Despite regulatory hurdles and high tax implications, Indians' investments across the crypto-verse marked a significant increase this year, with over 36% of India's crypto investments concentrated in the three -- Delhi (20.1%), Bengaluru (9.6%), and Mumbai (6.5%). Delhi-NCR leads the charge in crypto adoption for the third consecutive year.

Homegrown crypto exchange CoinSwitch, in its India’s Crypto Portfolio 2024: How India Invests' report, reveals that meme-coin Dogecoin topped the list of the 'most invested coins', while SHIB led the way for the 'most traded coins'. PEPE emerged as the top-performing asset in 2024.

Delhi-NCR recorded nearly twice the investment of Bengaluru, which secured the second spot, followed closely by Mumbai. "With 80% of its investors seeing positive returns, Delhi’s portfolio stays largely green."

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) secured the 2nd and 3rd spots in investor preferences with 7% and 6%, respectively. Meme coins represent 13% of all crypto investments, with Dogecoin leading at 55%, followed by PEPE and BONK. "PEPE delivered a staggering 1,373% return, emerging as the best-performing asset in 2024, far surpassing Solana's 633% return in 2023."

The year 2024, which saw Bitcoin’s historic rise to $100,000, also registered new entrant cities like Kolkata and Botad (Gujarat) enter the top 10 cities for crypto adoption for the first time, securing 9th and 10th places, respectively. Among the top 10 cities, Pune boasts the highest percentage of green portfolios, with 86% of its investors seeing positive returns. Even Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, and Botad are showing strong adoption, the report finds out.

“The year 2024 has been a huge year for the global crypto ecosystem, driven by big political and regulatory changes that have sped up mainstream growth. What was once concentrated in major metros is now quickly expanding to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Indian investors are diversifying their portfolios, exploring everything from meme coins to Layer-1 and DeFi tokens, signalling an evolving appetite for crypto assets. With Bitcoin crossing the $100,000 mark to close out the year, it sets the stage for an exciting journey of growth in 2025,” says Balaji Srihari, Vice President, CoinSwitch.

Among age groups, the under-35 age group dominates crypto adoption, comprising close to 75% of investors, while the 36–45 age group is steadily growing. Women account for 11% of the investor base, underscoring an opportunity to enhance inclusivity in the sector.

Indian investors continue to prefer blue-chip and large-cap tokens for their stability, says the report. "Layer-1 tokens led with 37% of investor interest, while DeFi tokens retained their second spot at 17% for another year. Meme and gaming tokens also saw significant traction, reflecting evolving investor behaviours."

How's BTC performing today?

The world's largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) in m-cap, meanwhile, is trading at $101,023.70, down 2.62% in the past 24 hours, primarily due to a sudden and sharp reaction to the Federal Reserve's rate cut, causing Bitcoin to plummet by over $8,000 in just 36 hours.

"As inflation concerns resurface with CPI data showing alarming trends, the cryptocurrency market's volatility underscores the growing need for decentralized, inflation-resistant assets," says Avinash Shekhar, co-founder & CEO, Pi42, a perpetual futures trading platform.

While this cut was anticipated, Federal Reserve Bank chairman Jerome Powell's indication that only two additional cuts might occur in 2025 raised concerns among traders, leading to a dip in Bitcoin's price from its recent all-time high of $108,268, says Shivam Thakral, CEO of digital asset exchange BuyUcoin.