- A rupee-backed stablecoin can boost the Indian currency's international use and utility
- Tokenisation and RWAs can increase investment access and help India leapfrog financial growth
- India’s crypto regulation will take time and must differ from global frameworks like MICA or Genius Act
A rupee-backed Stablecoin can help the Indian currency become international and increase its utility, said WazirX founder Nischal Shetty. He added that RWAs (real world assets) and Stablecoins can help India leapfrog. His statement comes at a time when there's a growing debate about de-dollarisation.
In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, Shetty also said how tokenisation can help more people invest. Citing the recent example of SpaceX IPO, Shetty said India should also speed regulation in bits and pieces to make investment accessible to a wider base.
When asked about regulations on cryptocurrency in India, the WazirX Founder said, "There have been attempts. However, the framework will take time. Europe has MICA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation), and the US has rolled out the Genius Act. However, India can't follow a global approach because each country's regulatory ecosystem is different."
He added, "The 1 per cent TDS (tax deducted at source) significantly increases trading costs. It impacts both sellers and buyers negatively. It's like punishing someone trying their hand at an innovative asset."
Speaking on the cyberattack that led to WazirX losing assets worth $230 million, Shetty said, "We lost 40 per cent of our assets... We had no rulebook to follow. Our competitors tried to ensure that we never make a comeback. I wouldn't wish any of this anyone.. But we were sure that we didn't just re-start, but also rebuild..."
Speaking on crypto trends, Shetty said, "Customers have become more mature. They want access to more sophisticated products like futures and options."
On WazirX's new initiatives, Shetty said, "We are integrating AI into our platform...we want to make the information gathering process automated so that investors can save time which they would use to study charts, market reports, etc. AI would also make decision making more informed instead of users speculating on trades, or panic selling assets based on one off social media posts."
Cryptocurrency Market In Numbers
The global cryptocurrency market briefly hit its all-time high of nearly $3 trillion in November 2021, up from roughly $750 billion at the start of the year. It is currently valued at approximately $2.27 trillion.
Back in 2018, spot trading volumes were approximately seven times larger than futures volumes. Futures and derivatives volumes expanded roughly 12-fold between 2018 and 2020.
Across the full 2018-2025 period, derivatives volumes grew approximately 60x versus roughly 2.5x for spot markets. By 2025, derivatives volumes reached more than three times larger than spot volumes.
Crypto markets have undergone a fundamental shift over the last few years. We saw spot volumes peak at $25 trillion in 2021 during the retail-led bull run, followed by a sharp correction through 2023. The recovery in 2024 was driven by ETF adoption and renewed market confidence. Crypto has evolved from a predominantly spot market in 2018 to a derivatives-first ecosystem today. In 2025, futures and perpetuals accounted for nearly 75 per cent of exchange activity.
