In Brief:
- Indian Govt. to reclassify crypto exchanges as ecommerce platforms
- The move will decrease the GST from 18% to 1% on cryptos exchanges.
- As per reports, cryptocurrency exchanges will possibly be classified into three categories: facilitators, brokerages and trading platforms.
In what could be considered as good news for crypto fans, the Indian Government is planning to classify crypto exchanges as e-commerce platforms which will decrease the goods and services tax (GST) from 18% to 1%, as suggested by a report.
This comes days after India hosted its first ever parliamentary panel discussing Crypto Finance. As per a Business Standard report, the government aims to monitor virtual currency transactions. So may classify cryptocurrency exchanges into three categories- the trading platforms that provide an interface for trading, the platforms that act as a facilitator, the brokerages that allow buying and selling by connecting buyers and sellers.
As per the speculations suggest, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), that operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, could be designated as the regulator of crypto- industry in India.
The government is also planning to bring regulations on the advertisements by these crypto platforms. According to the report, the government may prohibit crypto exchanges and platforms from “active solicitation.” This, in effect, will possibly mean a constraint on the numerous ads that suggest people invest their money in cryptocurrencies, without warning them of the possible hazards.
The proposed bill on cryptocurrency regulations is likely to be presented in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.
As and when these regulations are placed, the brick for crypto-industry might be laid. Although this indicates that the legislation of cryptos as tenders might be a far fetched reality, these speculations might set an optimistic tone as recently the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain UCITS ETF, thus, making it the first of its kind in India.
