Crypto markets rebound but assets future in India uncertain: Experts

business-standard.com:

The market capitalisation (m-cap) of cryptocurrencies topped the $1-trillion mark on Wednesday, capping a weeklong bull run as in India experts cautioned about the future of the digital assets.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by m-cap, was nearing $23,500 after rising nearly 20 per cent in the last seven days, according to coinmarketcap.com. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, was trading above $1,500, up nearly 45 per cent in a week.

The m-cap of all cryptocurrencies was above $1.05 trillion, according to coinmarketcap at 3pm IST.

"Bitcoins price surge has ignited some bullish sentiments among investors. It reinforces the commitment to the fundamentals of Bitcoin. However, we have also witnessed Bitcoin’s dropping to the lowest hence we will have to wait and watch the global market movements to understand the market changes better," said Mridul Gupta, chief operating officer at CoinDCX.

Sridhar R, partner at Grant Thornton Bharat, said India’s legislation in April cleared the air on taxing digital assets. "With government implementing the withholding tax and income tax provisions as recommended in the Finance Act of 2022, the crypto market in India is all set to comply with these strict tax provisions. While these impose difficult withholding tax compliances on the market players and platforms, they do clear the air under income tax law, to some extent", he said.

From April 1, a 30 per cent tax was applied on income from the sale of crypto assets. From July 1, an additional 1 per cent tax was applied in the form of tax deducted at source (TDS).

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a written reply to Parliament on Tuesday, said the Reserve Bank of India is of the view that cryptocurrencies should be