Mint Quick Edit: Time to rescue crypto from policy limbo

The money was lost from an account the company was using to manage liquidity on a partner platform and CoinDCX has said that the breach does not affect customer assets.

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While the investments of investors have been declared safe by the company, the incident spotlights the need for tighter systems-security.

Last year, WazirX, another crypto exchange, had lost $234 million in a cyber heist.

Such news can shake investor confidence, especially since the legal status of cryptocurrency in India remains in a regulatory grey zone.

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While the government’s approach has been to tax crypto gains, it has neither explicitly banned such digital assets, nor offered a framework to regulate their trading and use.

This vacuum should not persist for long. India’s crypto policy needs clarity. If digital tokens used as a currency must only be issued by the central bank, then the Centre must say so.

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If private tokens are fine if backed by proper reserves, like stablecoins, then this should be specified. The current state of affairs means high uncertainty.