People from regions such as Botad, Barbaka, Jalandhar, Kanchipuram, Patna and numerous other minor Indian cities and towns—most of whom are 35 years of age or younger—are becoming more interested in cryptocurrencies.
CoinSwitch, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform, said that smaller towns and cities in India are becoming thriving hubs for cryptocurrency trading, joining the major metropolises where traders have been trading these virtual assets for years.
“2024 has been a huge year for the global crypto ecosystem, driven by big political and regulatory changes that have sped up mainstream growth. With Bitcoin crossing the USD 100,000 mark to close out the year, it sets the stage for an exciting journey of growth in 2025,” said Balaji Srihari, Vice President, CoinSwitch.
With investors expanding their asset portfolios and shifting their preferences from meme coins to Layer-1 (assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum) and DeFi tokens, the ecosystem is also changing in India, where there are over two crore cryptocurrency users, the majority of whom are under 35.
Meme coins, which account for almost 13% of all cryptocurrency investments in the nation, are becoming more and more popular with local investors. Dogecoin was first among the most invested currencies in the category, while SHIB was the most traded.
Despite the 30% tax on cryptocurrency income and the 1% TDS on transactions over Rs 50,000 per year, Indians are still rushing to invest in cryptocurrencies.
With a $2 trillion market capitalisation, Bitcoin has yielded a 144% return so far in 2024. In terms of market value, this puts it ahead of silver and around a tenth of gold, according to CoinSwitch co-founder Ashish Singhal.
Most Crypto Trading in March, November This Year
According to the third edition of CoinSwitch’s annual investor report, March and November were the most active months for cryptocurrency trading in 2024.
The research stated that the most popular time to trade is still late at night (9 to 11 pm), especially on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The three cities with the highest percentages of cryptocurrency investments are Delhi (20.1%), Bengaluru (9.6%) and Mumbai (6.5%). With 86% of its investors seeing good returns, Pune has the largest percentage of green portfolios among the top 10 cities.
The survey also noted that Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, such as Jaipur, Lucknow and Botad, are seeing robust usage, underscoring local growth.
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