(Bloomberg) -- The cryptocurrency aficionados mantra that Bitcoin is equivalent to digital gold is winning converts among the worlds biggest holders of the precious metal.<\/p>\n
In India, where households own more than 25,000 tonnes of gold, investments in crypto grew from about $200 million to nearly $40 billion in the past year, according to Chainalysis. Thats despite outright hostility toward the asset class from the central bank and a proposed trading ban.<\/p>\n
Richi Sood, a 32-year-old entrepreneur is one of those who swerved from gold to crypto. Since December, shes put in just over 1 million rupees ($13,400) some of it borrowed from her father into Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ether.<\/p>\n
And shes been fortunate with her timing. She cashed out part of her position when Bitcoin smashed through $50,000 in February and bought back in after the recent tumble, allowing her to fund the overseas expansion of her education startup Study Mate India.<\/p>\n
Id rather put my money in crypto than gold, Sood said. Crypto is more transparent than gold or property and returns are more in a short period of time.<\/p>\n
Shes part of a growing number of Indians -- now totalling more than 15 million -- buying and selling digital coins. Thats catching up with the 23 million traders of these assets in the U.S. and compares with just 2.3 million in the U.K.<\/p>\n
The growth in India is coming from the 18-35 year old cohort, says the co-founder of Indias first cryptocurrency exchange. Latest World Gold Council data indicated Indian adults under age 34 have less appetite for gold than older consumers.<\/p>\n
They find it far easier to invest in crypto than gold because the process is very simple, said Sandeep Goenka, who co-founded ZebPay and spent years representing the industry in discussions with the government on regulation. You go online, you can buy crypto, you dont have to verify it, unlike gold.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest barriers preventing wider adoption is the regulatory uncertainty. Last year, the Supreme Court quashed a 2018 rule banning crypto trading by banking entities, resulting in a trading surge.<\/p>\n
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However, authorities show no signs of embracing cryptocurrencies. The nations central bank says it has major concerns about the asset class and six months ago the Indian government proposed a ban on trading in digital coins though it has been silent on the topic since.<\/p>\n
I am flying blind, said Sood. I have a risk-taking appetite, so Im willing to take a risk of a ban.<\/p>\n
Its not the only country where regulators are cracking down. The U.K.s financial watchdog has just banned Binance Markets Ltd. from doing any regulated business in the country.<\/p>\n
The official hostility though means many bigger individual investors are reluctant to speak openly about their holdings. One banker Bloomberg spoke to who invested more than $1 million into crypto assets said with no clear income tax rules at present he was concerned about the possibility of retrospective tax raids if he was publicly known to be a big-ticket crypto investor.<\/p>\n
Hes already got contingency plans in place to move his trading to an offshore Singapore bank account if a ban was to be introduced.<\/p>\n
To be sure, the value of Indian digital asset holdings remain a sliver of its gold market. Still, the growth is clear, especially in trading -- the four biggest crypto exchanges saw daily trading jump to $102 million from $10.6 million a year ago, according to CoinGecko. The countrys $40 billion market significantly trails Chinas $161 billion, according to Chainalysis.<\/p>\n
For now, the increasing adoption is another sign of Indians willingness to take risk within a consumer finance sector thats plagued with examples of regulatory short falls.<\/p>\n
I think over time everyone is going to adopt it in every country, said Keneth Alvares, 22, an independent digital marketer who has invested more than $1,300 in crypto so far. Right now the whole thing is scary with regulation but it doesnt worry me because Im not planning to remove anything for now.<\/p>\n
(Adds Binance affiliate U.K. ban in 12th paragraph)<\/p>\n
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Even Gold-Obsessed Indians Are Pouring Billions Into Crypto - Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Bloomberg) -- The cryptocurrency aficionados mantra that Bitcoin is equivalent to digital gold is winning converts among the worlds biggest holders of the precious metal. Continue reading