Have tax rules dented popularity of cryptocurrencies? Read here
4 min read . Updated: 22 Apr 2022, 05:10 PM IST
Premium- The Google Trends data shows that the terms 'cryptocurrency' and 'crypto' were at an all-time high in 90 days on February 1, which was also the Budget 2022 day, where the reading of the term stood at a popularity of 100.
Looks like Indians' interest in cryptocurrencies has deflated since the Budget 2022. The latest data of Google trends shows that crypto popularity in the last 90 days has dived to almost zero levels this week. Among the major queries or topics that are being searched on the platform, related to cryptocurrencies in India - are the 30% tax rate on crypto assets, TDS, and Budget FY23.
As per the Google Trends data, if you search for 'cryptocurrency' you will see a drastic drop in the popularity of this term in the blockchain industry in the country.
The Google Trends data shows that the terms 'cryptocurrency' and 'crypto' were at an all-time high in 90 days on February 1, which was also the Budget 2022 day, where the reading of the term stood at a popularity of 100. But that was the last glory the term saw as interests soon dandled vigorously until they bottomed out to zero.
The term 'cryptocurrency' on Google Trends dipped steeply from 100 reading on February 1 to 53 on the very next day (February 2). Furthermore, from February 3 to April 19, the reading has slipped from 40 to as low as 10.
Last week on April 16, the reading reached 10. This week, the reading was 14 on April 18, 13 on April 19, and 0 on April 20.
According to Google, a value of 100 is the peak popularity of a term, while the value of 50 would result in half as popular, and a score of 0 means there are not enough data at this point for the term.
Google Trends provides access to a largely unfiltered sample of actual search requests made to Google. It’s anonymized (no one is personally identified), categorized (determining the topic for a search query), and aggregated (grouped).
"This allows us to display interest in a particular topic from around the globe or down to city-level geography," Google said in its FAQs.
Also, Google Trends data reflects searches people make on Google every day, but it can also reflect irregular search activity, such as automated searches or queries that may be associated with attempts to spam our search results.
In the past 90 days, the data shows that the 'cryptocurrency' term searches were highest in Sikkim followed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Daman & Diu.
Among the related topics, the most searched for cryptocurrency term were - Union Budget of India (+2,450%), Waves - Cryptocurrency (+1,400%), Tax (+1,300%), Digital Currency (+90%), and OpenSea (+90) in the past 90 days in India.
While among the related queries in the past 90 days, under the term cryptocurrency, were - '30 tax on crypto' (breakout), 'trust no one the hunt for the crypto king' (breakout), 'budget 2022' (+2,750%), 'lucky block price' (+2,150%), and 'russia crypto news' (+2,100%).
As per Google, the term “Breakout" instead of a percentage, means that the search term grew by more than 5000%.
Furthermore, the term 'crypto' which stood at a record reading of 100 on February 1 dropped to 48 on the very next day and further slid from 34 to 17 on April 19. The reading reached to score of zero on April 20.
The term 'crypto' was searched more in Daman & Diu, Chandigarh, Sikkim, Goa, and Haryana in the past 90 days. While the 'union budget of india' was on a breakout in the related topics section, and '30 tax on crypto' was also on 'breakout' in related queries.
Last month, Lok Sabha approved taxation rules on virtual digital assets (VDAs) or "crypto tax" that was proposed in Budget 2022-23 by clearing the Finance Bill 2022. These new tax rules have become effective from April 01, 2022.
Under the bill, section 115BBH deals with taxes on virtual digital assets, while clause (2)(b) prohibits setting off a loss from crypto assets against income under "any other provision" of the IT Act. Also, the word "other" is dropped for VDAs under the bill.
With that, a 30% capital gains tax is imposed on crypto transactions. Further, a loss incurred during the transfer of the virtual asset will no longer be allowed to set off against any income calculated under the “other" provision of the IT Act as the word "other" has been removed.
That means, no matter what your income level is from crypto assets, they will be liable for the 30% tax rate from April 01, 2022.
Additionally, the amendment under the bill also directs a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on Indians buying or selling cryptos along with taxes on crypto gifts. However, the TDS will come into effect starting July.
On Thursday, as per CoinMarketCap, the global crypto market cap is $1.88 trillion, a 3.59% decrease over the last day. The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $106.33 billion, which makes a 10.01% increase.
Currently, the total volume in DeFi is at $13.28 billion, 12.49% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. The volume of all stable coins is now $89.98 billion, which is 84.62% of the total crypto market's 24-hour volume.
Moreover, the Bitcoin price is near $40,560. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 41.02%, a decrease of 0.27% over the day.
