With an investment of one billion $ from over ten million Indians, the cryptocurrency sector in the country can no longer be termed a niche. As awareness about this emerging asset class increases, it’s catching the fancy of an increasing number of traditional-minded investors looking to diversify their investments, despite the industry lacking a clear regulatory framework. India has generally held a cautious approach towards use and transactions involving digital currencies, but it recently assured crypto stakeholders that there will not be any blanket ban on it. There are even indications that a new bill spelling out a regulatory framework for digital currency is on the cards.
Emerging cryptocurrency platform CoinSwitch Kuber that calls itself “Your friendly crypto app to buy, sell & store cryptos” is out to familiarise Indians with this new dimension of fintech. Founded by a team of techies from Amazon, Microsoft, and Zynga, the Bangalore-based startup claims to be the fastest-growing crypto exchange in India hitting “seven million users on the platform, within a year of its launch”. It was also the first brand in the Indian crypto space to launch an extensive campaign to bring the conversation around cryptos to the centrestage, with its ‘Trade Kar Befikar’ campaign.
IndianTelevision.com’s Anupama Sajeet spoke to CoinSwitch Kuber CEO & co-founder Ashish Singhal to understand the Indian crypto industry and the platform’s USP. Singhal shared insights on the demographic profile of the average crypto investor and how the brand plans to connect with potential users. He also discloses how their main challenge remains to educate and arm users with the right information about cryptocurrencies.
Edited excerpts:
On reaching out to potential investors
As leaders in this space, we are committed to providing investors/ potential investors with the right information about cryptocurrencies, clarifying their most common doubts, and explaining how they can safely invest in this new asset class. We recently launched a host of initiatives including video campaigns, ads on Disney+Hotstar, partnerships with OTT platforms like TVF. Along with this, we are also revamping the content on our blog KuberVerse and YouTube channel to educate our users about crypto, investing, and blockchain. We have increased the usage of infographics in our communication for easy understanding and have tried to incorporate vernacular content as well. To educate and update them, we regularly create relevant content in the form of blog posts in English and vernacular languages, visual content in the form of graphs and charts as well as videos that can help them understand the crypto world better.
On the demographic profile of the typical Indian crypto trader/ investor
To give you a sense of the user demographics, the majority of the users on CoinSwitch Kuber are between 18 and 35 years of age. But it is interesting to note that we have been witnessing a lot of traction from senior citizens and users above 45 years of age. Even people from Tier-2 and 3 towns have hitched onto the bandwagon with crypto. As much as 45 per cent of our users come from small cities.
On CoinSwitch Kuber’s USP
The primary thought behind launching CoinSwitch Kuber was to simplify crypto investments for Indian retail investors. We want to make crypto investing as easy as ordering food on Swiggy. There are many crypto exchanges in India designed to cater to traders with pro features. However, over 90 per cent of crypto buyers in India are retail investors. They just need a simple way to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies at the best rate and that is what we offer. That’s where we make a difference.
On the aim behind the ‘Trade Kar Befikar’ campaign
With ‘Trade Kar Befikar’, the aim was to showcase how it is a smart move to invest early in cryptocurrencies. Crypto has been the fastest-growing asset class of the last decade and the momentum is only growing stronger now. Through the ad campaign, we hoped to amplify this message to millions of young and upwardly mobile Indians. The response to it was great. The ad campaign, coupled with the simplicity of the platform, resulted in our user registrations going up by four times.
On the marketing plans for the current fiscal
We are exploring multiple avenues to attract user attention and educate them about crypto.
We would primarily focus on:
Ø Understanding users, about their needs and how their needs are evolving.
Ø Unique campaigns that would get mainstream attention, as mutual funds or stocks do.
Ø Engaging with thought leaders in the finance space.
Social media-led influencer marketing will be important for us.
On offsetting investor fears around the recent crash of Bitcoin prices
Like we always say, user education and awareness is the key. Investing in cryptocurrencies is similar to investing in any other asset class and one should invest basis their risk appetite. Volatility is natural in any emerging asset class, it is a part of market-making. Look at gold for example, and how it started.
On the uncertainty around the government policy on cryptocurrencies & the regulation
When regulated, crypto has the potential to immensely contribute to the Indian economy and we are hopeful that the regulators are taking cognizance of this fact. The need of the hour is to regulate the industry and unlock entrepreneurship and innovation in this field. We cannot afford to be left behind in a domain that will foster major innovation in the internet space in the times to come. Investors across the globe trust the Indian government and regulators to make the right decision and are therefore funding the best teams in the space.
On being future-ready & on the challenges he foresees in the Indian crypto-space
User awareness and education have been & will remain the foremost challenge for the crypto industry in India. We are working to solve this in various ways, as mentioned before. We are also looking to build on top of our current product stack by introducing several new features soon.
