“Crypto should be deemed as a foreign asset,” Says R Gandhi, RBI’s Former Deputy Governor

Former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), R Gandhi on Tuesday said, “Crypto needs to be treated as a foreign asset and should be taxed based on its payment channels.”

Speaking at Crypto-asset conference ‘HODL – 2021, organized by the Blockchain & Crypto Assets Council (BACC) of IAMAI, R Gandhi said, “On entry in a citizen’s hand, crypto should be deemed as a foreign asset. It should be paid through normal channels when it is bought otherwise it will be deemed as mined and capital gained and taxed heavily.”

“This will be a voluntary disclosure. Then if it is proved mined, capital gained and taxed is likely. It should be fully tracked through a depository or repository of information about that. Then exchanges can facilitate trade – buy and sell – and settle payment and received. This should be on a DVP basis i.e., Delivered vs Payment rather than Payment vs Payment. In this fashion the exchanges can be regulated by SEBI,” Gandhi added.