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India’s Crypto Sector Ramps Up Pressure for Tax Relief Amid Regulatory Shifts
Updated: May 27, 2025 | 1:48 AM UTC

India's cryptocurrency industry is intensifying its lobbying efforts, urging the government to ease what it describes as an excessively burdensome tax regime.

"The current tax structure is very harsh," said Ashish Singhal, co-founder of CoinSwitch, one of India’s largest crypto exchanges. He advocates for reducing the transaction tax to 0.1%—a tenth of the existing rate—arguing that such a change would maintain transactional transparency while encouraging compliant, legitimate trading activity.

Regulatory Pressure Adds to Industry Strain

Alongside high taxes, new compliance mandates have added further pressure on crypto firms. Under recent rules, designated individuals must report digital asset transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND), increasing oversight without offering corresponding tax relief.

Rising Engagement Reflects Shifting Attitudes

India’s stance on digital assets appears to be evolving. Executives note a marked uptick in dialogue between crypto firms and policymakers. According to Singhal, meetings that once occurred every six months now happen “monthly, if not weekly.”

This shift coincides with global developments, particularly in the United States, where President Donald Trump has embraced digital currencies. Industry insiders believe this global momentum—especially the pro-crypto signals from Washington—is influencing India's policy conversations.

In the wake of Trump’s return to office in January, reports emerged that India’s Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth may revise a key discussion paper that could shape future crypto regulations. Although Seth has remained silent publicly, the developments hint at a potential recalibration of the government’s approach to the sector.

From Hostility to Hesitant Acceptance

India’s crypto industry has long grappled with regulatory ambiguity. In 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned banks from working with crypto firms, a move later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2020.

Today, the RBI’s stance has softened. While the central bank remains wary of crypto’s risks to financial stability, Governor Sanjay Malhotra has adopted a more measured tone than his predecessors. Singhal describes the shift in the RBI’s posture as moving from “negative to neutral,” indicating a window for constructive dialogue.

Major Crypto Exchanges Return to Indian Market

Amid these shifts, major global exchanges are making a comeback. Coinbase, the leading U.S.-based crypto platform, has registered with the FIU-IND and is poised to re-enter India after pulling out in 2022 over regulatory uncertainties.

Binance, the world’s largest exchange, has also re-established its presence in India by partnering with the same regulatory body. These moves signal a pivot in the government’s approach—prioritizing oversight and compliance over outright prohibition.

Tom Duff Gordon, Coinbase’s head of international policy, credited Trump’s return with revitalizing global confidence in crypto. He said Indian policymakers now realize that banning the sector outright is no longer a viable option.

According to consulting firm Grant Thornton, India’s crypto market is projected to grow from $2.5 billion in 2024 to more than $15 billion by 2035.

“Competition has definitely started heating up,” said Kush Wadhwa, a partner at Grant Thornton India. “India doesn’t have the option to ignore it anymore. The challenge lies in curbing money laundering and tax evasion—not in rejecting crypto, but in controlling it.”

#news
Binance Launches Livestream Trading to Boost User Engagement and Defend Market Share

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has launched a new feature called Live Trading on its social platform, Binance Square. Announced today, the feature is designed to empower the exchange’s community by making crypto trading more accessible and interactive.

A New Era of Social Trading

With Live Trading, verified creators can now livestream their trading strategies to users directly on Binance Square. Viewers can execute spot or futures trades in real time, directly from the stream—eliminating the typical lag between learning and acting on trading strategies.

“This feature is part of our ongoing commitment to provide cutting-edge tools and resources to empower our community and make trading more accessible and engaging for users globally,” Binance said in the announcement.

The move mirrors a similar feature launched earlier in 2025 by Solana-based memecoin platform Pump.fun. That rollout sparked controversy due to misuse, prompting Pump.fun to suspend and later relaunch the feature with added safeguards in April. Binance, however, aims to distinguish its offering by focusing on strategy sharing from experienced traders and user education.

How It Works

During a livestream, users can access a “Strategy Tab” to view trades shared by creators, complete with key details like order size, trading pair, and position direction. A single click allows viewers to mirror the trade directly from the stream.

Each livestream allows creators to share up to 100 spot or futures trades. These can be pinned for easy reference via strategy cards. Creators earn 50% of trading fees generated when users copy their strategies—providing strong incentive to participate and share high-quality content.

To qualify as a creator, users must have at least 1,000 followers on Binance Square. However, experienced traders who don't meet that threshold can apply to the Binance Square Live Trading Incubation Program for early access and visibility.

A Broader Strategy to Maintain Market Leadership

The Live Trading launch follows a flurry of feature rollouts by Binance aimed at strengthening its competitive position. Recent additions include Grid Trading 2.0, integration of the Bio Protocol on the Base Network, new promotions through Binance Earn, and the addition of the World Liberty Financial USD1 stablecoin to multiple services.
Another major initiative is Binance Alpha—a platform within the Binance Wallet that highlights promising early-stage crypto projects and enables users to buy their tokens.
These moves come as Binance works to solidify its dominance in the face of rising competition. Despite leading the global crypto exchange market with 36.5% of spot trading volume and 45% in derivatives during Q1 2025, the firm saw a 1.38% dip in spot market share and has faced scrutiny over alleged connections to the Trump family and underperformance of newly listed tokens.
Meanwhile, competitors are gaining ground. Robinhood recently acquired BitStamp, while Kraken bought Ninja Traders—both deals that could significantly expand their market appeal.

Conclusion
As Binance faces increasing pressure from rivals, Live Trading represents a strategic shift toward social and educational tools that foster deeper engagement. Whether it proves effective in retaining market share remains to be seen, but it signals that Binance is willing to innovate to stay ahea