India’s Crypto Crossroads: COINS Act 2025 Offers a 'Rights-First' Roadmap

The Indian cryptocurrency policy is currently in “regulatory limbo” and to remedy this, the country needs to implement a “rights-first” framework that gives residents “constitutional-level” rights to self-custody assets.

India’s Crypto Regulatory Impasse

India’s crypto policy remains in “regulatory limbo,” with policymakers largely relying on existing statutes since the Supreme Court lifted a central bank-imposed banking ban in 2020. According to Arvind Alexander, a senior legal counsel at the Web3 venture capital firm Hashed Emergent, this situation unfortunately “creates confusion” and inhibits the goal to make India a global crypto leader.”

To remedy this, India needs to enact a rights-first framework that grants residents “constitutional-level” rights to self-custody assets and “to transact peer-to-peer without blanket KYC [know your customer].” Alexander also called for the establishment of a dedicated crypto regulator and the creation of innovation safe harbors and sandbox structures.

According to Alexander, taking these steps will bring clarity and attract talent to India.

“Taking these steps would transform India from a jurisdiction of scattered advisories and unpredictable enforcement into one of the world’s most balanced, competitive crypto ecosystems — attracting talent, capital and global projects to build natively in India,” Alexander stated.

Nevertheless, some reports in India have suggested that the government is close to unveiling a discussion paper on virtual assets. Some observers believe this puts the Asian country on a path toward the regulatory clarity the crypto industry has been clamoring for. While he applauds the release of the virtual digital assets (VDA) discussion paper as a step in the right direction, Alexander believes it can only be meaningful if it goes beyond asking questions.

“We believe the VDA discussion paper has the potential to kick-start a robust, multi-stakeholder roadmap, but only if it moves swiftly from broad questions to rights-informed policy prescriptions,” he said.

Introducing the COINS Act 2025

The discussion paper’s clear path to legislation is what will prevent it from becoming another talking document. To ensure the VDA paper does not end up like that, Alexander said it must be paired with a model law or draft crafted by industry participants. On July 21, Hashed Emergent unveiled just that draft: the Crypto-Systems Oversight, Innovation, and Strategy (COINS) Act 2025.

Vishal Achanta, another legal counsel at Hashed Emergent, said this model law was drafted after research studies conducted by the Web3 venture capital firm revealed two things about India’s crypto landscape. Firstly, builders and users lacked clear property and privacy rights while service providers juggled conflicting advisories issued by regulators. Secondly, India’s punitive taxes or ad-hoc bank freezes were driving founders and capital offshore.

Remarking on the COINS Act’s long-term objective, Achanta said:

COINS Act aims to deliver legal certainty, consumer protection and innovation acceleration, transforming India into a global hub for rights-grounded, decentralized finance rather than an afterthought in foreign jurisdictions.

Under Hashed Emergent’s model law, crypto users’ right to hold, transfer and self-custody crypto-assets without mandatory use of intermediaries is guaranteed. Similarly, the model law extends the right to privacy to the crypto realm, which ensures “lawful anonymous transfers remain protected.” For developers, the model law envisions an environment in which they have an “explicit right to build, test and deploy code on public networks.”

The COINS Act, meanwhile, touches on the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, which, according to Achanta, can help India reduce its reliance on traditional fiat and bond holdings. While the model law proposes building the strategic reserve with forfeited bitcoin ( BTC), Alexander, however, argues that such “seizure volumes alone may not suffice to build a meaningful reserve at scale.”

To address this challenge, the COINS Act proposes an approach that seeks to balance building up reserves and maintaining market stability.

“The Act adopts a measured, budget-neutral purchase framework that complements asset consolidation with prudent market acquisitions, delivering diversification benefits without jeopardizing fiscal discipline or market stability,” Alexander explained.