Crypto Prices In India Plunge After Reports of Crypto Bill

Panic selling on major crypto exchange WazirX sparked by regulatory discussions in India regarding a crypto ban resulted in a significant price decrease for main cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

Soon after parliament announced that it would present and list 26 new bills in the Winter Session, including the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, crypto values in India plummeted.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, is expected to be introduced in Parliament during the forthcoming winter session, which begins on November 29.

On Wednesday morning, a massive sell-off on WazirX slashed the price of Bitcoin from around 4,600,000 Indian rupees ($61,820.73) to 3,917,659 rupees ($52,650.55), a 14.8 percent decline in just two hours. Other popular coins, including as Ether and Cardano (ADA), have also witnessed double-digit price drops on the exchange.

After a near-4 percent dip in the previous week, Bitcoin's price is beginning to normalise. According to technical indicators, the cryptocurrency was trading about $57,000 at press time and might rise to $60,000-$63,000 in the near future.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States on Thursday, analysts expect trading volumes to fall this week. "Over the last three years, we've had downward volatility every time around this holiday," CryptoQuant stated in a blog post. "This could be attributed to end of month rotations, options/futures expiries, and rebalancing."

South Korean officials have caused confusion this year by making contradictory pronouncements about the possibility of repealing or amending the forthcoming crypto tax, which is due to take effect in 2022.

Throughout 2021, debate in the National Assembly, South Korea's legislature, has intensified over whether or not to change the crypto tax. If the tax remains intact, it will collect a 20% tax on income earned by crypto transactions that exceeds 2.5 million Korean won ($2,100).

WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty told Cointelegraph that the Indian cryptocurrency market typically trades at a premium to the global market:

"The Indian market has corrected and prices have returned to the global level as a result of this panic selling incident."
Shetty also discussed the many uses of cryptocurrencies as an asset or service, citing former Indian Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg's remark that "there should be a limitation on the 'currency' use case of crypto," if any exists.