Shiba Inu Days are Over! Time for Indians to Sell the Crypto?

Since the tax regulations were rolled out, Shiba Inu in India is losing its ground

Cryptocurrencies that share the doggy meme face have taken center stage in the realm of decentralization. Two of those famous memecoins, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have become the favorite investment option for many Indian cryptocurrency investors. Although it initially started as a joke, SHIB's growth over a short span of time and its potential to make millionaires gave an edge to the token. Unfortunately, since the tax regulations became real, Shiba Inu in India is losing its ground.

Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a pioneer doggy coin, imitating the famous meme at the time. Since its launch, DOGE was maintaining a low profile till 2020. Once Dogecoin became popular, many memecoins started emerging from the cryptocurrency sphere. Among them was Shiba Inu, which became famous in late 2020. SHIB token gained value and prominence soon after its launch. Especially, Shiba Inu in India has gained a lot of traction over a short span. When the cryptocurrency reached an all-time high in October, Indian investors saw big profits from its growth. However, SHIB is slowly losing its ground ever since the Indian authorities came up with the taxation rules.

In February, the Indian Finance Ministry announced that cryptocurrency gains will be taxed at 30%. Even though many things seemed unclear at the time, Indian investors seemed to be enthusiastic. But the Ministry dropped another bomb two days back clarifying that loss in one asset can't be set off against another. For people who thought their taxation can be evaluated based on their overall profit and loss, this came as a big shock. Since most of the cryptocurrencies are currently on the downfall, paying tax for the minimum gains seems unreasonable for investors. On the other hand, even cryptocurrency enthusiasts are suggesting investors to withdraw their Shiba Inu investment before it is too late.

The Growth of Shiba Inu in India

Surprisingly, during festival seasons, Shiba Inu investment in India took a major turn. Similar to Indians' investment in gold and other valuables, last year, they bought SHIB tokens. At the time of Diwali 2021, the Dogecoin competitor was positioned at the seventh position in the cryptocurrency market. Remarkably, Shiba Inu was experiencing a massive bull run at the time owing to the Change.org petition and FOMO.

At the time when Shiba Inu was going to the moon, it took many early investors with it. Even people who bought US$8,000 SHIB tokens happen to bang on US$5.7 billion in mid-October. Several others who held the Dogecoin killer profited massively from their investments. Besides, it Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu fight in 2021 gave a major boost to both cryptocurrencies.

The Short-Lived Prominence

Although Shiba Inu gained popularity in a short span of time, it managed to stay in investors' wallets for the long term. Even when Shiba Inu and Dogecoin lost their position in the top 10 cryptocurrency list, Indian investors still held on to the token. Owing to its extreme volatility, investors believed that SHIB could give another boost to their investment portfolio.

Unfortunately, their dreams got shattered when the Indian government proposed to treat cryptocurrencies as financial assets while safeguarding small investors. When regulation on cryptocurrency taxation was finalized in February this year, Shiba Inu slowly started losing its ground. A couple of days before, the finance ministry has further clarified that India won't allow offsetting loss on one crypto with profit from another. This came as a big blog to SHIB investors. With the Dogecoin competitor already losing value, compensating its fall with the gains from other cryptos was a good option. But since that too is unavailable, experts say that the investment in SHIB will fall drastically.