Quick Summary Of The Indian Crypto Scene From 2018
Indian blockchain and cryptocurrency scene has churned a lot in this year. From the bull to the bear run, media applause to it's FUD. Massive FUD caused by government bodies and representatives and an ongoing case in the Supreme Court to overturn an oppressive mandate.
Infact my own blog posts can detail the timeline of events in the past year! But let's move on with this post.
This year saw a rise in blockchain technology startups in India. It also witnessed many cryptocurrency meetups and blockchain conferences. Government adoption of this technology shot up this year and the central banking ban on banking services to cryptocurrency businesses continues to stifle growth in this sector.
It also saw many startups in this space moving overseas to markets such as Singapore, Malta, Estonia to name a few due toe the harsh conditions and lack of legislation in India.
In addition to the FUD, lack of interest and incentive to use blockchain technology has deterred growth of userbase that largely continues to ignore the underlying-tech in favour of token value and speculative possibilities.
Ofcourse, some of these changes were largely expected as the market in India is at a nascent stage. Majority users are clueless about how the tech works in general. It was expected that the Indian cryptocurrency enthusiasts were behind as much as 10% of Bitcoin's trading volume about 2 years ago. Currently the number is insignificant.
But, the potential remains. As a country of 1.3 billion people we hold a tremendous potential. Every major technology company in the world is vying for its share of the Indian market and this is a fact!
On Steem/it we've witnessed a massive churn of Indian users. Majority of the users whom I recognise from 2017 and 2018 are no longer active moving into 2019. This behaviour reflects general change across the cryptocurrency space in India as many new comers have incurred massive losses by getting in quite late into the bull run and having to HODL through the bearish moves of the market.
Few incredible moments are also on Steem with projects from India such as @the1ramp and @swapsteem together along with some amazing users who continue to use Steem blockchain everyday and push for its greater success.
Not to forget India has been in the third spot regularly as far as the traffic to Steemit.com is concerned. That’s quite an achievement for our community and user-interest from India.
The rise and fall of Bitcoin and alt-coin prices haven't deterred all the users even as it has shaken us all.
Infact cryptocurrencies remain in the news even today. The general public interest has increased and in the next 2-3 years a larger section of the urban population is likely to be aware of cryptocurrencies and might even hold a little as the eco-system evolves.
Regulations may or may not arrive in favour of the cryptocurrencies but the knowledgeable cryptocurrency user from India isn't going to pushed out from possessing and trading tokens as well as investing in blockchain and cryptocurrency start-ups irrespective of the legislation.
Overall, the sentiment remains positive in India. Slowly and steadily the market will mature with users looking to invest into solid projects over hyped up tokens purely for speculation. When cryptocurrencies start taking greater strides in their price Indian media will get involved again in a major way boosting the interest of the general population once again.
Whether the government likes it or not they will be forced to watch citizens of India get involved with decentralised forms of money and payment systems. It's largely inevitable because currency and money as we know today is evolving into a new form.
The number of users from India discussing cryptocurrencies across various forms of social media is staggering!
But, as always India will play catch up for a while to come as the government and citizens adjust to these changes occurring across the globe.
The next hearing at the Supreme Court of India in the RBI vs Cryptocurrency exchanges in India is on the 15th of January 2019. I will be back with more updates as we go.
I also hope blockchain technology will start paving the way for the next IT rush in India in the next 2 years, creating a new wave of employment opportunities across the board. Not just for developers, but for traders, marketers and everyone in between.
Goodluck to us all!
If you like my work kindly resteem it to your friends. You may also continue reading my recent posts which might interest you:
- Let's Watch This Fun Video From International Steem Meetup #1—Malaysia
- Why You Should Vote For Firepower As Witness—Witness Campaign Post From India!
- Building A List Of Users From India—Please Fill This Form ASAP!
First of all, many thanks for this useful article. You always maintain your standard and that's the most important aspect of yours which I like the most. Since I joined this platform on August 2017, I have come across various ups and downs but I'm determined to be a part of this till it forces us to be out.
I personally know few steeminas who have almost lost hope and become inactive and few of them hvae already triggered for POWER DOWN.. They might sell everything high, wait for the right moment for price to come low again and buy and double the share of SP or they might shut the shop forever. WHO knows??? Only time will tell.
As a normal cryptouser and a minnow, I can only expect that this bad phase will fade way with time.
I am one of those hopeful Indian you mentioned. Thankfully I have been observing the tech for a very long time and I know we are dealing with a major revolution. These oppressive government tactics we're inevitable. Esp given the non so tech savvy old school people in top positions dreaming about digital India. But, on the other hand dissing the tech. Sometimes I wonder if way to get them on board could be to put 'animal protection' on blockchain. Jokes apart. I hope they come up with some regulatory measures to make the digital India crypto friendly rather than opressive bans in 2019. With that hope, I wish you a very happy new year.
Thanks for the great post.Though it is still uncertain condition whether our govt completely ban or legalize crypto in India,but our community is everlasting and immortal in its character.We are the citizen of 2nd largest populous country of the world,so within coming two or three years ,in my opinion this technology will flourish in every nook and corner of our country too.
Yes this year was not so good for Indian crypto markets.
But I really hope that next year is good for crypto and India moves towards accepting the Blockchain revolution.
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India is on a strong growth trajectory. Please check the article that I just posted.
https://steemit.com/india/@ajain/world-politics-india-a-success-story
I thank God for my country — Nigeria, our government seems not to be bothered about the emergence of cryptocurrency at all, but guess what? When they'll finally be bothered, it would have been too late to regulate it.
Viva la cryptocurrency
Viva la Steemit
@firepower, Absolutely true words and highlighting the practical points without any question. Yes, people are not yet have clarity how this Technology works and that's why many fall for the Manipulation and FUD. But we have to hold the patience because it's an Evolutionary process and over the peroid of time we will see expansion of practical knowledge and then effective increase in the rate of adoption.
But it's really important to hold strong grounds by the existing users to drive this Economy towards the path where it is meant to be. Wishing you and your family an blessed year 2019.
Stay Blessed brother. 🙂
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Unfortunately, Indian government always hesitate to take bold steps. I hope that the next year would bring something new on the table. Happy 2019.
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I hope next year will bless crypto😛
Hope year 2019 will be good for cryptocurrencies.
#zap
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