India May Be Starting Its Biggest Bitcoin Bull Run Yet

Aug 11, 2020 at 10:22 UTCUpdated Aug 11, 2020 at 10:23 UTC.India's crypto trade volumes have soared since the Supreme Court of India lifted banking restrictions for exchanges in March.

According to Coin Dance's Paxful and LocalBitcoins volume data, India's bitcoin peer-to-peer trade volume reached an all-time high in July.Siddhartha Dutta, CEO of Marlin, a tech startup in Bangalore, said the recent spike in demand for bitcoin mirrors Indians' reaction to demonetization in 2016.

The price of bitcoin on Zebpay, an Indian crypto exchange, had surged from $757 to $1,020 in 18 days after demonetization, while the bitcoin price in the U.S. remained relatively static.

For some Indian investors, investing in bitcoin was a safe option to store their wealth and minimize the uncertainties caused by demonetization and a possible gold ban.

India's growing crypto market dramatically slowed in 2018, when the Reserve Bank of India ordered financial institutions to avoid working with crypto exchanges.

These days bitcoin activity is ramping up across India on peer-to-peer exchanges such as Paxful and LocalBitcoins.

As the chart below shows, India's peer-to-peer bitcoin transaction volumes have doubled over the last five months.

According to a spokeswoman for Paxful, one of the leading peer-to-peer trading platforms, India is now among the five fastest-growing bitcoin user groups in the world.

"People in India are getting exposed to the internet, mobile first," Dutta said.

The bull market, combined with coronavirus travel restrictions, could energize India's startup scene.