Since the cryptocurrency boom of 2017, crypto enthusiasts in India have been using Ethereum over Bitcoin, preferring it for transactions and other purposes. The findings were confirmed by the end of February by several analysts, who said that searches for Ethereum in India were twice that of searches of Bitcoin in the country.
Jana is a free internet provider in India, and according to their research, they found that searches for Ethereum exceeded Bitcoin in the country and it was the most searched digital currency in the country.
Searches for Ethereum stood at 34.4% of all cryptocurrency searches when compared to 29.9% of Bitcoin searches. All these findings were published by the company in their Jana Mobile Majority study, where they said that the third most searched cryptocurrency in the country was Buycoin, with a total share of 21.2%. The company said that the other cryptocurrencies had a share of less than 5%.
The CEO of Jana, Nathan Eagle, believes that the Indian government’s stance against cryptocurrencies has led to cryptocurrency demand slowing down in the country. Bitcoin has been suffering as it is the flagship cryptocurrency and people think of Bitcoin when they think of cryptocurrencies.
The report also shows that the peak of Bitcoin searches happened in December when the currency was at its peak value and at present there is an opposite trend with Ethereum gaining more searches at the expense of Bitcoin, which shows that interest for Ethereum has increased among Indian cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
India has always been a small market for cryptocurrencies, with digital currencies only getting momentum in the country over the last year. Since then, a number of cryptocurrency exchanges have been set up as more and more people look towards cryptocurrencies due to the various advantages it offers.
But the Indian government has been keeping a negative outlook towards such currencies, with both the government and the Reserve Bank of India, which is India’s central bank. Things reached a flashpoint when the apex bank barred all financial institutions operating in India to stop dealing with companies and individuals dealing with digital currencies.
While there has been speculation that the RBI would bring out their own cryptocurrency, although the Indian government or the RBI has refused to comment on the same.
Overall it remains to be seen whether this lead taken by Ethereum remains or Bitcoin takes back its numero uno position in the country.
