There's nothing new in the fact that Indian government hates crypto. Infact, govermentS hate crypto. That's why 8 countries have already banned crypto including China's blanked ban which makes trading in crypto a punishable offence in China. But all this for what? One may hide behind the facade of reasons like money laundering or terror funding but the truth is just one word: Control. Governments love to have control. Be it in the name of regulating or monitoring or just about anything. And one speciality of crypto that no other digital currency can have is: Decentralisation. Control is literally and figuratively scattered around the globe. But none of this is news. It's a long going tug of war between goverments that love control and currencies that don't understand control, and the whole world enjoys this soap opera.
Well the news here is, or are, as it comes in a pair:
1. Indian Government announced it's own digital currency
2. All digital assets will be taxed at 30%.
Coincidence? Maybe.
While the step was taken in direction of discouraging use of crypto currency but it ended up giving some sort of recognition to them. You see, until now, while RBI has put ban on crypto trading and even lifted it after supreme court's order, it has never formally recognised crypto as a currency. But tomorrow, 2nd Feb of 2022, a lecture has been slated by the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies department on crypto currency and members are requested to attend the programme either in person or online. Hopefully, this is to familiarise members with the powers of crypto before the rumoured crypto bill comes for consideration.
A cherry on top of this fiasco cake is Russia, who is considering a ban on crypto currencies as well. Conveniently, this comes at a time when it's neighbour and long time enemy Ukraine is rising as World's Premier Crypto Superpower.
Ukraine is rebranding itself as the main decentralised finance hub with low taxes, less paperwork and sufficient talented engineers. But it doesn't seem safe enough to lure investors now that 100,000 Russian military soldiers are hovering at the border amid tensions between the two.
Another coincidence? Maybe not.
So how will this friendly tug of war end? There is no denying that crypto is the future of money. It's not a question of "whether" but of "when".
In the meanwhile, reports claim that India has the highest number of crypto investors in the world — around 100 million.