VDA Tax: What It Is, Who It Affects, and How Crypto Rules Are Changing

When you buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrency, you might be subject to a VDA tax, a tax on Virtual Digital Assets introduced by countries like India to bring crypto transactions under formal tax rules. Also known as virtual digital asset tax, it treats crypto like property—not currency—meaning every trade could trigger a taxable event. This isn’t just about reporting income. It’s about tracking every transfer, even between wallets, and paying taxes on gains—even if you never cashed out to fiat.

The FATF, the global financial watchdog that sets anti-money laundering standards for crypto pushed countries to enforce stricter reporting. That’s why exchanges like Asproex and Tidex (before it shut down) had to collect user data. The Travel Rule, a FATF requirement that forces exchanges to share sender and receiver info on transactions over $1,000 means your crypto moves are now traceable across borders. Countries like Hong Kong and the UAE are building licensing systems around this, while China outright bans crypto activity. The result? A global patchwork of rules where one person’s investment is another’s tax liability.

What does this mean for you? If you held tokens like NRV, SQUID, or BFICGOLD—projects with zero trading volume—you still had to report them. Even if the token crashed to near zero, the tax authority doesn’t care about your loss. They care about the price when you bought it. And if you claimed an airdrop like DES or NFTP, that’s taxable income the moment you received it—even if you never sold it. Fake airdrops? They’re scams, but they’re also potential tax traps. The IRS, India’s IT department, and the EU’s DAC8 are all catching up. You can’t ignore it.

There’s no way around it: crypto is no longer a gray area. Whether you’re using WingRiders on Cardano, trading on a regulated exchange like Asproex, or holding stablecoins in Bolivia after the ban lifted, your activity leaves a digital trail. The VDA tax isn’t going away. It’s getting tighter. The posts below show you exactly how this plays out—from failed projects that vanished overnight to real-world cases where users lost funds because they didn’t understand the rules. You’ll see what’s real, what’s fake, and what you need to do before the next tax season hits.