July 27, 2023
By Anjali Kochhar
Even though there has been a continuous downfall in the crypto market, young Indians are still positive about investing in digital assets. A new survey by Indian crypto exchange WazirX revealed that investors under the age group of 18 and 30 years that they started investing in crypto as early as 2017. 40% of these investors have invested more than INR 40,000 in digital assets to this date, indicating the growing appetite for digital asset investing.
In fact, despite the bear market, 80% of investors in this age group indicated that they have invested in crypto in the last year.
In a comprehensive survey aiming to understand how people have engaged with digital assets over the years, WazirX, India’s leading crypto exchange, has uncovered investing trends and the purpose of investing for crypto enthusiasts in the country. The survey covers respondents from varying age groups of 18 to 60+ and also sheds light on investor awareness around the nuances of taxation in virtual digital assets.
Among 31-45-year-old investors, 50% have invested more than INR 40000 in virtual digital assets. 40% of investors in this age group have invested since 2021, whereas 3% started investing as early as 2014. In the last year, 84% of investors have invested in crypto.
Among 45-60-year-old investors, 40% of respondents have invested more than INR 40000 in virtual digital assets. 60% of respondents from this age group started investing between 2021-2023.
The survey also covers interesting aspects such as the frequency of investment, and the total amount invested, and highlights how investors are using their digital assets. India has a growing population of crypto owners, and the survey is aimed at understanding the engagement trends of Indian crypto enthusiasts over the last few years.
Investment Objective
The most common reason behind investing was high Return on Investments (ROI), followed by the intent to stay ahead of the curve in emerging technologies.
Among 18-30-year-olds, 56% of investors wanted to invest for high ROI, whereas 28% wanted to invest to stay ahead of the curve. Among 31-45-year-old investors, 38.5% wanted to invest for high returns. 19% wanted to invest as they wanted more control over financial assets indicating their knowledge of digital assets beyond an investment tool. Interestingly, among 45 to 60 and 60+ (age) investors, the scope of high ROI and gaining from speculative assets were the most important reasons.
“Crypto has become quite popular among Indian investors in the last few years. However, it’s been encouraging to see that even in a bear market, users have continued to engage with virtual digital assets. With global regulatory developments in place, this adoption will see exponential growth.”, said Rajagopal Menon, VP, WazirX
Some other interesting findings from the survey
Frequency of Investment in Crypto
While most respondents were not frequent investors, 19.4% are active traders, and 21% revealed investing once a month. Interestingly, 7.1% of male respondents invested in crypto weekly.
Uses for Digital Assets
A majority 53.2% of all respondents were HODLers, which means that they invested in crypto for long-term returns. 85% of female respondents were HODLers, whereas the proportion of male respondents stands at 53.8%.
In the last 1 year, for a significant number of both male and female respondents, HODLing and Trading Crypto went hand in hand with 27.4% having reportedly done both. 14.5% of all respondents (male and female) were active traders.
Taxes
The survey revealed that 75% of respondents understood how crypto is taxed in India, 16% claimed to have some knowledge, whereas 8.9% weren’t aware of it. 19.4% of respondents will use a crypto tax filing platform whereas 24.2% mentioned that they would file taxes by themselves.
WazirX is an India-based crypto exchange platform that allows users to buy, sell, and trade various crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and more. WazirX is India’s largest crypto exchange (by volume) and has over 15 million users. WazirX is on a mission to make crypto accessible to everyone in India.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
