Ethereum takes no. 1 after the tough attitude of Indian government has scared most of Bitcoin traders.
According to a research, the price of Bitcoin has decreased in popularity due to central bank and government authorities from India.
Ethereum had entered in top in India according a research by Jana free internet provider. Ethereum has a 34.6 percent in the searches, where Bitcoin has a percentage of 30 in the currency searches.
Popular currency search terms and exchange site visits were analyzed across the company’s mCent browser application from October 2017 to February.
Ethereum takes no. 1 despite Bitcoin
Another interesting highlight was that Ethereum‘s popularity over Bitcoin grew over time, where Ethereum searches were twice that of Bitcoin during last week of February.
India currently has around 10 cryptocurrency exchanges with 5 million users and monthly volumes of $1.5 billion, according to industry estimates from early January.
The revelation by Jana comes at a time when the governments around the world are tightening their noose on cryptocurrencies and India is not far behind.
India’s aversion to virtual currencies was first displayed in December 2013 when the central bank issued a few words of caution.
While there are still no clear regulations or proper jurisdiction, officials at the top echelons of the government, including finance minister Arun Jaitley have expressed his strong dislike for virtual currencies.
“Our data shows that despite growing interest in cryptocurrencies as of late last year, recent confusion and questionable nature of crypto as legal tender in India has had a noticeable chilling effect,” said Nathan Eagle, CEO and founder of Jana.
“As the hype cycle has started to unwind, we’re also seeing a huge departure both on the total number of searches, as well as visitors to these sites, which will continue to impact consumer appetite for investing.”
Following the central bank’s orders, top lenders across the country suspended accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges even as the Registrar of Companies stopped registration of firms dealing in them.
As governments around the world began cracking down the Bitcoins, the confidence of investors in the cryptocurrencies also witnessed a steep erosion.
In the first quarter of 2018, Bitcoin has shed more than half of its value. The currency has also lost $120 billion in market cap in this period.