Time to rescue crypto from policy limbo
Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has suffered a cyberattack in which $44 million was reportedly stolen from its internal accounts by hackers.
The money was lost from an account the company was using to manage liquidity on a partner platform and CoinDCX has said that the breach does not affect customer assets.
While the investments of investors have been declared safe by the company, the incident spotlights the need for tighter systems-security.
Last year, WazirX, another crypto exchange, had lost $234 million in a cyber heist.
Such news can shake investor confidence, especially since the legal status of cryptocurrency in India remains in a regulatory grey zone.
While the government’s approach has been to tax crypto gains, it has neither explicitly banned such digital assets, nor offered a framework to regulate their trading and use.
This vacuum should not persist for long. India’s crypto policy needs clarity. If digital tokens used as a currency must only be issued by the central bank, then the Centre must say so.
If private tokens are fine if backed by proper reserves, like stablecoins, then this should be specified. The current state of affairs means high uncertainty.
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