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Chance to bite into Bitcoin, bit by bit

The plan brings the benefits of compounding into the crypto currency space, which appeared to gain a veneer of legitimacy after being brought within the tax net in this year’s budget

A Staff Reporter Calcutta Published 08.02.22, 03:09 AM
Representational image.

Representational image. File photo

Investors can now nibble at crypto currencies. Quiet literally.

For the first time, Coinswitch — a unicorn in the crypto currency universe — has decided to test the market with a recurring buy plan that gives investors the chance to acquire units that will derive value from any of the 80 underlying crypto coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin.

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The plan brings the benefits of compounding into the crypto currency space, which appeared to gain a veneer of legitimacy after being brought within the tax net in this year’s budget.

A systematic investment plan (SIP) is a popular concept among mutual fund investors that aims to help investors tide over the volatility in equity funds.

Borrowing on that concept, Coinswitch said it plans to offer crypto investors a service that will help them beat market volatility and avoid impulsive buying or selling decisions. Users will have to sign up through a waitlist to get early access to the feature.

Coinswitch already has 15 million registered users and believes the idea will resonate with that community.

But there is a difference: in a mutual fund, the proceeds from the sale of units are spread across a number of equities that the fund manager picks.

In this case, all the units will be linked to a single crypto coin that the user prefers.

“At CoinSwitch, we want to help users across their financial journey. Crypto is an emerging but attractive asset class and has a higher degree of volatility in comparison to traditional assets. Recurring buy plan allows users to experience the power of compounding by systematically buying cryptos and making regular, distributed purchases,” said Ashish Singhal, founder and CEO, CoinSwitch.

“As more Indians continue to diversify their investment portfolio with crypto, the CoinSwitch recurring buy plan will allow long-term investors to invest systematically and avoid the impulse to time the market and make emotional trading decisions. It will also empower users with a lower risk profile to explore this new asset class,” he added.

The development comes in the wake of the Centre’s decision to tax crypto currency transactions at 30 per cent which was announced in the recent budget.

The government has insisted that the bid to tax crypto currency transactions ought not to be read as a sign that the government was ready to legitimise the product. No decision has been taken one way or the other. In the absence of a regulator or rules, industry players have decided to entice wary investors with such experiments.

CoinSwitch says it is working on measures to make crypto investing safe in India.

“On CoinSwitch, users can deposit only Indian Rupees from their verified bank account. The company permits only resident Indian bank accounts on the platform and conducts a name screening (for politically exposed person status, sanctioned list, and negative news) if any user makes a payment beyond a threshold.

“In December, CoinSwitch also launched Riskometer, a new feature inside the app which warns users before they buy into riskier cryptos,” the company said in a statement.

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