In an interview after the budget session, Jaitley said a dedicated committee is working to further clear gov's stand on the matter. I believe in coming weeks we'll have more clarity.
I really hope they classify it as a capital asset (like USA did) and the exchanges / trading is termed legal business.
Then only 10% tax correct ?
Apparently:
STCG tax (short term, profits made within 3 years) is taxed at normal rates based on your income slab, which can go up to 30%
LTCG tax (long term, profits made after 3 years) is taxed at 20% + surcharge and education cess
Reference:
https://cleartax.in/s/capital-gains-income#assetsEDIT:10% LTCG tax if you term crypto as "equity" asset
20% LTCG tax if you term crypto as "debt" asset
There is a gray area here and everyone has their own way of interpretation until government clarifies anything.
I personally think the new move of government to put 10% tax on LTCG equity assets is probably in line with their future plans of taxing people with crypto profits. So in near future the government may put crypto into "equity" category which will allow them to tax the profits @ 15% and 10% for Short Term and Long Term respectively.