Crypto Tax India: What You Need to Know About Reporting Crypto Gains
When you buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrency, digital assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum that are traded on decentralized networks. Also known as crypto, it is treated as property by the Indian government, not currency. That means every trade, swap, or sale triggers a taxable event. If you bought Bitcoin for ₹50,000 and sold it for ₹75,000, you owe tax on the ₹25,000 profit. The same applies to swapping one coin for another, earning rewards from staking, or receiving tokens from an airdrop—even if you didn’t cash out.
The Indian crypto tax rules, a set of regulations enforced by the Income Tax Department that classify crypto as a taxable asset. Also known as crypto income tax, they were formalized in 2022 and tightened in 2025 with stricter reporting. You pay 30% tax on all crypto gains, with no deductions for losses. That’s right—even if you lost money on 10 trades but made a profit on one, you still pay 30% on that single win. Plus, a 1% TDS (tax deducted at source) applies to every crypto transaction over ₹10,000. This isn’t optional. The government tracks wallets through exchange data, KYC records, and blockchain analysis tools. If you didn’t report your crypto capital gains, the profit made from selling or trading digital assets. Also known as crypto profits, they are the core subject of tax compliance in India., you risk notices, fines, or even legal action.
Many people think airdrops or NFTs don’t count—but they do. If you claimed Corgidoge tokens or a free NFT tank from CoinMarketCap, that’s income. The value at the moment you received it is taxable. Same with staking rewards: every ETH you earn from locking up your coins is added to your taxable income. Even if you didn’t sell, you still owe tax. The rules don’t care if you held onto it. What matters is when you received it, and what it was worth then.
You don’t need to be a trader to be affected. If you bought crypto as a gift, sent it to a friend, or used it to pay for something, that’s a disposal—and taxable. The only way to avoid tax is to hold without selling, swapping, or spending. But even then, if you earned rewards, you still owe. The system is designed to catch everyone, not just big investors. The government has access to data from HTX, KyberSwap, and even no-KYC platforms through international agreements. Your activity leaves a trail.
What you’ll find below are real reviews and breakdowns of platforms and tokens that directly impact your tax liability. You’ll see how airdrops like LEOS or SWAPP are treated, why fake exchanges like BitAI or Tokenmom are dangerous (they don’t report, and you’re still liable), and how gas fees on Ethereum or Polygon affect your cost basis. You’ll learn what happens when a project like Ancient Kingdom (DOM) collapses—do you still owe tax on tokens that became worthless? And how privacy coins like Groestlcoin or Monero fit into this, especially with the EU ban pushing more users toward Indian exchanges. These aren’t theoretical guides. These are real cases from traders, investors, and even people who just held crypto and got hit with a tax notice.