The crypto scene in India has been subject to many twists and turns. The citizens of the country had to endure the uncertainty of the legality of cryptocurrencies. At the same time, the government is still deciding on the status of cryptocurrencies. rumors pertaining to laws surrounding the crypto-verse continue to surface.
Similar to several countries across the globe, India went on to embrace cryptocurrencies right after the market soared to a high of $2 trillion. The government noted that it would make better regulations for cryptocurrencies in the country.
In more recent news, the country revealed that overseas cryptocurrency exchanges functioning in India would have to pay an 18 percent tax. With the whole country paying up goods and service tax [GST], cryptocurrency platforms would also have to join the list.
Indian crypto exchanges fail to secure partnerships with banks
While the government is still probing the prospects of the crypto industry, crypto exchanges were seen having a hard time securing prominent payments solutions. India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India [RBI], steered away, saying that it wasn’t in support of cryptocurrencies. Disruption of financial stability seemed to be one of RBI’s main concerns.
Speaking about the same, the co-chief executive of ZebPay, Avinash Shekhar said,
“Banks are reluctant to do business. We have been talking to several payment partners but the progress has been slow.”
This has further urged these platforms to seek alternatives like smaller firms. However, these aren’t stable yet, the founder of an Indian crypto platform noted. Veering into smaller firms would be a temporary solution, the founder stated.
However, issues like this have paved the way for an increase in peer-to-peer transactions, as they eliminate the need for a payment processor. The chief executive of a crypto exchange said,
“Predictably, alternate transaction methods such as P2P have increased, which makes the market more inefficient and also exposes customers to the risk of fraud.”