Cryptocurrency in India: Rules, Exchanges, and What’s Really Happening

When you hear cryptocurrency in India, the legal and cultural landscape of digital money as it’s used by millions of retail traders across the country. Also known as digital assets in India, it’s not about speculation alone—it’s about access, regulation, and survival in a market that’s been banned, unbanned, and redefined. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tried to shut it down in 2018. Banks stopped serving crypto businesses. Exchanges like Koinex, India’s first major crypto exchange that shut down after the RBI ban collapsed. But people kept trading. They used P2P platforms, VPNs, and foreign wallets. By 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the RBI ban, and suddenly, crypto exchange India, licensed platforms that operate under Indian financial oversight were back—but not the same. Today, exchanges like WazirX, CoinDCX, and Bitbns are regulated, taxed, and monitored. But the real story isn’t the platforms. It’s the people who learned to trade anyway.

What makes cryptocurrency in India different from other countries? It’s the gap between law and practice. The government taxes crypto at 30% and adds a 1% TDS on every trade. That’s higher than most nations. But millions still trade. Why? Because remittances, savings, and side income matter more than policy. You’ll find students in Bangalore trading Bitcoin on Binance via UPI, farmers in Punjab buying Ethereum to hedge against inflation, and engineers in Hyderabad earning crypto through airdrops. The Indian crypto regulations, the current legal framework that allows trading but restricts banking access and imposes heavy taxes don’t stop demand—they just make it messier. And that’s why so many posts here focus on scams, workarounds, and survival. You’ll find deep dives into why Koinex shutdown, the fall of India’s first major crypto exchange after the 2018 banking ban happened, how people bypass exchange blocks with VPNs, and why some platforms claiming to be Indian are just scams.

This collection doesn’t pretend everything is smooth. It shows the truth: crypto in India is legal, but not easy. You’ll find reviews of real exchanges, warnings about fake ones like CreekEx and Woof Finance, breakdowns of local airdrops that went quiet, and guides on how to pay taxes without getting flagged. There’s no sugarcoating. Some tokens have zero volume. Some exchanges vanish overnight. But people still trade. Because for many, crypto isn’t a gamble—it’s a tool. Whether you’re new to this or you’ve been holding since 2018, what you’ll find here isn’t theory. It’s what’s actually working—and what’s still dangerous—in India’s crypto scene today.