India has 1007 million crypto owners in the world: Report

The US came second in terms of crypto owners with 27.4 million, followed by Russia (17.4 million) and Nigeria (130 million).

In comparison, the number of stock investors (unique customer codes) registered with BSE in India has increased from 70 million in June 2021 to 80 million at present, according to exchange data.

In terms of the number of crypto owners as a percentage of the total population, India was ranked fifth with 7.30%. Ukraine ranks first with 12.73% of the total population owning crypto, followed by Russia (11.91%), Kenya (8.52%) and the US (8.31%).

These are the findings of a study conducted by the annual crypto spread index of the portal BrokerChoose.

“Digital assets have caught everyone’s attention not only because it has emerged as the best asset class of 2021, but also because other asset classes have not been able to meet the aspirations of smart investors who want their money. Grow with the global growth rate,” said Shivam Thakral, CEO, BuyUCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has gained over 50% since the start of the year. One year profit is around 400%.

Since the lifting of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ban in March 2020, cryptocurrencies have seen a rapid rise in interest, with Indian exchanges seeing impressive user additions and a steady increase in daily trading volumes.

For example, India’s largest stockbroker Zerodha has been surpassed by some of the country’s most popular crypto exchanges in terms of users. Zerodha currently has over seven million users, while CoinSwitch Kuber has 11 million and WazirX has 8.3 million.

The study conducted by BrokerChooser provided insight into searches made across the country. The US saw the most crypto-related searches, followed by India, the UK and Canada.

As per the industry trends, apart from metros, there are a lot of young users from Tier II and Tier III cities in India who are trying to enter crypto as their first investment category.

“India’s crypto market is witnessing high trade volume not only from metro cities but from across the country. The trade volume from smaller cities shows a high level of penetration of digital assets in India and with the post-pandemic recovery, retail and institutional With investors looking for higher returns on their investments, digital assets seem to have become their choice to beat inflation.” Jay Hao, CEO of global crypto exchange OKEx.com, said.

A bill on banning ‘private cryptocurrencies’ was to be introduced in the budget session of Parliament in February 2021. However, this bill was not introduced, and it is still unclear what is the legal status of cryptocurrencies in India. The government is currently working on a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies in India, however, the contents of the bill are not known.

According to industry executives, a positive regulatory environment at this stage will prove to be highly beneficial.

Thakral said, “More clarity from the government regarding crypto is the need of the hour and the entire digital asset industry awaits an inclusive and growth-oriented crypto regulation bill in India.”