There is no worst case scenario for the crypto sector in terms of regulations: Sumit Gupta

CoinDCX co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta believes that 2021 was a landmark year for both the blockchain and crypto industry. He spoke to Mint on crypto regulations, the development of CoinDCX, and the outlook for the industry.

Edited excerpt:

How big of a disappointment was India not seeing regulations for cryptocurrencies in 2021?

Governments around the world that have developed rules to regulate cryptocurrencies have expressed the need for discussion and deliberation. While I would have liked to see some movement on the bill, I also have a feeling that the government would give the technology its due by spending more time. As an industry, we have many developments in industry and technology and we are pleased to work closely with government agencies to provide us with data, information and insights so that we can create better regulations.

This is important because even though the government recognizes the transformative potential of crypto and blockchain and is paying attention to their use and potential applications in everyday life, there is also a lot of information asymmetry.

Is it possible to have a complete ban on cryptocurrencies in India at the moment?

Many governments have tried to ban crypto, but its decentralized nature makes it difficult and impractical. Most of the developed and developing countries have decided to regulate crypto, after carefully studying various approaches, including widespread restrictions. What is really needed, instead of arbitrary action like sanctions by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi: collaborative efforts on a global scale.

Moreover, the ban will only cause various kinds of losses to both retail and institutional, entrepreneurs, developers, professionals, investors and a huge brain drain in the country. Considering that crypto is soon going to be one of the most important technologies, and India is best positioned with its young population, high mobile and internet penetration and huge developer base, we don’t think India is going to differentiate itself. is in position. On the back of fears that can be addressed.

We have been hearing that RBI wants a complete ban on crypto. What’s the worst case scenario you’re seeing in terms of regulations?

RBI has some legitimate concerns, however, these are not isolated concerns and solutions are currently being discussed around the world. Take, for example, the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) travel rule, which requires all exchanges to disseminate source and beneficiary information at the point of crypto withdrawals. We are already an active participant in Travel Rule and are working on various ways to prevent all kinds of misuse of this technology. Furthermore by regulating crypto as an asset class, we can negate all payment use cases with proper and timely disclosure. Once we all agree to regulate and promote this industry, I don’t think there is such a thing as a worst case scenario.

What kind of growth did you see in 2021?

We have seen a 58x increase in our registered users in the last 12 months. We have rapidly scaled our system as an exchange within this year and have grown 10-15x in scale. Our exchange infrastructure today can process over two lakh orders per second.

We have seen good traction at pan India level with top cities in all regions including Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru. Interestingly, crypto adoption is not limited to Tier-I cities, but extends beyond Tier-II cities as well. Some cities like Indore, Lucknow and Agra are witness to that trend.

Crypto investors are a largely young audience within the age group of 18 to 34, and comprise over 70% of our total user base. If we break it down in terms of gender, approximately 75% of female investors are new users on CoinDCX, with a male to female ratio of 85:15.

What upcoming projects can we anticipate from CoinDCX?

This year, the global crypto market has soared to many new heights – collecting $3 trillion in market capitalization and reaching new all-time highs as crypto gains mainstream traction. With the apparent growth and size of the crypto market, it is imperative for countries to embrace the future of finance rather than shy away from it and miss the window of opportunity. As such, education will be crucial for raising awareness about crypto and combating misinformation.

This is why at CoinDCX, we launched DCXLearn, a fully immersive crypto and blockchain education platform with free courses to foster a better understanding of blockchain technology and crypto projects.

On the product front, we will continue our efforts to make our platform more robust and safe to use for our customers. We will continue to introduce new projects on our platform after due diligence through our 7M principles.