Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has interviewed several market experts and CEOs on his podcast, including Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock.
- Kamath stated that he would “love” to learn about Bitcoin and blockchain.
- While Bitcoin is not banned in India, there is no regulatory body that oversees BTC and other cryptocurrency transactions.
- However, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been recognized as assets by Indian courts, and income derived from buying and selling them is taxable.
Indian billionaire Nikhil Kamath on Wednesday revealed that he holds zero Bitcoin (BTC) and that he does not know enough about the cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Kamath, one of the co-founders of Zerodha, interviewed Tesla Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk on his podcast earlier this month. Zerodha is a popular stock brokerage platform in India. Like Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD), it is known for offering low-cost trading and a modern interface for buying and selling securities.
Apart from Musk, Kamath has interviewed several market experts and CEOs on his podcast, including Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock.
When asked by a user if he owned any Bitcoin following his conversations and learnings from these CEOs and experts, Kamath said, “I hold none, never have, honestly don't know enough to comment, would love to take some time and learn more about it next year.”
Bitcoin prices were hovering at $87,056 at the time of writing, down by 2.36% over the past 24 hours. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around Arcadia Biosciences trended in the ‘neutral’ territory at the time of writing.
Is Bitcoin Legal In India?
For now, no law in India specifically bans Bitcoin transactions, but these transactions are taxed under India’s regulations, even though there is no regulatory body that oversees them. India’s Finance Ministry has stated that Bitcoin is not a legal tender.
Notably, Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are treated as Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs).
Indian courts have recognized cryptocurrencies as assets, following a 2020 Supreme Court of India ruling that set aside a ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India. The ruling allowed Indian banks to handle cryptocurrency transactions from exchanges and traders.
BTC is down 7% year-to-date and 11% over the past 12 months.
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