Indian Crypto Taxation Leads to Increase in Daily Sign-ups for Exchange Platforms

blockchain.news:

Indian crypto-asset exchange platform WazirX witnessed a 30% jump in its daily sign-ups since the country decided to impose a 30% tax on profits from cryptocurrency trading, according to co-founder Nischal Shetty.

While rival CoinSwitch saw a daily increase of 35%, according to founder Ashish Singhal. Binance owned WazirX is the largest crypto bourse in India.

The crypto tax decision by the Indian government could be seen as a boon instead of an obstacle as crypto interest among the public has risen due to a probability that taxation has legitimized an industry that was earlier in regulatory limbo, although it had already been facing stringent backlashes from the central bank.

According to Shetty, there could be about 100 million individual investors in crypto in the next two to three years.

“Investors are seeing a lot of clarity and visibility now with taxation announced in the budget," Shetty said. “Earlier, people were on the sidelines wondering if cryptos were allowed or not."

Neither exchange disclosed how many customers they added in total since Feb 1, but Shetty said that on average, the new client puts about 30,000 rupees to 40,000 rupees  ($400 to $533) in their trading account. 

Following the announcement of the taxation scheme, crypto wary companies have started to show investment interests in WazirX, Shetty said. However, India's crypto industry still lives in uncertainty as the country has not introduced legislation governing digital assets.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or central bank has not shown any signs of toning down its criticism against the use of digital assets.

Earlier in February, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das showed distaste towards cryptocurrencies saying that they are a threat to