Namaste tribe!
2021 was a phenomenal year! The year when there were more searches for how to buy bitcoin on Google than searches for how to buy stocks worldwide, and when NFTs started making headlines. It was also the year when several countries working towards crypto regulations or CBDCs.
On this note, I’m super thrilled to share that WazirX witnessed a record trading volume of over $43 Billion USD in 2021 – the highest in India – accounting for 1735% growth from 2020. We also clocked a significant surge in user signups and crossed a user base of 10 Million.
To gauge the amassing interest among our users, we conducted a user survey as well as analyzed the data patterns on our platform. The insights have been intriguing and we’ve shared them in our report called “Highlights & Observations From 2021: The Year Of Crypto”:
- 51% of survey respondents admitted to entering crypto basis recommendations from friends and family first
- Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), WazirX Token (WRX), and Matic (MATIC) were the most-traded crypto on the exchange
- 44% of respondents shared that crypto comprises up to 10% of their overall investment portfolio
- Women traded more in Bitcoin, whereas men traded more in Shiba Inu
- 54% of respondents shared that they would be interested in pursuing a career in the crypto space, with
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Business Development being the top career choices
- 82% of WazirX users have reaped profits on their crypto investments (as of November 30, 2021)
Interestingly, trading and investments in crypto have seen a demographic shift as well with 66% of WazirX users below 35 years of age. The growth in the number of new female users was up by 1009% vis-à-vis an 829% growth recorded in an increase in male sign-ups. Apart from age and gender, crypto also witnessed a trend in participation from beyond metros and Tier-I cities. There was also a 700% increase in the number of participants from smaller cities like Guwahati, Karnal, Bareilly, thereby signalling the growing interest from rural and semi-urban areas.
Going beyond trading opportunities, WazirX NFT Marketplace has enabled over 962 creators to mint 12,600 NFTs and sell over 5267 of them worth over 262,896 WRX (~₹2.4 Crores INR) in 2021 so far. Some of the top trading NFTs include The Mvmnt Collections, Crypto Karadi Collections, Krypto Monks & MetaVassi Collection – Abhishapes, Yash Shyte – Cyber Mythics, Milanzart – Cyber Skull Force Collection.
India is evolving in terms of crypto adoption. An increasing number of retail and institutional investors are looking forward to innovation in applications of popular altcoins like Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, and even layer 2 solutions. Additionally, with Metaverse apps becoming mainstream, WazirX expects an inflow of applications in DeFi, NFTs, GameFi where users can own their data and earn in the virtual economy. The growth potential is echoed by a Nasscom report as well, which states that the crypto market in India is expected to grow 2X faster and has the potential to create 800,000+ jobs by 2030.
View the complete report with more information here.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is currently unregulated. Kindly ensure that you undertake sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information provided in this section doesn't represent any investment advice or WazirX's official position. WazirX reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change this blog post at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.
