Bitcoin is the king of cryptocurrencies? Think again. A study conducted by India’s free internet provider, Jana.com, has found that ethereum is more popular than bitcoin in India. Bitcoin has been dethroned.
To ensure the transparency of its studies, the popular company also published the methodology:
“Research was conducted on mobile search traffic and % of Jana’s mCent browser users from October 1, 2017, through February 28, 2018. Approximately 1MM mobile searches were studied overall as generated by mobile subscribers in India, and approximately 80,000 active mCent users who visited at least one cryptocurrency exchange during the time period.”
The study found that Ethereum has surpassed Bitcoin as the country’s most sought-after currency, which is particularly interesting given BTC’s reputation as the crypto-king blockchain ecosystem. After Ethereum and Bitcoin are ranked, the next rankings in importance are as follows: NEM, DASH, NEO, LTC, XRP, and XMR
Ethereum Is More Popular Than Bitcoin – Top Cryptocurrency Searches:
| Search terms | %s |
| Ethereum | 34.57% |
| Bitcoin | 29.94% |
| NEM | 21.36% |
| Dash | 5.30% |
| NEO | 4.28% |
| Litecoin | 2.39% |
| Ripple | 1.91% |
| Monero | 0.26% |
This results in a victory for Ethereum, which last year was second in the ranking, according to data from google analytics. This verifies that in India Ethereum is more popular than Bitcoin.
According to the analysis of the popular platform experts, the reason for this change of interest could be due to the government’s position in relation to bitcoin as a reference currency.
“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.”
As for exchanges, national trends differ widely from international ones. Local exchanges enjoy a higher level of popularity than other options
Top Cryptocurrency Exchange Visits (as % of daily users who visited at least one site)
| Exchange visits | % |
| Unocoin | 52.68% |
| Zebpay | 30.49% |
| Buyucoin | 6.78% |
| Bitcxindia | 5.81% |
| Coinsecure | 3.52% |
| Bitxoxo | 0.55% |
| BitIndia | 0.17% |
The legal situation of cryptos in India has gone through a cycle of ups and downs. Currently, in the face of the government’s announcement of a ban on crypto trading, the various exchanges across the country have maintained their interest in operating and moving forward to the end.
This situation has, of course, affected not only the interest of users but also the sense of security of the population who perceive the use of alternatives that are not on the government’s radar as less dangerous investments.
Right now, Ethereum is more popular than Bitcoin, having 2x more searches:
