India’s Crypto Adoption & Market Growth: Users, Cities, Trends (2025)

India’s Crypto Adoption and Market Growth

India’s crypto market is stabilising with rising adoption across cities, growing participation from young investors, and key legal and stablecoin developments. Investors have remained active, continuing to trade as volumes recover and participation expands across a broader range of assets.

India’s crypto market growth is clearly visible in trading data, with volumes dipping from $269 billion in 2022-23 to $150 billion in 2023-24 before recovering to $300 billion in 2024-25.

Crypto in India isn’t fading away. Instead, the market is stabilising as investors remain engaged and users continue to participate. This rise in activity is mainly due to price shifts, better platforms, and users who have moved past the learning curve and now understand crypto fundamentals.

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India’s crypto market is not fading. It is stabilising, maturing, and growing with informed investors, wider city-level adoption, and improving legal and financial infrastructure.

Most crypto activity in India is concentrated in metro cities. Delhi NCR accounts for around 1.93 million crypto users, representing roughly 19.3% of the total user base. Along with Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, the top 10 cities together account for 60% of total crypto activity.

At the same time, the adoption is expanding in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Even smaller towns are starting to engage with crypto, which makes the market more diverse geographically. This shows that India’s crypto ecosystem now has users outside of the metro cities.

Who Is Investing in Crypto in India

Most users are young, with Gen Z (18-25) and Millennials (26-35) being 75% of the active users. 36-45 makes 18%, and over 45 makes 7%.

Now the average crypto investor in India holds around 5 tokens, indicating diversification. The female crypto investor percentage has gone up to 13-15%, which shows more accessibility and interest.

India’s crypto market is settling into a steady phase, with consistent user activity, recovering volumes, and growing participation beyond metro cities.

Investors Focus on Established Cryptos

Data from trading platforms suggests that investors are prioritising established cryptos over short-term speculative projects. Across exchanges, capital is increasingly being allocated to coins with significant market presence and proven scale. This trend shows that Indian investors are focusing on long-term value rather than chasing hype.

Key Developments in India’s Crypto Space

India may soon get a rupee-backed stablecoin.

Polygon and Anq are developing ARC, a stablecoin pegged to the rupee and backed by Indian government securities. Most stablecoins today are dollar-backed, which primarily strengthens the US dollar. ARC aims to retain liquidity onshore and support domestic demand for government bonds, potentially strengthening India’s financial ecosystem.

Madras High Court recognises crypto as property.

The Madras High Court ruled that cryptos are property, meaning they can be legally owned and protected. This decision reinforces investor rights in disputes, even though crypto is not legal tender. The judgment aligns with existing Indian law, which recognises virtual digital assets as a distinct category under Section 2(47A) of the Income Tax Act.

Exchange Safety and Custody

Security is a key concern in crypto. Investors should prioritise platforms that demonstrate strong practices:

• Penetration testing identifies vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.
• Proof of Reserves confirms that exchanges hold the assets they report.
• Bug bounty programs incentivise ethical hackers to find and report flaws.

Exchanges following these practices are safer, but the most secure option for long-term holdings is self-custody, where users control their private keys.