India Fails to Bag Spot Among World’s Crypto-Ready Countries, Hong Kong Tops List

Hong Kong, followed by the US and Switzerland are the world’s top three most crypto-ready nations, respectively.

By Radhika Parashar | Updated: 1 August 2022 17:07 IST

India Fails to Bag Spot Among World’s Crypto-Ready Countries, Hong Kong Tops List

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Australia, Ireland, and the UK are nations with most interest in crypto

Highlights

Georgia, UAE among most crypto-friendly nations
US, Canada have highest number of crypto ATMs
Crypto taxes lowest in Hong Kong, Switzerland

The cryptocurrency sector, that swelled in valuation by over $3 trillion last year, has intrigued the governments of many nations in recent times. Unfortunately, India has not made it to the list of countries, that have taken crypto-friendly measures to contribute to the growth of this nascent industry. In the latest ‘Worldwide Crypto Readiness Report', Forex Suggest claimed that Hong Kong, followed by the US and Switzerland are the world's top three most crypto-ready nations, respectively.

The study, that has rated nations out of ten in crypto-readiness, analysed several aspects before declaring Hong Kong as the most crypto-friendly country. These aspects included the number of crypto ATMs, the legislation and taxes surrounding cryptocurrencies as well as the number of blockchain start-ups flourishing in the ecosystems.

While Hong Kong scored 8.6 out of 10 in-terms of being lucrative for the crypto sector, the US scored 7.7 and Switzerland bagged the score of 7.5 on the crypto-ready index.

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Georgia, the UAE, Romania, Croatia, Ireland, Czech Republic, along with Slovakia, Greece, Panama, Greece, Austria, and Netherlands emerged as the other countries, that are equipped enough to support the crypto ecosystem.

The US, Canada, and Hong Kong also surfaced as the nations with the greatest number of crypto ATMs respectively.

The installations of these crypto-centric ATMs around the world have risen in recent days, a report by Coin ATM Radar had claimed in June this year. In the first ten days of June alone, over 882 Bitcoin ATMs had emerged in different parts of the world. On an average, between 16 to 23 crypto ATMs are being installed around the world on a daily basis.

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As for now, just two crypto ATMs are known to exist in India, both in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Further, the Worldwide Crypto Readiness Report named Hong Kong, Switzerland, Panama, Portugal, Germany, Malaysia, and Turkey as sharers of the top spot in-terms of the lowest crypto taxes. In these countries, profits made from crypto-trading are exempted from capital gains taxes for individuals.

Switzerland, Hong Kong, and UAE secured the top three spots for nurturing the highest number of blockchain startups.

The fact that India did not make the cut in the crypto-ready index clearly indicates that the government and entrepreneurs need to take conscious measures to establish the nation among early adopters of the crypto industry.

Presently, while India still does not have a concrete legal framework to govern the crypto industry, the government has imposed tax laws on virtual digital assets.

Indian crypto traders are struggling to see profits after paying a 30 percent tax on transactions of VDAs. This rule went live in April.

Starting July, Indians have also begun to see one percent tax deductions on each crypto transaction. This essentially means that one percent TDS is being levied on every purchase and deposit of crypto assets, thus increasing the pressure on investors.

Crypto mammoths like Binance and Coinbase have admitted to be eyeing the Indian market sentiment towards crypto.

India's Benagluru city is currently witnessing a boom in crypto startups with several tech-based entrepreneurs experimenting with blockchain and crypto industries.

As per a recent Accenture report, India contributes seven percent on the chart representing the percentages of crypto and NFT holdings in Asia. This brings India ahead of Singapore, Japan, and Vietnam — that reflect six percent, three percent, and four percent, respectively, in digital asset holdings on the Accenture survey graph.

All things considered; India has failed to save a spot on the list of nations with the most interest in cryptocurrencies.

Australia, Ireland, and the UK bagged the first three ranks on this list, the Worldwide Crypto Readiness Report concluded.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, India, Crypto ATMs, Hong Kong, US, UK, Crypto

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More