Bitcoin, DOGEcoin, Ethereum - crypto frenzy in India

 What is the buzz about Cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrency is rapidly climbing the stairs of popularity all around the world, all thanks to all mighty supposed "King of Internet" Elon Musk. Tesla CEO has been a key player in promoting and giving fuel to the crypto frenzy through all these years. As a result, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and even "memecoins" such as the very famous "DOGE" coin. Mr. Musk hailed himself as the "dogefather" after constantly vouching for this coin. As a result, it rapidly rose from being worth few paisas in January 2021 (0.34INR in January) to an astronomically high figure of 54INR on the 8th of May. 2021. According to CNBC, an investment of $1000 (75000 INR approx) would be worth more than $120,000 (90 lakh INR), which is almost a 12,000% return in mere months! This frenzy caught the eyes of "common Indian" people, and many rushed to invest in this magical asset, which in turn broke many crypto exchanges present in the country, again making waves and headlines in news.

What even is crytocurrency one might wonder? according to technical definitions, a Cryptocurrency is a decentralized form of digital money based on "blockchain technology" which does not adhere to the rules of banking systems of economies. It is accessible to anyone around the world.

In simple terms, one can view it as "stocks" on which one can invest. However, it is a highly volatile and rather uncertain asset, as it does not follow the rules of the "market". Investing in such a nascent asset without solid research can be quite dangerous for new investors.  

Memes and Cryptocurrencies

Doge, a meme based on a Shiba Inu dog is one of the many factors that the crypto market caught the eyes of memers and their audiences. "DOGE to the moon" was and still is spammed across many internet sites to signify that it'll reach new heights, which is breaking the $1 dollar mark "the moon".  Doge was already a crowd-famous and overly used meme format in the meme community. This widespread coverage was the primary reason it caught the attention of many young investors active in social media websites. It followed a similar trend as to what happened with Gamestop stocks and Wallstreet bets in Reddit.

People flocked to the action scene and almost changed the entire course of cryptocurrency trading history of India. Many popular crypto-exchanges such as WazirX broke down after witnessing a massive surge in users trying to get their hands on the cutesy dogecoin. Cryptocurrency caught the attention of media and banks in India, which resulted in a surprise to the users as RBI, the regulatory authority of banking systems in India asked banks to reconsider crypto-trading transactions. Priorly, traders and investors of India were in a weird spot as it seemed that all sort of crypto trading would be banned in India. Another huge shocker came when India received a $1 Billion dollar worth of SHIB coin as Covid-19 aid from Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, another famous crypto-coin. All these developments possibly made an impact on the decision of expected crypto-ban in India, perhaps a cute dog did manage to change the course of crypto trading in India.

The Bitcoin, Crypto-market plunge, and Elon Musk factor - What it means for newcomers

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and in fact whole market of cryptocurrency suffered huge setbacks after series of setbacks from multiple agencies. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla received a lot of hate from Bitcoin investors after expressing his views over excessive energy usage, sustainability, and "decentralization" of Bitcoin. A series of tweets against Bitcoin resulted in a huge bearish behavior as it witnessed a 30% decrease in its price to $30,000 on 19th May after recovering back to $38,000. The Chinese government also banned crypto-transactions in financial and payment institutions further added to the worries of Bitcoin and crypto investors.

As mentioned earlier, Crypto-realm is indeed quite volatile and dangerous for someone who has no idea about its workings. The future of this market is still relatively unpredictable and uncertain. However, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have previously survived such drops in its past such as the 2017 Bitcoin crash. New investors should certainly think and give a thought about cryptocurrency - its pros and cons before investing any huge amount in this volatile market.