India Crypto Regulations: What's Allowed, Blocked, and How Traders Adapt

India crypto regulations, the evolving legal and tax framework governing cryptocurrency use in India. Also known as Indian cryptocurrency policy, it’s not a ban—it’s a tightrope walk between control and coexistence. Unlike China or Iran, India never outlawed crypto outright. But it didn’t embrace it either. Instead, it slapped on taxes, warned banks, and let the market figure out how to survive.

The real turning point came in 2022, when the government started taxing crypto gains at 30%—no deductions, no losses offset, no exceptions. That’s higher than most countries tax stocks. And if you earn over ₹50,000 from airdrops or staking? That’s also taxed at 30%. On top of that, there’s a 1% TDS on every crypto trade, whether you profit or not. This isn’t regulation to encourage adoption—it’s regulation to track every move.

RBI crypto ban, the Reserve Bank of India’s 2018 directive that forced banks to cut off crypto exchanges scared off mainstream adoption for years. Even though the Supreme Court overturned it in 2020, the damage stuck. Banks still treat crypto firms like risky outsiders. That’s why P2P crypto India, peer-to-peer trading platforms like Binance P2P and CoinSwitch Kuber exploded. Traders now use UPI, cash deposits, and even WhatsApp to swap INR for BTC—no bank account needed. It’s not legal, but it’s everywhere.

And then there’s the gray zone: crypto trading India, how millions use foreign exchanges like Bybit or OKX while staying inside India’s borders. You can’t legally convert crypto to INR through banks, but you can send crypto to a friend abroad, have them sell it, and get paid in INR via hawala-style networks. It’s risky, but it works. The government knows. They’ve arrested people for it—but they’ve also quietly started tracking wallet addresses through the Income Tax Department’s crypto analytics unit.

What’s missing? Clarity. There’s no official license for crypto exchanges. No legal definition of what counts as a security. No protection for users if a platform vanishes. And yet, India remains one of the top five crypto markets by user count. Why? Because people don’t wait for permission to use money that works better than the system they have.

The posts below dig into the real stories behind these rules: how traders bypass restrictions, what happens when banks freeze accounts, why P2P is the only real option, and how tax notices are starting to land in inboxes. You won’t find fluff here—just what’s actually happening on the ground, in the wallets, and in the courts.