The crypto industry in India has been struggling ever since the nation’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, put a banking ban on crypto entities. However, ever since the ban was lifted by the Supreme Court on March 4 2020, the crypto industry has rapidly picked up the pace with a spree of developments in less than a month’s time.

As a result of the newfound freedom, crypto-based businesses that had once ceased to operate in the nation or had migrated elsewhere are back in action. Those that remained active during the entire period of the ban are seeing a fresh flow of customer interest.

Paxful survey bullish about India

Now, a survey conducted by Paxful, an over-the-counter peer-to-peer crypto exchange based in the US, reveals that the nation is set for a crypto boom as fresh regulations are set in place following the ban.

The survey was conducted amongst the common people with an age cap from 18 to 55-year-olds. The survey showed that three-fourths of the participants were already involved with cryptocurrency investing and close to 94% of them had invested in crypto prior to the ban.

56.8% of the participants had joined the crypto-space in-between 2018 and 2019, following the ban. 90% of these investors had invested in Bitcoin, and 44% of them had invested in Ethereum. Before the Reserve Bank of India’s nationwide banking ban, the country’s crypto-economy was worth close to $12.9 billion.

75.8% of the respondents have stated that they rely on digital currencies as a means of transferring money and 64.8% believe that this was the “path to financial freedom.” It is quite evident that India is eager to adopt cryptocurrencies. 40% of the participants even preferred crypto over any other assets, and the rest were inclined towards stocks, bonds (30%) and commodities like gold lagged behind (14%).

As per the survey, the respondents also have strong opinions about the future of cryptocurrencies in India with crypto enterprises and the retail sector expected to flourish. Furthermore, 75.60% of respondents believe that KYC and regulatory frameworks are pivotal to the continued success of digital assets in the nation.

Paxful CEO and Co-founder Ray Youssef stated:

“India has proved itself as a centre for innovation, and we’re excited to see the growth and discoveries they will bring to the industry. India has a lot of potential in all aspects of growth, and are especially interested to see how they utilize peer-to-peer finance now and into the future.”

Development on point

Popular Indian peer-to-peer exchange WazirX has seen heavy trading volumes as soon as it enabled fiat deposits. The company was acquired by global crypto exchange Binance, earlier this year, and since then both the parties have made immense efforts to boost the growth and development of the crypto-scene.

As reported by The Daily Chain, Binance announced that it is set to contribute to the Indian crypto economy by setting up a $50 million fund dubbed “Blockchain for India.” The fund’s aim is to invest in blockchain startup focused on solving industrial and social problems in the nation.

Another Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX partnered with the Malta-based trading platform OKEx at the same time. The exchange recently completed a 43 million (Rs 22.84 crores) Series A funding round on March 24. The exchange plans on using the funds to enhance its services, product, research, and marketing activities apart from improving its offering to serve the rising demand for cryptocurrencies in India.

Besides these, there have also been reports of Billionaire investor Tim Draper wanting to invest in blockchain start-ups within the nation. In an interview with media outlet Inc42, Draper stated that he “met several Bitcoin and crypto startups” during a recent trip to India, adding that he “hope[s] to be able to fund a number of them.