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India’s central bank has announced that it will enable non-bank payment system operators to offer central bank digital currency (CBDC) wallets. Noting that “necessary changes will be made to the system to facilitate this,” the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the initiative is expected “to enhance access and expand choices available to users.” Non-Bank […]
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Mixed Reactions Trail India’s Passage of 30% Crypto Tax Law
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Reactions have been pouring in from stakeholders in the crypto and digital assets industry in India following the approval of the country’s Finance Bill 2022 on Friday by Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s bicameral parliament.
While some stakeholders were pessimistic of the section of the Bill mandating a capital gains tax of 30% on crypto transactions, others were optimistic that the law would relax with time.
Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Finance Minister, during a budgetary speech delivered before the House in February had said the government would impose 30 percent taxation on the transfer of virtual assets from the financial year 2022-2023.
She also disclosed the government’s intention to lay a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies in the country. She added that any gifts made in digital currencies will also be taxed at the hands of the recipient.
The finance minister had also confirmed that crypto holders cannot offset their losses from cryptocurrencies with the capital gains tax, which is allowed for stock investors.
However, despite the industry’s call for the government to tone down the crypto taxation, the bill was passed into law, with Sitharaman insisting that the government was taxing crypto because people are profiting from it.
With the passage, the crypto taxes will come into effect on April 1, while the TDS will start on July 1.
Mixed Industry Reactions
Nischal Shetty, the Chief Executive Officer of WazirX, one of India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, said the passage “is poised to do more harm than good,” adding that the law could shoot down patronage of Indian exchanges and a subsequent increase in capital outflow to foreign ones.
Sathvik Vishwanath, co-founder and CEO of Unocoin, was particularly concerned about the effect the law will have on crypto traders in the country.
“This will have some repercussions on traders, especially the 1% TDS assessment. This will not only affect traders but also tax collections. We hope that in the subsequent years the crypto industry gets treated like other investment-related industries,” he explained.
Abhay Aggarwal, CEO and founder of non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, Colexion, said the law will hamper the overall growth of the sector by reducing countrywide adoption and credibility.
On the positive side, however, Coinstore, a Singapore-based crypto exchange that recently started operations in India, believes that the crypto tax is a good move that “will open the doors for crypto regulation in one of the largest democracies in the world.”
“India is a tech powerhouse and it has the potential to lead the world in the crypto and blockchain revolution. Some may feel that the tax structure is on the heavy side but it may undergo adjustments to match global expectations as the crypto industry in India enters a more mature phase. We are hopeful that Indian regulators will reach a consensus with the crypto industry soon,” said Charles Tan, Head of Marketing at Coinstore.
Lennix Lai, Director of OKX, formerly known as OKEx, the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange , also toed Tan’s line, noting that taxing an certain asset class indicates that those assets are recognized as a tradable asset class by country’s regulator.
“That gives the industry a lot more clarity on the legal status of crypto and its derived income. Hence it’s good news for the industry in India with respect to building a more regulated operating environment for crypto,” Lai added.
Distrust in Cryptocurrencies?
For some time now, the Indian government has been mulling over the possibility of launching its own central bank digital currency (CBDC). In a budgetary speech in February, Shitaraman had said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was going to introduce the CBDC in the country’s next financial year.
Meanwhile, the Indian government had initially made efforts to impose a complete ban on cryptocurrencies as a payment mode with a bill that recommended strict jail terms for violators who could be arrested without any warrant.
The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill had also sought to ban all private cryptocurrencies in the country, although it wanted to allow for “certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.”
Tax evasion has also been a problem in the Indian cryptocurrency space. A raid on six Indian crypto exchanges earlier this year had uncovered $9.4M in unpaid taxes with WazirX alone evading $6 million in taxes.
Reactions have been pouring in from stakeholders in the crypto and digital assets industry in India following the approval of the country’s Finance Bill 2022 on Friday by Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s bicameral parliament.
While some stakeholders were pessimistic of the section of the Bill mandating a capital gains tax of 30% on crypto transactions, others were optimistic that the law would relax with time.
Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Finance Minister, during a budgetary speech delivered before the House in February had said the government would impose 30 percent taxation on the transfer of virtual assets from the financial year 2022-2023.
She also disclosed the government’s intention to lay a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies in the country. She added that any gifts made in digital currencies will also be taxed at the hands of the recipient.
The finance minister had also confirmed that crypto holders cannot offset their losses from cryptocurrencies with the capital gains tax, which is allowed for stock investors.
However, despite the industry’s call for the government to tone down the crypto taxation, the bill was passed into law, with Sitharaman insisting that the government was taxing crypto because people are profiting from it.
With the passage, the crypto taxes will come into effect on April 1, while the TDS will start on July 1.
Mixed Industry Reactions
Nischal Shetty, the Chief Executive Officer of WazirX, one of India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, said the passage “is poised to do more harm than good,” adding that the law could shoot down patronage of Indian exchanges and a subsequent increase in capital outflow to foreign ones.
Sathvik Vishwanath, co-founder and CEO of Unocoin, was particularly concerned about the effect the law will have on crypto traders in the country.
“This will have some repercussions on traders, especially the 1% TDS assessment. This will not only affect traders but also tax collections. We hope that in the subsequent years the crypto industry gets treated like other investment-related industries,” he explained.
Abhay Aggarwal, CEO and founder of non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, Colexion, said the law will hamper the overall growth of the sector by reducing countrywide adoption and credibility.
On the positive side, however, Coinstore, a Singapore-based crypto exchange that recently started operations in India, believes that the crypto tax is a good move that “will open the doors for crypto regulation in one of the largest democracies in the world.”
“India is a tech powerhouse and it has the potential to lead the world in the crypto and blockchain revolution. Some may feel that the tax structure is on the heavy side but it may undergo adjustments to match global expectations as the crypto industry in India enters a more mature phase. We are hopeful that Indian regulators will reach a consensus with the crypto industry soon,” said Charles Tan, Head of Marketing at Coinstore.
Lennix Lai, Director of OKX, formerly known as OKEx, the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange , also toed Tan’s line, noting that taxing an certain asset class indicates that those assets are recognized as a tradable asset class by country’s regulator.
“That gives the industry a lot more clarity on the legal status of crypto and its derived income. Hence it’s good news for the industry in India with respect to building a more regulated operating environment for crypto,” Lai added.
Distrust in Cryptocurrencies?
For some time now, the Indian government has been mulling over the possibility of launching its own central bank digital currency (CBDC). In a budgetary speech in February, Shitaraman had said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was going to introduce the CBDC in the country’s next financial year.
Meanwhile, the Indian government had initially made efforts to impose a complete ban on cryptocurrencies as a payment mode with a bill that recommended strict jail terms for violators who could be arrested without any warrant.
The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill had also sought to ban all private cryptocurrencies in the country, although it wanted to allow for “certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.”
Tax evasion has also been a problem in the Indian cryptocurrency space. A raid on six Indian crypto exchanges earlier this year had uncovered $9.4M in unpaid taxes with WazirX alone evading $6 million in taxes.
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Ethical Platform MRHB DeFi Partners Coinsbit India, Bringing Halal Crypto to India’s 200 Million Muslims | by Bit Media Buzz | Aug, 2021
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Melbourne, Australia, Aug. 30, 2021 — The world’s first halal DeFi ecosystem MRHB DeFi is collaborating with leading Indian cryptocurrency trading platform Coinsbit to bring crypto-asset opportunities to India’s huge population of 200 million Muslims, driving further participation in the blockchain economy.
MRHB DeFi’s vision of an inclusive crypto-verse, follows Islamic ethical finance principles but is suitable for those looking for a socially conscious blockchain that avoids interest, usury, exploitation and other business practices deemed unethical.
Being Halal means that MRHB DeFi operates within the highly ethical constraints of Shariah law which broadly implies that all business decisions are conducted in conjunction with Islamic teachings which promote inclusion, access, and faith, and function simply and transparently for the benefit of its users.
A Visionary Partnership to Serve 200 Million Muslims
India is home to 200 million Muslims constituting 10% of the global population and is the world’s third-largest Muslim community. This group is often excluded from the cryptoverse due to their faith-driven principles regarding financial and business conduct.
What this partnership means:
- Coinsbit would be the first Indian exchange to introduce a certified Shariah-compliant project to the Muslim Community. MRHB will conduct an initial exchange offering (IEO) on the Coinsbit Exchange during launch and introduce the blockchain’s native token, $MHB (Marhaba Token), to the global community
- Coinsbit is headquartered in Hyderabad which is geographically close to the large metropolitan community of Hyderabad & Bangalore that has a sizable of Muslim population
- MRHB DeFi will integrate Coinsbit’s portal with its app (Sahal Wallet), enabling users to directly use Coinsbit for trading crypto-assets.
- Coinsbit will give the users a trading platform, where $MHB (Marhaba Token) would be available to the Indian Community
- MRHB DeFi would also lead marketing activities for the exchange in the fast-growing Australian market
- Both the partners will gain substantially from each other’s marketing and community growth activities
A Shared Mission for an Inclusive Cryptoverse
“Blockchain and DeFi have exploded in popularity in 2021, and we forecast this stratospheric growth to continue. That’s why we’re excited to be teaming up with one of India’s premier cryptocurrency exchanges to offer MRHB DeFi products and services to everyone across the Indian subcontinent who are looking for a true, ethical alternative to the existing platforms in the cryptoverse,” says Naquib Mohammed, MRHB DeFi Founder & CEO.
“Blockchain offers amazing potential for all communities. We aim to deliver this potential to those who may have previously struggled to access or been cautious to use DeFi products and services. We also hope to provide them with all of the rich opportunities for growth, expansion and development that DeFi offers,” adds Naquib.
“We’re excited about embarking on this shared journey with MRHB. Islamic DeFi and Shariah-based crypto financial products are an area of extraordinary growth and potential for India. We’re committed to delivering MRHB DeFi’s visionary range of services and products to our clients across our continent,” says Ravneet Kaur, CEO of Coinsbit India.
She continues, “The time is right for a blockchain project that is based on the tenets of faith, inclusion and access for all, while being transparent and simple to use. MRHB DeFi has demonstrated to us that they are committed to a long-term vision for ethical people around the world no matter what their faith is.”
Asian countries are outpacing the rest of the world in terms of cryptocurrency adoption and India has ranked second in the global cryptocurrency adoption index, according to the 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index by blockchain data platform Chainalysis. Indians have invested more than five times the amount of the previous year and the momentum is encouraging.
Crypto adoption is on the rise in India and the Indian exchanges WazirX, CoinDCX and Coinswitch Kuber have doubled their user base between January and March 2021.
Coinsbit India started its operations recently and has already captured market attention by onboarding a million users in around three months.
About MRHB DeFi
MRHB DeFi is a halal, decentralised finance platform built to embody the true spirit of an “Ethical and Inclusive DeFi” by following faith-based financial and business principles, where all excluded communities can benefit from the full empowerment potential of DeFi.
Based on the tenets of blockchain such as trust, transparency, and security, MRHB DeFi has encapsulated universally applicable principles of Shariah into those tenets of blockchain to render a suite of offerings. It is a complete DeFi ecosystem whose products, protocols and crypto-assets are governed primarily by the ethical, inclusive, sustainable and charitable investment principles associated with the Islamic faith or ‘Islamic Finance’ (‘IF’ as it is commonly known).
The diverse team is comprised of researchers, technocrats, influencers, Islamic fintech experts & business entrepreneurs, who came together to ensure that MRHB DeFi prevails in a manner that will impact society as a whole, essentially bridging the gap between the faith-conscious communities and the blockchain world.
Read more about MRHB DeFi’s Shariah Concept Paper, Lite and White Paper here.
MRHB DeFi Official Channels
Website: https://marhabadefi.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marhabadefi
Telegram: https://t.me/mdf_official
Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/marhabadefi_ANN
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHuvZG9DbS5ffeoqLX_bERg
Medium: https://medium.com/@marhabadefi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marhabadefi
About Coinsbit India
Since its inception in 2017, Coinsbit has been one of the most trusted exchange platforms for cryptocurrency traders from around the world. Coinsbit India aims to become the leading trading platform for the Indian market, which is just beginning to realize the potential of cryptocurrencies. It always works according to the guidelines set by the government of India. Coinsbit India is committed to providing a service, reliability and convenience that cannot be matched by any other platform, and as one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is proud to represent India.
Coinsbit India Official Channels
Website: https://coinsbit.in
Telegram: https://t.me/CoinsbitIndiaChannel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoinsbitIndia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoinsbitIndia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coinsbitindia
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