Most Indians don't want crypto legalised, have low or zero trust: Survey

More than half the 29,352 respondents say it should be taxed like a digital asset held abroad

A little more than half of the respondents (54 per cent) of a survey said they do not want the government to legalise cryptocurrencies and want these to be taxed like a digital asset held abroad, according to research firm LocalCircles.

The survey, which was conducted across 342 districts in the last 15 days and had 29,352 participants, showed that 71 per cent of the respondents had low or zero trust in cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 is set to be tabled in the Parliament during the Winter Session. The Bill also seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India. However, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses, according to a bulletin published by the Lok Sabha.

The study also found that 51 per cent of the respondents support India rolling out its own digital currency/cryptocurrency which is managed by the RBI while 26 per cent are against the same.

During the recent T-20 cricket world cup, 1 in 3 advertisements were of cryptocurrencies, with platforms and exchanges trying to attract viewers. In this context, 74 per cent of the respondents believed cryptocurrency advertisements are not highlighting the risks involved in an effective manner.

The next question asked citizens about how effective they find the recent cryptocurrency advertisements in highlighting the risks involved. In response, 52 per cent said they did it “completely ineffectively,”  22 per cent said “quite ineffectively” and 6 per cent said “somewhat effectively.” Only 5 per cent of citizens believed that cryptocurrency advertisements are highlighting the risks involved effectively while 15 per cent did not have an opinion.

According to the survey, only 5 per cent respondents were in favour of continuing cryptocurrency platform advertisements as is while 76 per cent want advertising to be on hold till regulations are ready.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week chaired a meeting related to cryptocurrency and their future in India, where there was a consensus that the crypto platforms are misleading the youth of the country and their non-transparent advertisements should be stopped, Business Standard reported earlier.