Popular crypto exchange Bybit has announced it will start charging 18% Goods and Services Tax for Indian users from July 7, 2025. It is in accordance with the Indian Tax System. This will apply to nearly all crypto services on the platform. It will include staking, trading, and withdrawals.
Source: Keyur Rohit X Handle
But this Bybit GST news is not only about taxation. It depicts how it will add to the difficulty traders face in Indian cryptocurrency space. With higher taxes, weak rules, and security issues, many Indian users are giving up and global exchanges are pulling back.
In this Bybit GST news, the platform stated, charges will be added on top of normal service fees. Some services affected include:
Spot and margin trading
Derivatives (like perpetual and options contracts)
Buying or selling with fiat
On-chain withdrawals
Staking, crypto loans, and Bybit Pay
Let’s say you sell 1 Bitcoin for $100,000. A 0.1% trading fee means you pay $100. With 18% GST on that fee, you pay another $18. So in the end, you only get $99,882. And that’s before other taxes.
The platform is also removing a few services in India from July 9, 2025:
Old crypto loans will stop. Users have until July 17 to repay.
The Card will stop working from July 17.
Spot grid trading bots will also be turned off.
The Bybit GST news is just the recent complication for Indian crypto users. Right now, they already have to deal with:
30% tax on all profits by cryptocurrencies
1% TDS (tax deducted at source) on every trade over ₹50,000 (or even ₹10,000 in some cases)
Now with 18% GST added, it is becoming almost impossible to make good returns. Users are paying taxes even before they make a profit.
The CEO of CoinDCX Sumit Gupta suggested that this is the reason why more than 5 million Indian users moved to foreign exchanges in just one year. Around $42 billion worth of trades left India, and the government actually lost $4.2 billion in potential tax revenue while collecting only $31 million via TDS.
India's tax regime on crypto is there, but its regulation is very weak. There is no stable cryptocurrency law, no clarification on exchange licensing, and no regulations on investor protection.
This Bybit GST news exposes that, rather than transparent guidelines, India operates on ad-hoc decisions, such as pulling apps from the Play Store, issuing unexpected fines, or suddenly changing policy. This exchange was pulled from the Play Store earlier this year and reinstated later after being fined $1 million by the FIU-IND.
The Reason Why India Is Losing the Global Digital Assets Race
Whereas some countries such as Thailand have exempted capital gains tax to aid in the development of digital assets, and other places such as Dubai and Singapore are developing innovation hubs, India is still hung up on taxing digital currencies without developing a defined regulatory framework.
The lack of proper rules also leads to security problems. In 2024, Indian exchange WazirX lost over $230 million in a hack.
Incidents like this hurt investor confidence. People are scared to put money into cryptocurrency when they feel there’s no protection.
This Bybit GST news depicts that India needs to do more than just charge taxes. It requires to:
Robust Digital Assets Regulation.
Lower the 30% tax and remove or fix the 1% TDS.
Better framework for eliminating elicit activities.
Operate with global standards for transparency.
This Bybit GST news is an indication of larger issues. Excessive taxation, poor regulations, and security concerns are driving Indian users and exchanges out of the market.
If the government wishes India to be a part of the future of cryto globally, it requires clear, equitable, and firm rules, not more taxes.
Also read: 8 Dormant Bitcoin Wallets Revive After 14 Yrs: Bad Sign for BTC?Muskan Sharma is a crypto journalist with 2 years of experience in industry research, finance analysis, and content creation. Skilled in crafting insightful blogs, news articles, and SEO-optimized content. Passionate about delivering accurate, engaging, and timely insights into the evolving crypto landscape. As a crypto journalist at Coin Gabbar, I research and analyze market trends, write news articles, create SEO-optimized content, and deliver accurate, engaging insights on cryptocurrency developments, regulations, and emerging technologies.