Indian investors in the dark as cryptocurrency ads gather steam

Kya aapke portfolio mein crypto hai If you have read such advertising lines recently and now watching crypto ads as you surf through IPL 2021 YouTube and various social media platforms make sure you hold on to your hardearned money for a whileIndian crypto players are bombarding people with advertisements across platforms doubling down on their marketing spend when the cryptocurrencies are yet to be accepted as legal tender and lack legal framework and regulatory norms in the countryThe ball is currently in the court of the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India RBI A cryptocurrency bill is expected in the winter session and till the whole picture is cleared investing in cryptocurrencies can be a dangerous move warn legal expertsCryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency not a legal tender and subject to market risks is a thin line at the end of the advertisements not visible to many people who have started investing via various crypto exchangesAccording to Dr Pavan Duggal a seasoned Supreme Court advocate and a cyber law expert few players are asking Indian investors to invest in cryptocurrencies primarily because there is a big legal vacuum that exists in the countryIndia has still not made up its mind as to how it wants to deal with cryptocurrencies These are not legal tender in India As per the judgment of the Supreme Court of India the Reserve Bank of India is the nodal statutory authority to deal with all aspects pertaining to cryptocurrencies However more work needs to be done in this area Duggal told IANSIf we look at cryptocurrencies as mere electronic records they could be brought under the ambit of legality under Section 4 of the Information Technology Act 2000 However there is a lack of appropriate capacity building and awareness among the Indian investors about legal capabilities and nuances of cryptocurrenciesThe government cannot be a mute spectator while open calls are being made asking Indian investors to invest into cryptocurrencies Without appropriate homework on the legalities of cryptocurrencies in India merely prohibiting players from asking Indian investors to invest crypto currencies would also not work Duggal elaboratedIndia has seen a spurt in the popularity of crypto exchanges and platforms in recent months like CoinSwitch Kuber CSK WazirX CoinDCX ZebPay Unocoin and BuyUcoin etcWithin 15 months of commencing operations in India CoinSwitch Kuber is Indias largest crypto exchange with more than 10 million users Of the total 10 million users 7 million are active users on the platform with a monthly transaction volume of Rs 15138 croreHomegrown crypto exchange Unocoin has launched deposits via UPI wallets in the Indian currency for a faster topup to buy and sell Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies on the platformThere is still uncertainty among the prospective users regarding the usage of cryptocurrency in comparison to real money We want all our users to have the ease of trading or exchanging on our platform said Sathvik Vishwanath CEO and CoFounder UnocoinAccording to a report by IT industrys apex body Nasscom there are 15 million retail investors in India investing in the cryptotech spaceNew Delhibased cyberlaw expert Virag Gupta said that several emerging sectors within the digital economy do not have an established legal framework and regulatory networkCryptocurrency is a unique area since it attracts concurrent regulation by the Ministries of Law Finance and Commerce alongside the RBI and the SEBI Nonetheless certain regulatory needs may be addressed using the IT Act and taxation may be enabled through a notification by the Ministry of Finance Gupta told IANSA legal endorsement by the RBI and legislation passed by the Parliament may further pave the way for lawful tradingIt is a misconception to believe that a conducive regulatory environment will harm the crypto currency sector Rather to cement a certain future detailed jurisprudence diving deep within the currency and technology essential to the sector must be designed Gupta suggestedOtherwise the entire sector may be susceptible to uncertain government intervention such as measures employed by the Chinese government which have led to loss of trust investments and overall destruction of the marketChinas central bank announced last month that all transactions of cryptocurrencies are illegal effectively banning digital tokens such as Bitcoin Ethereum and Solana etcWhen Bitcoin crossed 50000 again last week Shivam Thakral CEO BuyUcoin said there has been a paradigm shift in the investment patterns across the globe which is underlined by the data shared by crypto exchanges from time to timeIndias middleclass population is willing to explore digital assets for creating longterm wealth to fulfil their goals which may not be possible through any other asset class Thakral saidHowever it is possible that the gullible Indian investors would invest in crypto currencies only to find that their business interests have been prejudicially impactedThis is a golden opportunity for the Indian government to explore mechanisms of how it can ride the tide of cryptocurrencies and also draft enabling legal frameworks to regulate cryptocurrencies said DuggalTo cement a certain future detailed jurisprudence diving deep within the currency and technology essential to the sector must be designed Gupta addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the contents in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever