Young Indians bet on crypto as jobs, incomes disappoint

Bangkok Post Group

Young Indians are dabbling in crypto trading as a way to supplement their regular income in the world's most populous country where job and pay increases have lagged despite world-beating growth. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00Engineer Sagar Neware never used to pay much attention to things like Bitcoin. Now he says

00:07trading cryptocurrencies is taking over his life.

00:12The 25-year-old Indian says he spends his nights monitoring prices, since crypto markets

00:17never shut. And he's far from unusual. As job creation and incomes lag growth in the

00:24country, more young Indians are turning to crypto to supplement their money.

00:30Trading of Bitcoin and other tokens on India's four main exchanges rose more than twofold

00:34over the October to December quarter. That's according to data from CoinGecko.

00:41Most of the gains have been driven by retail investors in smaller towns. Here in the western

00:46city of Nagpur, these young people have signed up for classes to hone their trading skills.

00:52Company owner Yash Jaiswal says it's about topping up low incomes, not getting rich quick.

00:58The job which we are doing have a very low pay scale. So one who is working under a certain

01:07pay scale would want to definitely support his family. Nobody wants to drive a BMW, trust

01:12me. The major of the people, they just want a small car. They just want a happy life.

01:20Many experts warn that crypto markets remain very volatile and a risky place to park your

01:26cash. But that doesn't deter students like Ashish Nagose. He says he already has a business

01:34selling flowers and can trade crypto as a sideline. Now India's cryptocurrency market

01:40is forecast to grow to over $15 billion by 2035, or about six times last year's figure.

01:48But the country's budding traders will have to navigate some complications. India levies

01:54high taxes on crypto trading gains and has set no new rules for the market, nor folded

02:00it under existing securities laws. Meanwhile, the country's central bank is still a strong

02:06sceptic about the whole idea. If that creates uncertainty, none of it seems to put off India's

02:13new generation of crypto fans.

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