India remains on top of global rankings for grassroots cryptocurrency adoption as the legal challenge and public opinion about digital currencies in the country keeps changing with each passing day. According to blockchain data analysis firm Chainalysis‘ 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Them has retained its top spot for the second year running.
Crypto Adoption Gains Steam in India and Beyond
The Global Crypto Adoption Index is a ranking of 154 countries into five key metrics: transaction volumes on centralized exchanges, DeFi, and P2P trading. That wide-angle approach underlines where people are most active in investing in cryptocurrencies.
The fact that India has dominated both platforms tends to point out that it is very much engaged across these platforms and at a pace that surpasses other crypto-heavy regions. Others in the top 10 include Nigeria, Indonesia, the US, Vietnam, Ukraine, and Russia. In general, the CSAO region appears well-represented in terms of high crypto participation.
India’s Crypto Resilience Shines Amid Shifting Tax Policies and Platform Bans
Despite a 30% tax on crypto capital gains and a 1% TDS on transactions, Them has held the top spot with remarkable resilience. In the last year alone, there have been a series of changes in regulations in the country, from the government banning foreign crypto platforms for not complying with the anti-money laundering requirements. But all this was thought to do little in dampening crypto adoption in the country.
According to Chainalysis, many investors are looking toward international exchanges as a way to avoid the stringent tax rules. Yet overall growth in India’s crypto sector is still healthy, with local exchanges and Web3 companies fostering innovation in the space.
Offshore Crypto Exchanges Face Blocks But Users Find Workarounds
India’s FIU has recently blocked the URLs of nine major offshore crypto exchanges, including the likes of Binance, HTX (formerly Huobi), and Kraken, owing to non-compliance with the local regulations. Still, a chunk of Indian users bypassed restrictions by accessing the website through their apps downloaded much earlier or any other means.
In fact, an investigation by the Esya Center found that these blocking steps had a modest and temporary impact on India’s crypto market. According to Vikram Rangala, the Executive Director at ZebPay, he still had high hopes for such regulatory setbacks not to last long. He aspired to see far clearer and supportive regulations that encourage the rapid growth of them crypto and Web3 communities.
Crypto’s Future in India
In the meantime, the regulatory environment in India is likely to become even more evolved, with the FIU currently reviewing applications from four foreign crypto exchanges. Of the two, they are likely to be granted permission to operate in India by the end of the financial year 2025.
India continues to cut its way through the ever-more-convoluted legal minefield of cryptocurrency, remaining a leader in the adoption of cryptocurrencies and hence a key market for them worldwide.
