As India Considers 18% Tax on Bitcoin and Crypto Transactions, A Physical Crypto Bank Opens in the Country
The Indian government is reportedly consider imposing a 18% goods and services (GST) tax on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions in the country, reported local new publication TOI.
The proposal has been put forward by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC). The proposal suggests treat Bitcoin as an asset class while charging GST on margins made on the trading.
Currently, the estimated Bitcoin transactions in India are around $5.5 billion or 42,000 crore INR every year. Thus, an 18% GST would fetch the government a tax revenue of $1 billion or roughly 7200 crore INR.
India’s crypto industry veterans have acknowledged this move saying that a formal tax structure would be beneficial for the industry. Sumit Gupta, CEO of Mumbai-based crypto exchange CoinDCX said: “Government mulling a tax structure is a sign of better understanding of this novel asset class and we are hopeful that this would lead to more positive news going forward. Regarding the tax rate, and structure is something that we’ll wait and watch, but this is definitely a positive sign.”
Other market proponents have also welcomed this decision by the government adding that the clarity on the crypto tax matters will further push higher institutional participation in the crypto space.
In wake of further developments, crypto bank Unicas has announced opening physical crypto bank branches via a joint venture between Cashaa and United Multistate Credit Co. Operative Society.
The bank said that first branch has been opened in the Jaipur city of Rajasthan state. The announcement details: “Unicas is initially opening its services online and through 14 branches across NCR, Rajasthan, and Gujarat by January 2021, and plans to rapidly expand to 100 branches by the end of 2022”.
The next 13 physical branches will open between January 4-22. The crypto bank Unicas will be offering banking service for both fiat and crypto assets. This includes crypto exchanges, crypto savings account, crypto loan and crypto debit cards for spending digital currencies.
By depositing crypto assets in the Unicas wallet, users can receive instant loans digitally in equivalent value of INR. Apart from banking, Cashaa CEO Kumar Gaurav explained: “Unicas will also provide information and guidance on the level of convenience and security that blockchain technology offers.”