Shifting Beyond Single Assets: A Broader Portfolio Approach
Indian crypto investors are gradually moving beyond single-asset exposure and building broader portfolios, according to CoinDCX’s annual user report released on Thursday. The exchange stated that the average customer now holds approximately five tokens, an increase from two or three in 2022. This trend signifies that Indian traders are beginning to treat cryptocurrency as a multi-asset market rather than solely focusing on Bitcoin. Layer-1 tokens constituted 43.3% of portfolio volumes in 2025, while Bitcoin still maintained a significant share at 26.5%. Memecoins accounted for 11.8%, indicating that speculative themes continue to attract attention but no longer dominate activity as they did in earlier market cycles. CoinDCX co-founder Sumit Gupta commented that investors in the country are already comfortable with financial assets, and cryptocurrency is becoming a "natural next frontier" for trader behavior in India.
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Demographic Drivers of India's Crypto Activity
CoinDCX reported that the average user age on the platform has risen to 32, placing millennials at the core of India’s trading base. Gen Z, despite being smaller in number, remains active, often concentrating on newer themes such as layer-2 ecosystems, NFTs, and fast-moving speculative trades. The exchange also recorded a rise in female participation, with women investors doubling year-over-year. While men still constitute the majority of users, women traders are expanding beyond BTC and ETH into networks like Solana and Sui, according to the report. CoinDCX, founded in 2018 and backed by investors including Coinbase, claims to have over 20 million registered users. It continues to serve as one of the primary retail on-ramps in a market where crypto is widely used but still constrained by regulatory uncertainty.
India's Crypto Market in Comparison to Other Developing Markets
A16z Crypto’s latest State of Crypto report highlighted that developing countries are exhibiting the fastest growth in on-chain activity. India ranked high in mobile wallet usage, which is a strong indicator of broad retail adoption. However, the same report placed India near the bottom in token-related web traffic, which a16z uses as a measure of deeper engagement with crypto networks, developer ecosystems, and token research. Gupta, responding to these findings, wrote that "India’s adoption is wide, it may currently lack depth." He added, "We are still very early. There’s plenty of room for education, innovation, and growth."
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Transition to a More Structured Phase for India's Crypto Market
India’s adoption curve has long been influenced by retail interest, recurring bouts of volatility, and shifting tax regulations. Despite these challenges, crypto usage continues to expand across savings products, remittances, trading platforms, and mobile wallets. CoinDCX’s data suggests that users are beginning to approach crypto portfolios similarly to equities or mutual funds, spreading holdings across major networks, speculative narratives, and emerging assets. This behavior aligns with broader global trends, where retail traders are increasingly viewing tokens through sector-based or thematic lenses (layer-1s, layer-2s, gaming, infrastructure, memecoins) rather than as a single market. India’s "wide but shallow" profile also reflects this early stage. Many users hold crypto, but few delve into governance, on-chain metrics, staking programs, or long-term allocation models. The shift toward five-token portfolios is one of the clearest indicators that this may be starting to change. The speed at which the market gains depth will be influenced by tax clarity, local exchange regulations, banking access, and education. For now, the growth of diversified crypto portfolios signifies a noticeable change in how Indian investors engage with the asset class, suggesting that the country's next wave of adoption may be more structured than the previous one.