Shekar · a moment, addressed

Crypto: no earnings, real tax, real risk

Bitcoin has no profits, a 30% tax bill, and no intrinsic value to calculate.

Section 0 · Real moments5 min readFirst-time investorPublished 8 Jun 2026

Crypto: The shiny token with no anchor

Unlike businesses, Bitcoin has no factories, profits, or floor price. It's a bubble floating near sharp thorns.

Your neighbour mentioned over chai that he made serious money on Bitcoin last year. The whole table went quiet. Then someone asked: 'Should I put in some money?' The room leaned forward. Nobody mentioned the tax bill. Nobody asked what Bitcoin actually earns.

Neighbour

Bro, Bitcoin is up 20% this month! You are missing out, put some money in quickly!

Bitcoin is a digital token. There is no company behind it. It earns no profits. It pays no dividends. It doesn't own factories, brands, or customers.

When you buy a share of TCS, you own a slice of a business that earns real money. TCS can pay you a dividend. Its profits grow over time. That growth gives the share price somewhere to anchor. Crypto has none of that. Its price is only what the next person will pay.

India taxes every crypto gain at 30% — flat. No deductions. No loss set-off. If you also lost money on another coin, you cannot use that loss to reduce this gain. The government also deducts 1% TDS on every sell transaction. This comes off before you count the 30% tax.

There is no calculation that tells you what Bitcoin is truly worth. With a company, we can estimate intrinsic value — what the business earns today and may earn tomorrow. With crypto, that calculation doesn't exist. Price is only sentiment.

TAX RULE.Section 115BBH

30% Flat Tax + 1% TDS on every sale. Losses from one coin cannot offset gains from another.

Analogy

The neighbour with no anchor

Imagine a neighbour who knocks on your door every morning with a price for something you own. Some mornings he's euphoric and pays three times what you paid. Some mornings he's terrified and offers a fraction. For stocks, you can ignore him — you know the business earns real money. But crypto has no earnings. There is no anchor beneath the price. When he panics, the only floor is the next panicking buyer.

Why this matters

If you size crypto like a retirement fund, you have no earnings to wait for. A company keeps generating profits even when its share price falls. Crypto has no such floor. The 30% flat tax and 1% TDS also erode your actual returns before you count the gain. SEBI does not regulate crypto — there is no investor protection framework. The risk you take is entirely yours to absorb.

Where people go wrong

Ignoring the 30% tax and 1% TDS when estimating returnsThe government takes 30% of every gain with no deductions allowed. A 1% TDS is also deducted on every sell. Both reduce what you actually walk away with.
Treating a neighbour's win as evidence crypto is reliableSurvivorship bias. The neighbours who lost money don't bring it up over chai. The wins are visible; the losses go quiet.
Comparing crypto to gold as a store of valueGold has been accepted as money for thousands of years across every major civilisation. Crypto has fifteen years. These are not equivalent histories.
Using emergency savings to buy a crypto dipA multi-year drawdown means your emergency money may not come back when you need it. The 77% fall took over a year to begin recovering.

If you only remember three things

Crypto has no earnings. Price is only what the next buyer will pay — there is no floor.
India taxes every crypto gain at 30% flat — no deductions, no loss set-off, no exceptions.
Sizing crypto like a retirement fund ignores that there is no earnings floor to wait for.

A neighbour's gain story makes us forget the tax bill, the 1% TDS, and the possibility of going to zero. The good stories travel; the losses go quiet.

Shekar

More moments

Someone just told me to buy this stock

4 min

My portfolio just dropped 20% — should I sell?

4 min

I have ₹50,000. Where do I put it?

5 min

F&O looks like easy money — is it?

5 min

I want to start investing. Where do I begin?

5 min