Cryptocurrency Update: Bitcoin rose slightly amid volatile markets on Friday, March 26, as tensions in Russia, Ukraine persisted for more than a month. According to global crypto tracking website CoinMarketCap, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has risen by 1.03 percent in market value in the past 24 hours to $44,410.31 at the time of writing this article. It should be noted that Bitcoin is up more than 6 percent in the past seven days.
Ether, the second most popular cryptocurrency, fell 0.85 percent in a day, reaching $3,105.37, according to CoinMarketCap. On a weekly basis, Ether gained more than 5.40 percent.
Back in India, during the Budget session on Thursday, the Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill, 2022, which proposed to tax virtual digital assets or cryptocurrencies. The new rules will come into effect from April 1. Pursuant to the amendments to the Finance Bill, 2022, the Treasury Department is proposing to remove the word “other” from the section related to the netting of losses from gains in virtual digital assets.
This would mean that losses arising from the transfer of Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) should not be offset against the income arising from the transfer of another VDA. The Budget 2022-23 has clarified the levy of income tax on crypto assets. As of April 1, 30 percent IT plus taxes and fees will be levied on such transactions in the same way as horse racing profits or other speculative transactions. Also, when calculating the income from the transfer of VDA, no deduction of expenses (other than the acquisition costs) or fees will be allowed.
“The proposed 30 percent tax, whether crypto assets are capital assets or not, will hurt the investor growth the industry has seen so far. This move ensures that day traders are unable to save on taxes, even if they are not currently in the income tax brackets. In addition, not allowing investors to offset losses from one crypto trading pair with gains from another type of crypto participation will further deter and curb the industry’s growth,” said WazirX founder and CEO Nischal Shetty.
Here are the top 10 cryptocurrencies and their prices as of March 18, 2022 (data from coinmarketcap.com at the time of publishing this article)
Bitcoin $44,410.31 or 1.03 percent gain in the last 24 hours
Ethereum $3,105.37 or 0.85 percent loss in the last 24 hours
Tether $1.00 or 0.01 percent loss in the last 24 hours
BNB $410.39 or 1.00 percent loss in the last 24 hours
USD coin $0.9999 or 0.01 percent gain in the last 24 hours
XRP $0.8261 or 1.73 percent loss in the last 24 hours
Cardano $1.11 or 4.67 percent gain in the last 24 hours
Solana $98.86 or 4.64 percent loss in the last 24 hours
Terra $89.57 or 4.18 percent loss in the last 24 hours
Avalanche $83.73 or 3.31 percent loss in the last 24 hours
Read all the latest news, breaking news and the war between Ukraine and Russia here.
