India probes unregulated Bitcoin exchanges

S. Korea weighs taxing capital gains from cryptocurrency

seoul — South Korea said on Wednesday it may tax capital gains from cryptocurrency trading as global regulators worried about a bubble, with Australia’s central bank chief warning of a “speculative mania” that has seen the digital asset making rip-roaring gains.

As Bitcoin futures made their world debut on a US stock exchange this week, policy makers have been forced to contend with cryptocurrencies becoming more of a mainstream play and the need to regulate them.

The world’s biggest and best known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, surged past $17,000 to new alltime highs this week, marking an almost dizzying 20-fold rise this year and feeding fears of a bubble.

Australia’s central bank governor Philip Lowe warned on Wednesday the fascination with the assets felt like a “speculative mania.”

The comments come days after his New Zealand counterpart said Bitcoin appeared to be a “classic case” of a bubble, and cast doubt on its future. The chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission NEW DELHI — India’s income tax officials are investigating transactions at various illegal Bitcoin exchanges, a week after the country’s central bank cautioned users of the virtual currency about potential risks. (SEC) on Monday warned trading and public offerings in the emerging asset class may be in violation of federal securities law.

The surveys are being conducted on virtual currency exchanges across the country, including cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Delhi, a spokeswoman said.

Digital currencies are very popular across Asia, with many retail investors giving up their daily jobs to trade them full time in countries such as Japan and South Korea, which together make up for more than half the global trading volumes by some estimates.

But the possibility of major losses if the bubble bursts and wild gyrations of 10 to 30 per cent in a single day have instilled a sense of urgency among policymakers. After an emergency meeting on Wednesday, South Korea’s government said it will consider taxing capital gains from trading of virtual coins and also ban minors from opening accounts on exchanges. — Reuters