How Cryptocurrency Is Rapidly Spreading To The Real World

It’s official: digital currencies have gone mainstream. On the back of Tesla announcing that it may restart accepting Bitcoin as payment again, and speculations that eCommerce giant, Amazon will begin accepting cryptocurrency, the conversation has turned to just how far the use of digital currency has come in the last few years. Currently, there remains a lot of uncertainty around cryptocurrency use in India. However, the country has seen a significant portion of its population, particularly millennials embrace the use of digital currency since its launch. With more incidences of cryptocurrency being used in buying houses, goods payments, and other daily real-life transactions, here is how cryptocurrency has begun to transcend the digital realm into real-world transactions.

One of the most popular and emerging ways cryptocurrency is being used to buy homes.  While most people know that cryptocurrency can be used to pay for goods and services, the use of a crypto home loan to finance house purchases has only been a recent development. Mortgage lenders and banks have also begun to accept cryptocurrency as collateral which enables investors to borrow against their crypto holdings to finance their home building or renovation plans. In India, United Multistate Credit Co-operative Society was one of the first to announce it would be offering cryptocurrency banking and services, including loans.

As the popularity of digital currencies rises, more businesses in India have begun to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for their goods and services, despite the lack of regulations. Companies have recognized the changing preference and attitudes of Indian consumers towards digital currencies, and as such have begun to adjust their payment methods to reflect this. Some of the companies that accept cryptocurrency payments include HighKart, Purse, and Sapna. With Sapna, buyers that choose to use Bitcoin use Unocoin to process their payment.

Traditionally, Indian consumers favored gold as their investment of choice. In fact, it is estimated that households owned more than 25,000 tonnes of gold. However, in a recent turn, investments in the cryptocurrency have grown from $200 million to almost $40 billion in the last year- and continuing. According to Chainalysis, investments in cryptocurrency stood at $6.6 billion as of May 2021, a 612 percent increase from April 2020. In a recent article by Bloomberg, many investors said they were taking advantage of the lack of income tax rules when it came to cryptocurrency. However, some investors have cited concerns over retrospective tax implications.

A final note to our readers: it is important to note that the use of cryptocurrency is not illegal in India. Instead, it is unregulated which presents a different set of roadblocks for those dealing with digital currencies. While there was a proposed bill by the government in March this year that suggested they planned to ban cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, there has been no further progress on that. Recent reports have suggested that the Indian government may follow suit with other countries and classify cryptocurrency as assets. While it all remains speculation, for now, one thing is certain: cryptocurrency is here to stay.