Crypto prices up as Bitcoin, ether, shiba inu, dogecoin gain: Check rates here

Bitcoin on Sunday went up by 0.6% remaining above the $42,000 level, as per CoinGecko. The digital token was trading almost flat at $44,644.50 on Sunday morning. However, the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency is down about 8% in 2022 (year-to-date or YTD) so far as it is about 30% below its record high of near $69,000 that it had hit in November last year. While Ethereum went up 1.3% and was trading at $3,151.25, Shiba Inu was up 1.6% and was trading at $0.00002457. Dogecoin witnessed a much higher surge at 4.8% trading at $0.137411.

In a related development, taxation of virtual digital assets (VDAs) or “crypto tax” proposed in the Union Budget 2022-23 is set to be implemented from April 1, as the Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Finance Bill, 2022. The Lok Sabha also passed the amendments introduced in the Finance Bill, 2022 regarding clarification on taxation of virtual digital assets.

Section 115BBH of the Bill deals with tax on virtual digital assets. Clause (2)(b) prevents loss on the trading of crypto assets from being set off against income under “any other provision” of the IT Act. As per the amendment, the word “other” is dropped. Under the amended law, loss from crypto assets cannot be set off against gains in crypto assets as well.

“The proposed 30 per cent tax irrespective of whether crypto-assets are capital assets or not will be detrimental to the investor growth that the industry has been seeing so far. This move will make day-traders incapable of saving on taxes even if they aren’t in the income tax brackets currently,” said Nischal Shetty, Founder and CEO of crypto exchange WazirX.

“Furthermore, not allowing investors to offset losses from one crypto trading pair by gains from another type will further deter crypto participation and throttle the industry growth,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)