Cryptocurrency has got a major stake in present market conditions. Affirming which, the ex-Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor R Gandhi offered his stance on crypto money, that it should be treated as a foreign asset once distributed to the Indian citizens.
While addressing the first edition of the Crypto Asset Conference HODL 2021 hosted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), Gandhi said that “Cryptocurrencies should be paid for through normal payment channels. If they are not, then it should be deemed as mined and capital gains tax must be levied. That is like voluntary disclosure. The transactions should be fully tracked through a repository.”
He condemned the practice that cryptocurrency could not be used as a regular mode of transaction for buying and selling items as it does not abide by the framed fundamental requirement of being recognised as a legal tender backed by a central body unit.
Gandhi averred that “The very idea of crypto was that it should be anonymous, independent, and it cannot be tracked. But every society will have rules that expect compliance from all members and it will penalize non-compliance. A state will always want to give freedom to its citizens in terms of economic transactions. It enforces contractual obligations, taxes income and gains. So, any economic activity should be amenable to these kinds of things.”
Sumit Gupta, Co-founder and CEO at CoinDCX, a cryptocurrency transaction unit endorsed the same ideology as Gandhi and stressed upon the bitter truth that the market regulators are degrading the growth of evolving technology in India.
He said, “I think our approach should be to let innovation take its course when the technology is in its nascent phase. And to define the boundary conditions which are of concern to regulators. Such an environment will give an opportunity for the ecosystem, industry players and participants to grow.”
As per the latest reports published by Money Control, the government is quite certain to introduce the cryptocurrency bill in the parliament, stating its regulation as an asset class to get fruitful returns.
