Industry leaders say transaction-level taxes and loss restrictions are draining liquidity as India tightens crypto compliance and enforcement. India’s crypto industry is renewing calls for tax reform ahead of the country’s February Union Budget, arguing that the current framework is discouraging onshore activity as regulatory compliance requirements continue to tighten. India’s current crypto tax framework, introduced in 2022, levies a flat 30% tax on crypto gains and applies a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on most transactions, whether they are profitable or not. At the moment, losses from trades can't be used to offset gains. Executives from major domestic exchanges say the existing tax regime, particularly transaction-level taxes and restrictions on loss setoffs, no longer reflects how the global digital asset market has evolved, nor India's own progress in strengthening oversight and enforcement. Read more
Investors retreat from crypto ETPs across major regions, resulting in a 27% decline in AUM from October’s peak as uncertainty drives a shift toward safer products. Crypto investment products logged their largest weekly outflows since February, shedding $2 billion as global risk appetite declined. Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) saw $2 billion in outflows last week, up by nearly 71% from $1.17 billion recorded the previous week, CoinShares reported on Monday. This marks the third consecutive week of outflows, extending the cumulative outflow streak to $3.2 billion. CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, attributed the outflows to monetary policy uncertainty and selling by crypto-native whales. As a result, total assets under management (AUM) in crypto ETPs decreased to $191 billion, representing a 27% decline from their peak of $264 billion in October. Read more
After a jury deadlocked on a verdict for two brothers accused of perpetrating a $25 million exploit on Ethereum, prosecutors are looking to retry them in 2026. Anton and James Peraire-Bueno, two brothers indicted for their alleged role in money laundering and fraud involving a $25 million exploit of the Ethereum blockchain, could face a second trial as early as February. In a Monday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, lawyers representing the US government requested a federal judge schedule a retrial for the Peraire-Bueno brothers “as soon as practicable in late February or early March 2026.” The request came about three days after a judge declared a mistrial in the case, following the jurors’ inability to reach a verdict. Read more