Popular Indian cryptocurrency platform CoinDCX seen a five-fold increase in trade volumes in the last month, going from $5 million at the beginning of February to over $25 million by the end of the month. In a recent interview with a local media outlet, The National, CoinDCX co-founder Sumit Gupta credited this astounding rise to the increasing trajectory of Bitcoin prices.

Parallel to this, trade volumes at WazirX, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in India and the leading exchange in Mumbai, have increased 20-fold since the beginning of 2024. Vice president of WazirX Rajagopal Menon noted a significant increase in daily website traffic and new user registrations, directly attributing this upsurge to rising Bitcoin prices and the ensuing upbeat atmosphere in the industry.


Trading volumes have not reached their peak levels despite this increase in interest, in part because of India's high taxation on cryptocurrency transactions. The government levied a 1% tax on all transactions and a 30% tax on cryptocurrency revenues in 2022. Menon claims that retail investments have not increased to the levels observed in 2021 as a result of these policies. The cautious approach to regulation is also influenced by Indian authorities' concerns on the risks involved with cryptocurrency trading, especially the possibility of its misuse for money laundering.

Nonetheless, some insiders in the business continue to see the tax policy as the Indian government's tacit acceptance of cryptocurrencies as respectable investment options.
 

"The sector has made some progress in the recent few years. First, the government decided to include the VDA industry in the PMLA, or Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. But legal obstacles, such the tax laws included in the Finance Act of 2022, continue to prevent wider adoption, Gupta said in a different statement to Crypto.news.


Maintaining demand in the Indian bitcoin sector still depends on regulatory clarity and confidence. The founder and CEO of cryptocurrency research company Crebaco, Sidharth Sogani, also emphasized the distinction between cryptocurrencies' legal and regulated status in India, emphasizing that regulation would drastically alter the dynamics of the industry.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has expressed worries about the regulation of cryptocurrencies, stating categorically that Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets are not to be considered currencies. Sitharaman anticipates that the G20, which consists of the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), and 19 independent nations, will create a thorough regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
 

"From this perspective, we have been advocating for regulatory clarity, and we have always maintained that Crypto is an asset class," Gupta continued.

Furthermore, we ought to recognize the benefits that this technology is providing. The recent remarks made by Shri Uday Kotak, the Chairperson of SEBI, which highlighted the "emergence of an alternate market and how it is being legitimized by the U.S., UK, and Europe as a major part of their future," further demonstrated this.
 

Gupta emphasized once more the significance of international cooperation between legislators in order to create a logical and practical legislative framework for cryptocurrencies. He maintained that this kind of cooperation would result in the sharing of resources, significant information exchanges, and quicker development of a regulatory framework that reduces "regulatory arbitrage."