"India is a sleeping giant" was quoted by Sepp Blatter, former President of FIFA, owing to India's enormous potential in Football. India is the second most populous country in the world with over 1.3 billion people (for contrast, the entire world population is only about 7.7 billion). Whenever India wakes up to something, it just smashes the numbers out of this world. For example, only about 35% of Indians own a smartphone, yet India ranks second in the number of smartphone users in the world 🤯
I - Cryptocurrency in India
India was late to the party, as it always is. The major reasons for increasing crypto adoption in the country has been :
1) The Corona Virus Lockdown :
The lockdown made many jobless and also gave many Indians ample free time for trying out various things. With unemployment at its peak, many turned to trading, which can be directly seen in the all time highest rise in Demat Stock Trading accounts. The 2 digit and 3 digit and even 5 digits profit percentages in cryptocurrency led them to try a hand in crypto trading as well.
2) Elon Musk and Doge coin
Cryptocurrency may not have been popular in India in 2020 or 2021, but Elon Musk sure is. Him and his Doge coin stunts have surely made an impact in markets like India. I personally know my friends in India who got into crypto world, all because of Musk
3) The Indian government
There have been many news about the Indian government planning to ban crypto. But the latest news suggest that they might plan to only regulate cryptocurrency and boost innovation in the field. The New Cryptocurrency Bill is ready and will most probably be passed in the Winter session of the Parliament. Also, India is planning to bring out its native cryptocurrency by the end of this year. All these have only led to more publicity for crypto. As they say, "There is nothing called 'Bad Publicity', dear"
II - Other Reasons
Advertisements: Many new Crypto exchanges have opened in India, the major ones being Wazirx, owned by Binance (yes, you read that right), Coinswitch Kuber, CoinDCX etc. Ads are flooding everywhere ranging from youtube, to TV, to even Instagram. There is no way an average Indian spends two consecutive days without seeing a Bitcoin in ad.
Cryptocurrencies made by Indians - Indians in India and abroad have also been involved in the creation of various cryptocurrencies, the major one being Polygon - Matic
III - What does it mean to global crypto market?
Only one outcome: increased demand, rise in prices and even more adoption
IV - The future
The charts below shows that 30% of Indians own crypto, yet the amount traded is very less compared to the numbers, why?
One reason is that the less per capita income of India is only allowing them to invest less money in Crypto. And the other reason could be that Indians are still waiting for the Crypto bill to be passed to go full fledged, meaning that the Big investors are only yet to enter the market!
PS: Not financial advice
Thanks for reading till the end
Cheers 😊
Sources:
1)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1195753/bitcoin-trading-selected-countries/
2) https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/one-third-of-indians-hold-cryptocurrencies-and-youngsters-are-leading-the-charge/amp_articleshow/85364856.cms
3) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/asia-global-cryptocurrency-adoption-retail-investors-india-pakistan-vietnam-2021-8%3famp
4) https://dazeinfo.com/2014/07/11/mobile-internet-india-2014-349-million-unique-mobile-phone-users-70-traffic-mobile-india-shining-infographic/
5) https://www.emarketer.com/content/more-than-a-quarter-of-india-s-population-will-be-smartphone-users-this-year
