India is Not Viable for Business

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has come out and said that he believes India is currently not a viable business environment for his exchange and takes issue with the country’s strict tax regime.

The CEO of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has said that he does not currently see India as a viable place for his crypto undertakings. The CEO spoke at a TechCrunch crypto conference noting:

To be honest, I don’t think India is a very crypto-friendly environment.

CZ cites India’s harsh crypto tax regime which the government implemented earlier in the year. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman imposed a 30% capital gains tax on all profits made from crypto transactions. The tax law further obliges citizens to pay a 1% tax deducted at the source on every transaction so that the government can keep track of all such crypto transactions. CZ remarked:

If you are going to tax 1% on each transaction, there is not going to be that many transactions.

He further added:

A user could trade 50 times a day and they will lose like 70% of their money. There is not going to be any volume for an order book type of exchange. So we don’t see a viable business in India today. All we can do is wait. We are attempting to present some reasoning in our conversations with various business groups and key individuals.

CZ previously made comments regarding India’s taxation of cryptocurrencies arguing that high taxes on cryptocurrencies and crypto transactions in India may “kill the industry.” The government has been criticised for not introducing comprehensive regulation, opting instead to impose taxes on capital gains and transactions to curtail the industry. While the government has decided to take a rather harsh approach to crypto, it has embraced blockchain technology. The Reserve Bank of India announced that it is set to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) called the “digital rupee.”

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.