The Cryptocurrency space in India has been seeing a lot of developments off late. Although the Government of India sits at the helm of it all, founders of Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Crypto Investors are not sitting idle. The crypto markets are more bullish than ever, which means higher income for both - the exchanges, as well as the traders & investors. Amidst all the stir, here's our two cents on each of their point of view (POV):
Government
I can only give you this clue that we are not closing our minds... There will be a very calibrated position taken. A lot of mixed messages are coming from across the world. The world is moving fast with technology, we cannot pretend that we don't want it. ~ Nirmal Sitharaman
POV: From proposing an outright ban and penalty on possessing/trading/mining crypto assets, to hinting a grace period of 6 months in the upcoming bill on Cryptocurrency, the GOI has come a long way. But why would the Government want to curb a booming futuristic tech product you ask? Money laundering & evasion of taxes are two of the biggest concerns, that’s made not only India, but policy makers across the globe, nervous of the pace at which this tech has been growing.
Cryptocurrency Exchange
Around 340 startups in India are in this field. There is an entire ecosystem around cryptocurrency in India - do we really want to destroy it? ~ Nishchal Shetty, Co-founder of WazirX
POV: A crypto exchange makes money by charging a small commission for every trade.
The Indian exchanges have witnessed exponential increase in trade volumes in 2021. The biggest one, WazirX, has doubled its users to 2 Million in Q1’21 alone. So, a ban on Crypto trading would simply shut their shops. Result? Aggressive lobbying before the regulators on all possible fronts.
Given the recent announcements made by the authorities, it seems that their voices are not falling on deaf ears.
Cryptocurrency Investor
The money is multiplying rapidly every month and you don’t want to be sitting on the side lines. Even though people are panicking due to the potential ban, greed is driving these choices. ~ Cryptocurrency Investor
POV: Despite erratic summons from ED and the Income Tax Dept, Indians are not ready to let go of the opportunity to make quick bucks.
To put the hype in perspective, today 8M Indians hold a whopping $1.4 Billion worth of Cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, India’s equity market has only about 16M traders. So, what’s driving this surge? Probably the rally in prices - Bitcoin is up by over 90% in 2021, whereas the notorious Dogecoin is up by over 5700% in 2021. Name a stock that could give such a return. We’ll wait.
This article is a part of the April'21 edition of our Startup Newsletter. Here's the complete publication:
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