also open up job opportunities in the underserved markets,” he says.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) department recently detected a GST evasion worth `40.5 crore by the cryptocurrency exchange. However, WazirX said there was an ambiguity in the interpretation of one of the components which led to a different calculation of GST paid.
Last year, WazirX’s trading volume was over $43 billion, accounting for 1,735% growth from 2020. The crypto exchange also crossed a user base of 10 million. Both CoinSwitch Kuber and Giottus expect well-defined regulations around crypto and blockchain technology.
“2022 should be a year of clarity for the crypto ecosystem. The upcoming Budget is a good opportunity to start a dialogue around various undefined aspects of the asset class that need addressing. Businesses and individuals would then be able to operate with much clarity as the ambiguity around taxation is cleared and crypto assets get defined appropriately under various taxation laws,” says Vikram Subburaj CEO and Co-founder Giottus
Sharan Nair, Chief Business Officer, CoinSwitch Kuber, says a regularised environment will encourage more Indians to start their crypto investing journey.