What’s NEWs for Cryptocurrency in India?
The hot topic abuzz in the financial market, among youngsters, new investors, and financial experts is none other than cryptocurrency. In India too, cryptocurrency is very popular among youth and investors. There is not a single day where cryptocurrency news circulates in the media. From the Indian Government’s side, there was not much encouragement for cryptocurrency until now though there was an official meeting with the crypto experts couple of months ago. But the recent financial budget has shown some changes in the way how the Government deals with Cryptocurrency.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the budget on February 1, 2022, and a 30% tax was announced for income from Cryptocurrencies. One can say, some kind of validity has come for Cryptocurrencies due to this announcement.
Key points from the budget regarding Cryptocurrency
- 30% tax for income from Cryptocurrencies.
- Cryptocurrencies now come under Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) mainly for taxation purposes.
- Not clear if GST will be applicable.
- Overall income from Cryptocurrencies will be affected due to taxation.
- The government has acknowledged Cryptocurrencies as a VDA.
- New guidelines will come into effect from April 1, 2022.
Worldwide Cryptocurrency trends
Cryptocurrencies have been gaining more and more acceptance globally over the years. Some of the most popular Cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), Polkadot (DOT), etc. Bitcoin has been around since January 2009. Large companies like Tesla have accepted Bitcoin as a form of payment. In countries like El-Salvador, it is also a legal tender. Ether is the second-largest Cryptocurrency since it emerged in 2015. Amazon, Travala, etc have accepted ETH as a form of payment. Some of the popular Cryptocurrencies are Litecoin (LTC), Cardano (ADA), Binance Coin (BNB), etc. According to some experts, it is best to invest not too big in Crypto as it sees a range of fluctuation from high to low and low to high frequently. As of February 2022, there are more than 10,000 Cryptocurrencies in the market.
NFT
NFTs are another hot topic in the finance market of late. So what exactly is NFT? NFT is a non-fungible token with a unique identification code on a blockchain. NFTs can be used to represent real-world items like artwork and real estate and it allows these to be bought and sold very efficiently.
It’s interesting that In March 2021 ex-CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey put up an auction of his first tweet as an NFT and it collected more than $2.9 million for charity.
On a concluding note, we can say that cryptocurrencies are sure to stay here and are the money of the future. Also, a cautioned investment in cryptocurrencies will never go to waste. In India hopefully, the market will be more open and expanded in the future. The youth of today is smart enough for careful investment and India is one of the growing markets for cryptocurrencies.
