Jana Report Shows Ethereum Tops Bitcoin as India’s Most Popular Cryptocurrency, Unocoin Accounts for More than Half of Country’s Exchange Site Visits

Jana, the largest provider of free internet in emerging markets, today announced findings from its latest Mobile Majority report, which takes a close look at the latest cryptocurrency trends in India. The research was conducted over the last five months, where popular currency search terms and exchange site visits were analyzed across the company’s mCent browser app.

Jana’s mCent browser is the fastest growing browser in India. Integrated into the billing systems of 340 mobile operators, the technology has cross-border potential as one of the world’s largest compensation platforms, available to 4.56 billion mobile subscribers, or approximately two-thirds of the world’s population.

The search data revealed that Ethereum (ETH) topped Bitcoin (BTC) as the most searched for cryptocurrency in India over the last five months, commanding a 34.6% share of top currency searches overall, while Bitcoin trailed with a 29.9% share. The next popular currency was BuyUCoin (NEM) at 21.3% share, followed by Dash (DASH) at 5.3%, Neo (NEO), 4.3%, and Litecoin (LTC) 2.4%, respectively. It was further observed that Ethereum’s popularity over Bitcoin grew over time, where Ethereum searches were 2x that of Bitcoin during last week of February.

Over the same time period, visits to cryptocurrency exchanges reached a peak in late December, which accounted for a 29.87% share of searches overall, following a noticeable drop-off as news surfaced that crypto would not be accepted as legal tender in India. The study showed that total searches were down slightly from December in the month of January at 25.75%, followed by the lowest number of searches for any given month in February, with a drop of more than 50% to 12.28%.

Crypto Exchanges Follow Similar Roller Coaster Ride As Supported Currencies

Among users who visited at least one crypto exchange, Unocoin accounted for the highest % of daily active users accounting for 52.68%, with Zebpay at 30.49% and BuyuCoin at 6.78%. Unocoin also accounted for the highest percentage of total page loads at 39.52%, followed by Zebpay 19.89%, BuyUCoin 19.16% and BitcxIndia at 16.54%.

However, user visits at these exchanges mirrored the waxing-waning cycle of searches for cryptocurrency overall. Interest reached a feverish pitch in mid-December before beginning a steady decline, with the peak corresponding with Bitcoin’s price reaching an all-time high.

“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.”

In November of 2017, a government panel recommended shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges, and while no shutdown has been enforced yet, officials vowed to eliminate the use of cryptocurrencies again during an annual budget speech on February 1st, 2018. Jana’s study confirms that while interest is there, the lack of regulation continues to put stress on the industry and its investors.

Here’s a look at what’s trending across the categories overall:

Top cryptocurrency searches by coins and tokens:

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%

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%

Top cryptocurrency exchange site page loads  (as % of the total number of page loads over five months)

Exchange page loads - %

Unocoin - 38.85%

Zebpay - 20.06%

Buyucoin - 19.60%

Bitcxindia - 16.62%

Coinsecure - 3.80%

Bitxoxo - 0.95%

BitIndia - 0.12%

Jana’s Mobile Majority report offers unique insights and trends on mobile browsing behavior from subscribers in emerging and high growth markets. For additional questions on the findings, please contact eric@vscconsulting.com .

Survey 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.

About Jana

Jana is the largest provider of free internet in emerging markets. Through Jana’s mCent Browser, the next billion smartphone users are coming online without incurring data charges. Jana makes all mobile content freely accessible and discoverable through technology integrated into the billing systems of 340 mobile operators and available to 4.56 billion mobile subscribers. Today, Jana has provided over 40 million emerging market users with free, ad-sponsored internet access. For more information, please visit http://www.jana.com/home or to download the mCent browser, you may visit http://www.mcentbrowser.com/.

Contact Information

Eric Gonzalez

General Manager

VSC, on behalf of Jana

(1) (415) 272-0836

eric@vscconsulting.com