Indian government considering cryptocurrency policy shift: Reuters

India's government is currently mulling a shift on its regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies, which could shift the rate of adoption in the country, which has ranked highly on crypto adoption metrics in recent years. 

India's economic affairs secretary, Ajay Seth, told Reuters in an interview that the country was reviewing its stance on cryptocurrencies in response to shifting attitudes in other countries. 

""More than one or two jurisdictions have changed their stance towards cryptocurrency in terms of the usage, their acceptance, where do they see the importance of crypto assets," Seth said, indicating that the discussion may again delay the release of a discussion paper that will outline the country's official regulatory stance. The paper was originally slated to be released in September 2024 before being delayed. 

India's tightening crypto regulations have already had an impact on the industry. In January, Bybit said it would temporarily halt services in the country "...due to recent developments from Indian regulators and in continuation of previously implemented restrictions." 

In Jan. 2024, the URL for Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by volume, was blocked along with the websites of eight other exchanges for operating in India without compliance with local regulations. However, a report from the Indian think tank ESYA Center concluded "...the impact of blocking of the URLs was short-lived and contrary to the government’s intention to deter users from the [cryptocurrency] market." Binance re-entered India in August after paying a $2.25 million penalty. 

In 2024, India topped the global crypto adoption rankings from analytics firm Chainalysis , despite the country's relatively high crypto capital gains tax of 30%.