Uno coin trading platform's chief opposes the idea of imposing an additional 28% tax on digital coins, saying it would drive investors out of the country.
What Happened: In an exclusive interview with Benzinga, the CEO and co-founder of India's oldest criptocurrency trading platform, Sathvik Vishwanath, said the 28% GST tax oncryptocurrencies is not going to work anywhere. Even the 5% GST can't be sustained. He said that if the government tries to impose more taxes, it would end up killing the market. Reports indicate that the government of Narendra Modi is considering a 28% GST on digital assets on top of an existing 30% income tax on profits earned from cryptocurrencies trading.
The implementation of more taxes will force investors to move to other markets that are less tracked than what it is right now, according to Vishwanath. They will try to establish entities outside the country but they will not go with the market for the cryptocurrencies, but they will try to do the transactions. Even if they stay within the country, it will go towards the untracked markets, like transactions directly through cash. The Indian government has had a hot and cold relationship with cryptocurrencies like DogecoinUSD, Ethereum ETH USD, andBTCUSD. For a long time, the country's regulatory bodies have been considering ways to control the use of digital assets, but are waiting for a consensus.
The government needs to take an innovative attitude towards the sector so that India doesn't lose out on the employment, investment and re-innovation opportunities that the industry is presenting, according to Vishwanath. I don't think there was a country that could get it right in the first place. He said that they tried different regulations and that some discernment continues to happen.
We are trying to get it right for the first time, which won't happen in India. It can't be like, 'ok, let's declare it bad for the time until we figure out what to do with it. American peer Coinbase Global Inc CEO Brian Armstrong blamed India's central bank for putting informal pressure weeks after it stopped trading service in the country.
Price Action: According to the data from Benzinga Pro,Bitcoin was nearly 5% higher at $30,732 over the last 24 hours, whileEthereum was up almost 4% at $2,088.