Cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum up nearly 1%; Tether, Cardano fall

Cryptocurrency (Representative image)

Cryptocurrency prices continue to be mostly in the green on November 15. The global cryptocurrency market cap is Rs 213.54 lakh crores, a 1.12 percent increase over the last day, while the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is Rs 643586 lakh crores, which makes a 9.75 percent decrease.

Bitcoin's price is currently Rs 52,11,834 and its dominance is currently 43.33 percent, an increase of 0.21 percent over the day.

The finance ministry is racing against time to introduce the planned bill on cryptocurrency in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament. This urgency comes in the light of what many in the government see as unchecked growth of an unregulated sector and can be gauged from the multiple meetings being held, including once chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The winter session is likely to be held from November 29 to around December 13, and one of the sticking points that needs to be sorted out before that is the tax treatment of the sector, Moneycontrol has learnt from informed sources. These issues are expected to be dealt with soon and that cabinet approval could be sought this month itself, the sources added.

"We are working on the tax aspect of the cryptocurrency regulations. There are discussions ongoing at the highest levels of the government as well as with regulators like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI),” said a top government official.

Ultimately, how cryptocurrency trade and profits are taxed depends on what it is classified as, officials say. As reported earlier, while privately held cryptocurrencies will not be allowed as legal tenders, they will be allowed as assets.

As off 8.00 am on November 15, these are the prices of the largest cryptocurrencies (data from WazirX):