Taxing income doesn’t give private cryptos legitimacy

We are not taxing a currency (digital rupee) that is yet to be issued

At the customary post-Budget media interactions, Nirmala Sitharaman and her topmost bureaucrats touched upon a number of issues. The minister said the government taxing income from digital virtual assets did not give them legitimacy and that issue was being dealt separately in the planned cryptocurrency Bill. She also expressed confidence that the Budget targets were achievable. Excerpts:

On cryptocurrencies

The RBI will be issuing a digital currency. A currency can be issued only by the central bank even if it is a cryptocurrency. Anything outside that…read more