Majority of Indian investors see 'no easy way to enter' crypto

A comprehensive survey from India’s CoinDCX exchange has found that most local investors don’t see an “easy way” to access exposure to crypto assets. That’s despite the country reversing a ban on financial institutions providing services to digital asset businesses earlier this year.

According to the exchange’s findings, 56% of respondents under the age of 40 assert there is stil “no easy way to enter” the markets. This sentiment is also shared by 60% of respondents earning less than 500,000 Indian Rupees ($6,700) per year.

Many segments of India’s population also cite a lack of “legal & regulatory clarity” as the largest barrier to entering the crypto sector, including 22% of respondents aged 40 or above, 32% of undergraduates, and 23% of real estate investors.

Graduates and respondents aged from 20 to 30 identified “knowledge & education” regarding crypto as the biggest challenge to its adoption.

CoinDCX queried more than 11,300 participants digitally for its survey, including 3,512 of its own customers.

The findings indicate that 40% of India’s crypto investors hail from one of three professional backgrounds — IT, finance, or education.

While 12% of respondents working in the banking industry stated they have owned crypto assets, 22% agree with the statement that virtual currencies are a strong alternative investment suggesting this could be a growth sector in the country.

Nearly two-thirds of crypto investors are salaried, while 12% are self-employed, and just 8% are students. Despite the low-level of crypto-ownership among students, 87% of hodlers were found to have at least graduated university.

Interestingly there were very few survey respondents willing to write off crypto entirely with less than 5% of retired, unemployed, or homemaker respondents asserting cryptocurrencies offer “zero utility.” This figure drops below 1% among graduates.

In May of this year, India’s Supreme Court overturned a ban on banks providing financial services to businesses handling crypto assets that had been enacted by the Reserve Bank of India in July 2018.

Despite many crypto firms continuing to complain that banks are reluctant to work with them, India’s virtual currency sector has expanded significantly since the first quarter. India has emerged as a major peer-to-peer market for Bitcoin trading, local exchange Zebpay revealed plans to launch a marketplace for non-fungible tokens, and Binance launched a local accelerator for decentralized finance projects.