A study conducted by BrokerChoose’s annual crypto proliferation index says that India has the largest number of crypto owners in the world. At 10 crore crypto owners, India leaves countries like the United States and the United Kingdom far behind, with 2.7 crore and 3 lakh crypto owners, ToI reported. Russia has 1.7 crore crypto owners.
As a percentage of the population, India has the fifth-highest rate of crypto owners (7.3%). Ukraine tops the index with 12.73% crypto owners, followed by Russia at 11.91%, Kenya at 8.52%, and the US at 8.31%.
Highest Internet searches related to cryptocurrencies
The study also evaluated internet searches to asset the interest in cryptocurrencies. In the past twelve months, the United States saw the highest number of crypto searches at 69 lakh searches. India was second on the metric with nearly 36 lakh searches.
In the crypto awareness rate (% of crypto owners as % of the population), India at (7.3%) closely trails U.S. (8.3%), Russia (11.9%), and Ukraine (12.7%).
Earlier, Chainalysis said that India ranks second in global cryptocurrency adoption, among 154 countries.
Crypto Investment in India
After the Supreme Court lifted the ban on cryptocurrency trading in 2020, Indians, especially the youth, have been bullish on crypto investments. Although there is a lot of regulatory confusion over the issue, India’s market grew 641% according to this report.
One survey by consulting Firm Kantar suggests that 19% of urban Indians intend to invest in crypto over the next six months. Further, most crypto owners are in the age bracket 21 to 35 and live in metro cities.
There are multiple crypto exchanges operating in India with millions of customers. Zerodha has over seven million users, while CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX have 11 and 8.3 million users.
Meanwhile, India’s cryptocurrency law has been tabled before the Cabinet and is awaiting its approval.
Do subscribe to our Telegram channel for more resources and discussions on tech-law. To receive weekly updates, don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter.