SUMMARY
Foreign investors such as Block.one, Coinbase and Draper Associates took a liking to Indian crypto companies, leading their growth-stage funding rounds
Indian crypto exchanges such as WazirX and CoinDCX witnessed a significant uptick in user signups and trading volumes
Given the spate of positive developments in India’s crypto sector, crypto exchanges are cautiously optimistic about this year’s Union Budget
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India's Crypto Economy
India's Crypto Economy is a brand-new weekly newsletter (delivered every Thursday) from Inc42 to help you decode the rapidly growing crypto economy and its implications on business, work and life. We launched this newsletter on the 4th anniversary of our weekly series “Crypto This Week” which completed 190 editions in May, 2021.
The year gone by was undoubtedly a good one for crypto in India. Despite the lack of regulation for the industry, Indian crypto exchanges such as WazirX and CoinDCX witnessed a significant uptick in user signups and trading volumes, while Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices skyrocketed all through 2020.
Foreign investors such as Block.one, Coinbase and Draper Associates took a liking to Indian crypto companies, leading their growth-stage funding rounds, while foreign-based crypto players such as Cashaa and Coinbase have looked to tap into the Indian market, the former already announcing a partnership with an Indian credit cooperative society to launch Unicas, a crypto-friendly financial institution, that will operate physical branches of banks that will offer crypto services to customers.
Given the spate of positive developments in India’s crypto sector, crypto exchanges are cautiously optimistic about this year’s Union Budget, hoping for the government to provide clarity on certain nagging issues such as taxation on crypto gains, the prospect of crypto exchanges being brought under the purview of SEBI, and more.
Experts Inc42 spoke to, were of the opinion that with millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies being traded on a daily basis through Indian exchanges, there is a clear incentive for the government to introduce regulation for the sector and collect tax on crypto gains.
For a detailed overview of what India’s crypto companies are expecting from this year’s Union Budget, read the full story: Ahead Of Union Budget, India’s Crypto Startups Seek Clarity On Tax, Foreign Exchange & More.
Bitcoin & Ethereum Prices
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $33,804, an 8% increase from last week’s price of $31,395. Its market cap was $629 Bn.
Ethereum was trading at $1049, up marginally from last week’s price of $1031. Its market cap was $119 Bn.
Other News
Unicas by Cashaa partners with Bitbns To Provide Banking Services to Indian Crypto Traders
Unicas, a crypto-friendly financial institution by Cashaa, has partnered with Bitbns cryptocurrency exchange to provide Indian crypto traders with advanced banking services.
The new partnership will enable Indian Bitbns users to become Unicas members and access their state-of-the-art banking services. Unicas banking services include high-interest savings accounts, crypto-backed loans and debit cards that enable deposit and withdrawal in both crypto and fiat. Currently, Bitbns has over 1 Mn users trading on its platform.
To Coin Or Not To Coin? The Must-Knows For The Crypto-Curious
As Bitcoin’s dollar value hits a correction, experts candidly chat about what you need to know about cryptocurrency before you hop on this fintech bandwagon. Read the full story here.
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