Understanding WazirX’s End-of-Year Report And What It Means For The Crypto Industry

Some reasons behind this implosion included the rising number of users. Market perceptions were now dependent on 100 times the number of users as compared to the last bear run. The price fluctuations, as a result, were also drastic.

Moreover, the country is still on the brink of an uncertain future when it comes to Crypto, with no regulations to protect users in case of massive losses in the portfolio or bad actors who run fraudulent businesses to trap vulnerable investors. The last budget session saw the government not committing to grant Crypto legal tender status. At the same time, it imposed high taxes on sale transactions and gains.

In the light of these developments, WazirX’s year-end report yielded some interesting insights into user behavior, with possible indications of the future of Crypto. The platform saw a user volume of 10 billion. Among them, women accounted for 20% of trades in top tokens, which included BTC, USDT, SHIB, WRX, ETH, TRX, DOGE, MATIC. In fact, women in the age group of 41-60 and above have transacted more in VDA than men in the same age group. By and large, women preferred blue chip tokens, while men invested in meme tokens, gaming tokens, etc. Women in the states of West Bengal (42%), Haryana (35%), Uttar Pradesh(25%), and Karnataka (21%) were involved in the most Crypto trades.

Other novelty tokens also had their day in the sun. Even in the bear market, Shiba Inu tokens reigned supreme with unfazed popularity. 27% of the first-time Crypto buyers on the platform bought Shib tokens, followed by TRX (11%) and BTC (8%). ChiliZ token (CHZ), the official token of the Socios.com fan voting portal, has been a popular token as a precursor to the FIFA World Cup. The token offers voting rights to fans for activities related to their favorite teams and players. WazirX themselves contributed to the slew of Crypto-based innovations, by introducing introduced the Crypto gift card feature on their platform, where users can send WRX tokens to each other, starting at INR 50.

Crypto’s performance in 2022, and its prospects for the year ahead are marred by certain external influences. Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover news reflected in the Crypto purchase behavior of users. News of Musk offering to buy Twitter started floating in mid-April. The trading volume of Doge on WazirX went up by 1300% compared to the previous week at that time. But several roadblocks to the development of Crypto remain.

While several surveys involving retail investors claim how they continue to be bullish about Crypto, lack of awareness remains a key barrier to its mainstream adoption. It is important for the government to give an opportunity to local Web3 players to participate in initiatives where VDAs will play a key role. However, the report does predict that we will witness the acceptance of retail Crypto payments in businesses and the need for a sophisticated interface where these transactions can take place swiftly and hassle-free. Lingering doubts over the security of Crypto assets will be dispelled by the formation of a regulatory framework, as promised by the Honourable Finance Minister of India, in addition to RBI’s own blockchain trials.

The report concluded on a hopeful note, reemphasizing the need for proper education and awareness. It assumes that long-term benefits of Crypto as a store of value will overcome the temporary setbacks. And with introduction of CBDCs, institutional adoption of Crypto, and more brands introducing services pertaining to Virtual Digital Assets, it’s only a matter of time before Crypto becomes an integral part of our daily lives.