Over 7% Indians owned cryptocurrency in 2021: UN trade body

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

United Nations trade and development body UNCTAD revealed. UNCTAD highlighted that the use of cryptocurrencies globally, including the developing countries, has increased exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the data released by the UN body on the population share in the top 20 economies that owned digital currencies in 2021, Ukraine topped the list with 12.7 pc of its population holding such currencies while India was placed at the seventh position.

Though these private digital currencies have helped some people and facilitated remittances, the UN agency said that they are an unstable form of money that also carries social risks and costs. The agency also looked at the factors that contributed to cryptocurrencies' quick adoption in developing nations, including the facilitation of remittances among others. With facilitation of remittances, they may also enable tax evasion and avoidance through illicit flows, just as if to a tax haven where ownership is not easily identifiable.

«Recent digital currency shocks in the market suggest that there are privacy risks to holding crypto, but if the central bank steps in to protect financial stability, then the problem becomes a public one,» UN said. The report further insisted upon the past few months scenario, where the price of Bitcoin had fallen precipitously from its record high, making investors poorer. Provided most other well-known crypto assets have recently fallen more precipitously.

Cryptocurrencies might potentially inadvertently replace national currencies, the report continued, endangering nations' ability to control their own money. «In developing countries with unmet demand for reserve currencies, stablecoins pose particular risks. For some of these