Love Cryptocurrency? This market expert says move over from Bitcoins and develop our own ‘Indicoin’

The euphoric rise in cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has been the talk of town not just in India but across the globe. Many experts are betting on the rising cryptocurrency while others call it a ‘bubble’.

But, Bitcoins could be a thing of past if India develops its own cryptocurrency – ‘Indicoin’ which could even surpass the current market capitalization of Bitcoin, Nilesh Shah, Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company said on the sidelines of Kotak Securities Midcap Conference on Monday.

“There is a tremendous amount of interest in the Bitcoin and I have to regret saying that, I am eminently disqualified on commenting on Bitcoins. But, I have one more suggestion, instead of entering into Bitcoin at USD 200 billion marketcap, why not we create ‘Indicoin’, said Shah.

“We have computational skills to develop Bitcoin equivalent programme for Indicoin. We have more than 40 crore internet users, and we can create circular trading among us and excite all non-Indians to participate in Indicoin,” he said.

Shah further added that we can make one dollar to USD 20,000 and create a USD 500 billion market cap and hock it off to all non-Indians. So that they can have their Indicoins and we can have their dollars.

Chicago-based derivatives exchange Cboe Global Markets launched its eagerly anticipated bitcoin futures late on Sunday which gave Bitcoin greater legitimacy and lead to its wider use.

Bitcoin mania pushed the cryptocurrency above $18000 on the future stock exchange. Given that bitcoin has almost tripled in value over the past month, the futures pricing suggests investors that it will no longer be one way street for the cryptocurrency.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already warned investors regarding the "potential economic, financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks” associated with the trade of cryptocurrencies.

The central bank had clearly stated that “creation, trading or usage of virtual currency (VCs) including bitcoins, as a medium for payment are not authorised by any central bank or monetary authority.

In case you plan to sell your Bitcoin in India, the returns could attract as much as 20-30 percent tax, said a report. However, the taxation would depend upon the categorization of such returns—if they would fall under business income or capital gains.

Mark Mobius of Templeton EM Group in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18 last week said that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin is a bubble and prices will rationalize only when bigger plays invest in it.

“It is a bubble growing. But, you have to wait, usually bull markets or bubbles end in euphoria when everybody is euphoric about the particular market you are talking about,” he said.

Mobius further added that we have not reached that stage yet because people like us are kind of sceptical. It is when we start trading in this that is when you are going to see the bubble burst.