India's cryptocurrency market grew 641% over past year, says report

India, Vietnam and Pakistan are helping to lead the expansion of cryptocurrency markets in central and southern Asia, according to Chainalysis.
 

India’s market grew 641% over the past year and Pakistan’s 711%, a report from Chainalysis showed, using a metric that estimates the total cryptocurrency received by a country.

India has a 59% share of activity taking place on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, with Pakistan at 33%, the report said, adding there’s been a significant increase in cryptocurrency-related entrepreneurship and venture capital investment in the region.

“Large institutional-sized transfers above $10 million worth of cryptocurrency represent 42% of transactions sent from India-based addresses, versus 28% for Pakistan and 29% for Vietnam,” the report said. “Those numbers suggest that India’s cryptocurrency investors are part of larger, more sophisticated organizations.”

The past year has seen a number of twists and turns for India’s crypto market, including on the regulatory front, with some reports that the country might try to ban or otherwise restrict crypto. However, Chainalysis noted, more recently it looks as though the government may simply favor taxation.