Should we Trust Cryptocurrency?

Tarun Gurwara

Libertas, Aequitas, Veritas – In cryptocurrency should we trust?

So, bitcoin which is the most commonly known and owns cryptocurrency recently touched a high of more than 40,000 USD per Bitcoin, others like Ethereum have also done the same in the last 1 year.

So why all the cryptos are getting so much attention?

Since March 2020, due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, Central Banks across the world have been printing money and the Governments have been giving away that money through multiple stimulus packages and beneficial schemes to their citizens. When such kind of abundant money printing happens, people fear that the value of the currency will go down, and hence they are diversifying into Gold, Equities, and even Cryptocurrency as well. In fact, in the last 6 months, a lot of Hedge Funds have also started to invest in Cryptocurrency, mainly bitcoins.

So these are a few points which suggest that it may be a good avenue:

Cryptocurrencies are unlike Paper Money, they are not issued by a specific Central Bank and hence the value is uniform. According to one estimate, there are more than 300 cryptocurrencies currently available.
For many of the cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin which has the largest market cap, the supply is capped, which means that only a limited number of coins can be minted. Like Bitcoin has a limited supply of 21 Million. However, there likes of Ethereum as well which have no supply capping.
It’s a cryptocurrency that is based on a secure technology called “Distributed Ledger Technology” and no one controls it or can control it as It runs on Blockchain.
In cryptocurrencies, there are no restrictions on who can transact it, irrespective of nationality or geography so in that sense it’s truly decentralized.
Most cryptocurrencies and all of the prominent ones, use Blockchain technology. Without going into nuances of Blockchain, it’s a technology that provides a record of all the transactions which can never be altered or deleted, so basically, no changes in already done transactions can take place which makes it very secure.
Unlike the last rally of 2017-18, this rally which started in 2020 in Cryptocurrencies is fuelled by Institutional Investors. According to one survey done in the US and Europe, there are around 200 Funds that have invested in Cryptocurrency, mainly Bitcoin. In fact, Fidelity, which is one of the largest Asset Manager in the world managing more than 3.3 Trillion USD, has started a Bitcoin Fund, so it gives an indication that such large sophisticated Funds are finding Cryptocurrencies as an asset class which augurs well for all the investors.
So essentially, Cryptocurrencies are now more of an asset class and less of an alternative to Money or Paper Currency, similar to Gold or Oil or Art, where the value fluctuates based on multiple factors, mainly demand & supply. However, though it’s early days, in places like the US, retail transactions have also now started to happen where the tender is Bitcoin. PayPal which is one of the largest payment platforms has started to accept Bitcoins for payments.

Future of Trading Cryptocurrency in India

With the advancement of web innovation, virtual money – called cryptocurrency has furthermore been envisioned. A notable sort of computerized cash is bitcoin. As advanced cash got standard, people started putting and trading bitcoins across the globe even though the trade was not coordinated. Exchanging an unregulated area can prompt illegal tax avoidance, extortion, and even psychological oppressor financing. This prevalently developing new area additionally requires charge changes to represent the salaries being created by the purchaser.

Acting considering a real worry for purchasers, the public power prompted people about the perils in overseeing virtual financial structures communicating that virtual money related guidelines are not a significant legitimate fragile in India and even explained that virtual money related norms don’t have regulatory security in India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through its notice dated 06.04.2018 precluded the managing of virtual monetary forms in India. According to the notice, the national bank, while practicing its force, expressed that the elements managed by RBI won’t bargain in virtual monetary forms. Consequently, clients could neither cycle nor settle their computerized cash trades as the bank substances of the RBI can’t deal in the purchase/offer of virtual money.

The judgment by the summit court was concerning the eventual fate of cryptocurrency in India, as the court featured that.

We bring up an issue here, regardless of whether it is feasible for the approach creators to control the virtual money in India. However, as opposed to prohibiting virtual cash, Japan dealt with its virtual money business by modifying the Payment Services Act which regularizes the computerized money business in Japan.

Like Japan, various countries have regularized computerized money in their specific ward. In any case, numerous nations are perceiving and legitimizing this action and are effectively ready to burden the dealers under different laws. For instance, Israel charges it as a resource, while the United Kingdom charges it under different branches like Corporation payor Corporate Tax while people make good on capital addition charge.

The 2019 order presented by China disallows the exchanging of cryptographic money and the presentation of the Digital Rupee step is like what China did. The Chinese government restricted virtual cash and is intending to present its first computerized money.

From India’s viewpoint, a significant point for thought is that presentation of a Digital rupee as a legitimate delicate might be a state of contention as via restricting other virtual money and presentation of Digital Rupee, the public authority may have a restraining infrastructure around here.

To conclude, cryptocurrencies are an exciting space, which is getting more exciting day by day, and at some point, in time, when it’s acceptance with governments and Central Banks does also go up, it will become a far more accepted asset class unlike today when still most see it with apprehension. A more widely accepted premise of Cryptocurrencies augurs well for investors. However, like any investment, we should weigh the pros and cons before investing.