India’s push for tighter digital asset oversight has taken a sharper turn, with New Delhi signaling that domestic law cannot keep pace with a market that lives beyond national borders.
The warning comes alongside fresh figures showing that financial crimes tied to cryptocurrencies have ballooned into the hundreds of millions. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman used a recent parliamentary briefing to reiterate a message India has delivered to G20 partners all year: crypto regulation only works if countries agree on common standards.
Key Takeaways
India insists crypto oversight must be internationally coordinated.
Nearly $466M in digital-asset crimes has been seized or frozen.
Over 44,000 compliance notices went to undeclared crypto traders.
Coinbase has reopened sign-ups in India with future rupee plans.
Her remarks underscored a dilemma — India taxes, monitors, and flags crypto transactions aggressively, yet regulators feel powerless without international cooperation.
India still does not recognize cryptocurrency as money, but it treats it as a heavily monitored virtual asset. Trading is legal, though expensive — a 30% tax on gains and a 1% levy on transfers has funneled activity offshore, weakening local oversight.
Enforcement Sweeps Reveal Scale of Hidden Activity
New disclosures illustrate why officials want shared guardrails. Investigators have uncovered nearly $100 million in unreported crypto income through seizure operations, according to government testimony. Separately, the Enforcement Directorate says it froze or confiscated digital assets worth roughly $466 million tied to laundering probes.
India’s automated compliance engine has also flagged tens of thousands of taxpayers who traded assets but failed to report them — prompting more than 44,000 notices in recent months.
Crypto Adoption is Growing Despite Penalties
Ironically, the backlash comes at a time when domestic appetite for digital assets is recovering. Bitcoin reclaimed lost ground this month, mirroring confidence bubbling across global markets. Yet fear remains the dominant sentiment locally — tax pain, enforcement sweeps, and uncertain policy continue to cloud sentiment.
Still, momentum is returning. Coinbase, which abruptly stopped onboarding Indian users in 2023 after payment gateway issues, has quietly reopened registrations. It now allows trading pairs between digital assets and wants to reintroduce rupee funding in 2026 after securing final approvals.
Can India Provide Stability Without Global Alignment?
The Reserve Bank of India has repeatedly argued that sovereign rules, without cross-border synchronisation, cannot contain systemic risk. As digital assets move freely between exchanges headquartered elsewhere, regulators admit their tools are limited — a position now echoed directly by the finance ministry.
With market activity creeping back and enforcement numbers climbing, India is effectively arguing that its crypto challenge has become a global one — and that national policy is no longer enough.
