PROJECT REPORT ON

A CONCEPTUAL STUDY ON
CRYPTOCURRENCY AND ITS AWARENESS
AMONG INVESTORS IN THANE REGION.

A project submitted to
UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
FOR PARTIAL COMPLETION OF THE DEGREE
BACHELOR OF COMMERCE
(ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE)
UNDER THE FACULTY OF COMMERCE.

BY
Mr. KUNAL SHRIKANT SHANBHAG
Roll No.: 163
Class: TYBCAF
College PRN: 2021300451

Under the valuable Guidance of

ASST. PROF. SUDAM S. AHIRROW

VPM‟S K.G.JOSHI COLLEGE OF ARTS & N.G.BEDEKAR

COLLEGE OF COMMERCE, AUTONOMOUS, THANE WEST-
400601

ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-24

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and
the depth is so enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and

fresh dimensions in the completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai for giving me

chance to do this project.

I would like to thank my Principal, Dr. (Mrs.) Suchitra A. Naik for giving
me chance to do this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator Dr. (Mrs.) Neelam S.

Shaikh, for her moral support and guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide

Asst. Prof. Sudam S. Ahirrow whose guidance and care made the project
successful.

I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various

reference books and magazines related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly
helped me in the completion of the project especially my Parents and Peers
who supported me throughout my project

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapters Title Page no.

1 INTRODUCTION 01

1.1 What is Cryptocurrency? 01

1.2 Definition of Cryptocurrency 03

1.3 Understanding the Crypto Equation 04

1.4 Genesis of Cryptocurrency 08

1.5 Types of Cryptocurrencies 11

1.6 Features of Cryptocurrencies 16

1.7 Concept of Blockchain 18

1.8 how does cryptocurrency transaction take place 21

via blockchain?
1.9 What is cryptocurrency mining? 22

1.10 How is money made using cryptocurrency ? 23

1.11 Common notions about Cryptocurrencies. 24

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 27

2.1 Introduction 27

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 2.2 Objectives of study 29

2.3 Hypothesis 30

2.4 Scope of study 31

2.5 Significance of study 32

2.6 Limitations 33

2.7 Selection of problem 34

2.8 Methodology 35

2.9 Data Collection 36

2.10 Sample Size 39

2.11Sample Design 40

2.12 Techniques of Data Collection 41

2.13 Tabulation of Data 42

2.14 Graphical representation of data 42

3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 43

3.1 Introduction 43

3.2 Review of Indian research literatures 45

3.3Review of Foreign research literatures 56

3.4 Research Gaps 65

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4 DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 66

4.1 Cryptocurrency awareness among the selected 67

sample of investors
4.2 Analysis showing investment behaviour of 68
investor sample
4.3 Major reasons for not investing in cryptocurrency 70

4.4 Preference of Crypto investors 72

4.5 Testing of Hypothesis 75

5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 76

5.1 Findings from Data Interpretation 76

5.2 Other Findings 76

5.2.1 How does Cryptocurrency Investments work 76

5.2.2 Difference between E Currency and 79

Cryptocurrency
5.2.3 Evolution and current scenario for 81
cryptocurrency in India
5.3 Suggestions from respondents end 85

5.4 Suggestions from the researcher 87

5.5 Conclusions 88

6 REFERENCES 90

APPENDICES

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 LIST OF TABLES

Sr. No. Title of the table Page No.

1 Difference between electronic money and 05

cryptocurrency
2 Cryptocurrency awareness 67

3 General investment attitude 68

4 Crypto investment attitude 69

5 Hypothesis proving 75

6 Digital currency versus cryptocurrency 77

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 INDEX FOR CHARTS

Sr. No. Title of the charts Page No.

1 Crypto equation 04

2 History of cryptocurrency 08

3 Working of blockchain 19

4 Cryptocurrency transaction 21

5 Cryptocurrency awareness 67

6 General investment attitude 68

7 Crypto investment attitude 69

8 Major reasons for not investing in Cryptocurrency 70

9 Future preferences of respondent 71

10 Investment preferences of Crypto investors 72

11 Hypothesis proving 75

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is Cryptocurrency?

Whenever we listen to or come across the words like Digital, Medium of exchange, money
etc. We remember about a value or money which is digitally stored and serves as a medium
of exchange. In simple words this word map reminds us of Fintech services like PayTm,
Google pay, Phone pay and so on which are examples of electronic money, that allows us
to store and transfer the value, online via unified payment interface. Inspite of being
invented recently, Electronic money has been successfully serving the people by enabling
them easy and convenient platform to store and transfer money. It not only gained
popularity but also won the trust of people worldwide and that’s the reason, majority of
people have switched to Electronic money over paper and card money.

In today’s era where Electronic Currency is touching the summit of popularity and
acceptance, there is a new concept Called ‘Cryptocurrency’ , which has attracted almost
everyone. From laymen to Politicians and From Businesses to Investors, everybody is
talking about Cryptocurrencies. Now, the question arises What actually the Cryptocurrency
is ?

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If we add the word Decentralized to the group of words mentioned above, we will derive
the definition of Cryptocurrency, Which is, “ A Decentralized Currency or money which
is stored and transferred Digitally and acts as a medium of exchange.” Similar to
Electronic money Cryptocurrency also facilitate hassle free Electronic storage and transfer
of value, and serve as a medium of exchange, but Cryptocurrencies are not dependent upon
any central authority for their regulation.

A cryptocurrency, crypto-coins or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a

medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central
authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin
ownership records are stored in a digital ledger, which is a computerized database using
strong cryptography to secure transaction records, to control the creation of additional
coins, and to verify the transfer of coin ownership. Despite their name, cryptocurrencies
are not necessarily viewed to be currencies in the traditional sense especially in the country
like India. Various categorical treatments have been applied to them, including
classification as commodities, securities, as well as currencies. Cryptocurrencies are
generally viewed as a distinct asset class in practice. Some crypto schemes also use
validators to maintain the cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically not
issued by a central authority. Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as
opposed to a central bank digital currency (CBDC). When a cryptocurrency is minted or
created prior to issuance or issued by a single issuer, it is generally considered centralized.
When implemented with decentralized control, each cryptocurrency works through
distributed ledger technology, typically a blockchain, that serves as a public financial
transaction database.

A cryptocurrency is a digital form of money, which is also looked upon as digital tradable
asset built on blockchain technology that only exists online. Cryptocurrencies use
encryption to authenticate and protect transactions, hence their name. There are currently
over a thousand different cryptocurrencies in the world. Bitcoin, first released as open-
source software in 2009, is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Since the release of
bitcoin, many other cryptocurrencies have been created.

Cryptocurrency is a digital payment system that does not rely on bank to verify
transactions. It’s a peer-to-peer system that can enable anyone anywhere to send and
receive payments. It means anyone from any corner of the world can send and receive
crypto payments. Instead of being physical money carried around and exchanged in the
real world, cryptocurrency payments exist purely as digital entries to an online database
describing specific transactions. When you transfer cryptocurrency funds, the transactions
are recorded in a public ledger. Cryptocurrency is stored in digital wallets. Cryptocurrency
received its name because it uses encryption to verify transactions. This means advanced
coding is involved in storing and transmitting cryptocurrency data between wallets and to
public ledgers. The aim of encryption is to provide security and safety.

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As cryptocurrencies become popular, one threat to cryptocurrencies is High fluctuations
in traders’ willingness to buy or sell A digital coin of the country in which the encryption
methods are being observed to determine the creation of whole of paper money and prove
the validity of transaction of money, worked freely for a central bank. So, we can say that
this definition can be used to define cryptocurrency which is the other assets of currency
to be kept by the peoples. It does not also designate some of the things. So, we can say
that a cryptocurrency can be said as another way of assets coin which is digital for which
group of people have specifically agreed that it has some value. It has all the basic
element of currency but there is no real value of cryptocurrency and still people take it as
an investment for their needs.

1.2 Definition of Cryptocurrency.

According to Jan Lansky, a cryptocurrency is a system that meets six conditions:

 Digital currency or value that can act as medium of exchange.

 The system does not require a central authority; its state is maintained through
distributed consensus. .

 The system defines whether new cryptocurrency units can be created. If new
cryptocurrency units can be created, the system defines the circumstances of their
origin and how to determine the ownership of these new units.

 Ownership of cryptocurrency units can be proved exclusively cryptographically.

 The system allows transactions to be performed in which ownership of the

cryptographic units is changed. A transaction statement can only be issued by an
entity proving the current ownership of these units.

 If two different instructions for changing the ownership of the same cryptographic
units are simultaneously entered, the system performs at most one of them.

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1.3 Understanding the Crypto Equation.

From the above explanation and definition we come to know that cryptocurrency is a
decentralized digital currency which can act as a medium of exchange. Sometimes it is
looked as investment avenues or even commodities. However it uses a high encryption
crypto coding technology and block chain ledgers to keep its transaction secured, reliable
and end to end encrypted.

In order to better understand each and every fundamental terminologies used in above
explanation about cryptocurrencies a cryptocurrency equation is given in the diagram
below.

Now one by one Let’s us understand each and every term used in the above formula.

1. Digital money (or digital currency) refers to any means of payment that
exists in a purely electronic form. Electronic money is not physically
tangible, like a dollar bill or a coin. It is accounted for and transferred using
online systems using unified payment interface . Digital money generally

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 represents fiat currencies, such as dollars or euros. Digital money is concept
similar to a cryptocurrency but it differs from cryptocurrency from the
following points.

2. Cryptography: Cryptocurrencies use special codes to keep their

information safe. These codes are very strong because they are based on
advanced math and computer skills, making them really hard to break or
copy. This process of hiding the information in order to keep it encrypted
using special code is known as cryptography. Cryptography is the process
of hiding or coding information in such a way that only the person who was
intended for a message could read it full stop it is used in Bank cards
computer passwords and also in e-commerce. In simple word it is the
science of secure communication which uses the art of special coding. In
this way details about the trade and the people trading them are kept secret.
So it is hard to tell what is done in the network and by whom it is done.
Cryptography is the first point to understand what is Cryptocurrency.

3. Blockchain technology: blocks in technology is a digital ledger that

records the transactions of cryptocurrency exchanges in order to keep the
track of them. In simple words blockchain is like a digital notebook that
keep the track of cryptocurrencies When the people buy or sell them. It
makes these exchanges safe past and easy to track that's why people are
starting to use block chain more than just digital money. A blockchain is a
distributed ledger with growing list of Record that is block which are
securely link together via cryptography hashes . Blockchain increases trust
security and transparency of the data shared. Blockchain technology and its

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 working is explain in detail in the separate section of ‘Blockchain
Technology and its working’ of the introduction chapter.

4. Decentralization: Decentralization is the process in which the activity of

an organisation are delegated among the subordinate or other group of
people which are not the part of the main management. blockchain is storing
data on every computer within the network so many people can have the
copy of it at the same time all over the world. Just like paper money is made
and controlled by banks especially Central Bank digital money that is
cryptocurrency is used in valued by regular people are the players therefore
the shows that cryptocurrency is decentralized.

5. Private Keys: just imagine cryptocurrency is a special kind of money that

you keep in the digital box. In order to open this box you need a special
password known as a private key. This password also helps to meet sure no
one else other than you can take your money out. There is also another key
known as public key which works with your private key to keep everything
safe. It facilitates secure transfer without the need for a trusted third party
to regulate the transfer. But yet if this private key is lost you cannot access
your block or your money. Therefore many people write it down on a paper
or even store it in the computer without and internet.

6. Digital wallet: Just like we keep our regular money in our wallet we keep
cryptocurrencies in the special kind of polite called as a digital wallet which
is some time referred as cryptocurrency wallets. Here everyone has their
own unique digital wallet address. This let's the people send and get digital
money safely. But sometimes bad people find ways to steal the from these
digital wallets. Therefore in order to keep them safe we needs to keep it on
the cloud or the computer storage.

7. Cryptocurrency: Now with complete understanding about the basic

fundamental concepts that constitute cryptocurrency it can be said that
cryptocurrencies are the special type of digital currencies which do not
require any Central authority for its regulation. They use cryptography and
and blockchain Technology for the safety and security which makes them
reliable. They require special private keys to access them and are stored in
digital wallet making it super secured.

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Some other terms in this concept are as follows.

Fiat Currencies: centralized currencies minted by national banks on behalf of

governments.

Block: confirmed transactions which are bundled together through mining or validation.

Distributed Ledger: a list or database spread across many computers or devices.

Consensus: an automated agreement of a majority of computers that a transaction is

confirmed; a necessary part of a distributed ledger.

Mining: a process of creating new units of digital currency by confirming transactions.

Fork: a fundamental change in a digital currency’s rules leading to a new a completely

new cryptocurrency blockchain.

Proof-of-Work: a system of proving that a digital currency’s transactions are verified.

Proof-of-Stake: an alternative way of confirming transactions by using miners with the

highest holders of the underlying cryptocurrency.

Private Key: akin to a password, a string of characters that allows investors to access their
tokens or coins held in a digital wallet.

Public Key: a shorter and mathematically linked version of the private key enabling the
ability to deposit but not withdrawal stored cryptocurrency.

Smart Contract: a digital contract that self-executes on and is secured by a blockchain.

From the above explanation we can easily acknowledge the concept of cryptocurrency in
general.

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1.4 Genesis of Cryptocurrencies.

Road map on the next page shows the evolution journey of Cryptocurrencies.

GLOBAL VIEW

Long before Bitcoin and other digital alternative currencies appeared, cryptocurrency
existed as a theoretical notion. Early cryptocurrency advocates shared the goal of
addressing what they viewed as “conventional” fiat currencies’ practical and political
shortcomings using advanced mathematics and computer science concepts. If you are
interested in Bitcoin trading, this crypto trading platform is a great venue to start!

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1980s – The Pre-Bitcoin Era :

Several attempts prior to the current versions of cryptocurrencies failed to achieve

broad support. These are early 1980s notions from the Netherlands and the United
States. Digicash, which went bankrupt in the 1990s, was maybe the first prominent
digital currency.

DigiCash was founded by American computer scientist and cryptographer David

Chaum. DigiCash has only been around for a decade and has failed to persuade banks
to embrace its technology during that period. The firm declared bankruptcy in 1998,
ten years before Bitcoin’s official launch. B-Money, Hashcash, Flooz, and Bit Gold are
examples of other efforts at cryptocurrencies or their underlying technology.

1998 – 2009 – Wei Dai and Satoshi Nakamoto :

Wei Dai, a Chinese author and computer engineer, was the first to define modern
cryptocurrencies in 1998. The concept was completely released in 2009 when a white
paper outlining the fundamentals of blockchain and Bitcoin was published. “Satoshi
Nakamoto,” the white paper’s author, is probably a pseudonym for either a person or a
group of individuals.

2009 – 2010 – The Beginning of Bitcoin :

Since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, a growing group of Bitcoin supporters began trading
and mining the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is usually considered the first modern
cryptocurrency since it was the first publicly used method of trade to combine
decentralised control, user privacy, blockchain-based record-keeping, and built-in
scarcity. For the first time in 2010, someone chose to sell their Bitcoins, exchanging
10,000 of them for two pizzas. If the buyer had held on to those Bitcoins, they would
now be worth more than $100 million at today’s values.

2011 – The Rise of Alternative Coins :

The first rival cryptocurrencies emerge as Bitcoin grows in popularity and the concept
of decentralised and encrypted money gains traction. These are also known as
alternative coins or altcoins, and they aim to improve on the original Bitcoin
architecture by providing faster transaction speeds, anonymity, or some other benefit.

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Namecoin and Litecoin were among the first to emerge.

2012 – WordPress and Bitcoin

WordPress was the first large retailer to accept Bitcoin as payment in late 2012. Others
followed suit, including Newegg.com, Expedia, Microsoft, and Tesla, an online
electronics store. Today, many big companies already accept Bitcoin as a valid payment
method.

2013 – 2014 – Bitcoin’s Years of Dilemma :

In 2013, the price of one Bitcoin dropped sharply just after it passed $1,000 for the first
time. In 2014, Mt.Gox, the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, went down, and the
owners of 850,000 Bitcoins never saw them again. Those lost coins are worth $4.4
billion at today’s value.

2016 – Ethereum and Smart Contracts :

As the popularity of the blockchain technology rose, so did the introduction of other
currencies based on it. Ethereum, the second-largest currency by market cap in the
crypto industry, is the most notable Bitcoin alternative.

The term “smart contract” refers to software that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. It
is a collection of code (its functions) and data (its state) stored on the Ethereum
blockchain at a single address. They have a balance and are able to send transactions
via the Internet. However, they are not managed by a user; rather, they are deployed to
the network and run according to a set of instructions.

2017 – The Growth of Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology :

During a period when Bitcoin’s value stayed below prior heights, a gradual expansion
of the venues where it could be used contributed to the currency’s ongoing appeal.
Meanwhile, the blockchain technology that supports Bitcoin has ignited a financial
(and beyond) revolution.

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 2018 – The Crypto Market Crash :
According to statistics source CoinMarketCap.com, the aggregate worth of the more
than 1,400 cryptocurrencies in circulation has dropped from over $800 billion at the
start of January to about $460 billion by mid-January.

2019 – Libra, The Facebook Coin :

Facebook confirmed launching a currency initially termed “GlobalCoin” or “Facebook
Coin.” In July 2019, it was officially named “Libra.” However, the blockchain project
delayed its launch until all regulatory concerns have been addressed.

Present :

Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example, have shown to be quite robust. In recent months,
digital currencies have sparked the interest of both individual and institutional
investors. Currently, there are over 4,000 cryptocurrencies, but the large portion of this
number might be insignificant.

Bitcoin remains the world’s largest cryptocurrency, and blockchain technology

continues to disrupt many industries as its benefits are seemingly bringing great impact.
Some countries have recently legalised the use of cryptocurrency—and one that has
been all over the headlines was El Salvador which became the first country to make
Bitcoin legal tender.

For many, cryptocurrency is seen as an exciting concept that has the potential to
transform global banking for the better. While Bitcoin is built on strong, democratic
ideals, it is still a technological and practical work in progress. It is important to
remember that the bitcoin market is quite volatile. If you are starting your Bitcoin
trading career, it is best recommended to keep yourself educated about the crypto
world. For a great start in trading, here’s a Bitcoin trading platform that you may find
helpful and convenient!

1.5 Types of Cryptocurrencies.

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As per the data available, till November 2023, there were around 10,748 cryptocurrencies
in existence. However, not all cryptocurrencies are active or valuable. Discounting many
dead cryptocurrencies there leaves only around 8,848 active cryptocurrencies. Now, why
there exist so many cryptocurrencies? It is because anyone can create one provided that
they have the know-how. Unlike with SEC-registered securities, there's no regulatory body
that decides which “initial coin offerings” (ICOs) are allowed and are to be llisted.

Among these 8,848 active cryptocurrencies the researcher has explained only 5 popular
cryptocurrencies of them.

Cryptocurrency is majorly subdivided in to Coins and Tokens

A. Coins: Coins in the digital world are simply like online money or electronic money
Coins stand alone on their independent blockchain.. The first one was called
Bitcoin, made by someone named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. After Bitcoin, other
online coins were made using the same Bitcoin system. These are called "altcoins".
Some popular ones are Peercoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Aurora Coin, and
Namecoin.However, not all coins use the Bitcoin system. Some have their own
special systems. Examples include Ethereum, Ripple, New York Coin, Waves, and
Counterparty.

B. Tokens: Tokens do not stand alone and are dependent upon blockchain technology
of other coins to exist and function. Put simply, if the cryptocurrency runs on its

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 own blockchain, then it is a coin. Whereas tokens are currencies (or other types of
assets) supported by a specific blockchain, but they aren’t the native coin of the
network. For eg. Ethereum is a coin that causes it’s independent blockchain
technology named Ether . Therefore Ethereum is the native coin of Ether. However
there exist many other currencies that are dependent of Ether blockchain but are not
its native coin therefore these currencies are called as tokens. They're often given
out during events called initial coin offerings. This is when people use tokens they
already have to get these new tokens or coins as a reward. Crypto tokens
generally facilitate transactions on a blockchain but can represent an investor's
stake in a company or serve an economic purpose, just like legal tender. This means
token holders can use them to make purchases or trades just like other securities to
make a profit. They are also used to enable users to pay for specific services or fees.
There are two kinds of tokens:
security tokens, which provide ownership rights
utility tokens, which are used to access any services.

CRYPTOCURRENCY EXAMPLES

Now we know what is cryptocurrency in detail. Therefore, let's look at some examples.
Ever since Bitcoin came out,

lots of people have started using digital money called cryptocurrency. Every day, many
types of this money are traded.
Here's a list of five kinds of digital money that lots of people use, are active, and are
worth more than $10 million each.

1. Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was created in 2009 by someone (or maybe a group) using
the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin (BTC) is like digital coins that don't need a bank or
government to work. It uses something called blockchain to keep track of all its
transactions. Bitcoin, which launched in 2008, remains the biggest, most influential, and
best-known payment system in the world. In the decade since, Bitcoin and other popular
cryptocurrencies like Ethereum have grown as digital alternatives to money issued by
governments, such as the United States. This means there's no room for manipulation of
transactions, changing the money supply, or adjusting the rules mid-game. Several

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companies that sell tech products accept crypto ,like Bitcoin on their websites, such as
newegg.com, ATET, and Microsoft. Many places like El Salvador even say that they use
Bitcoin as normal, regular money.

Bitcoin cryptocurrency is used as a process of rewarding which is known as mining. This

thing can be used for as a mean of exchange for other currencies, products and services.
Over one lakh merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment method from
February 201decentralized digital currency as the central bank system not worked in this
and there is no administrator which is single in it. There is peer to peer networking and
all the transfer of digital currency took place without any help of intermediary. The
transfers which occurred are properly verified by the network codes which use special
kind of cryptography and blockchain record has been made for the ledger of the public
distribution.

The word bitcoin was defined in a white paper published on 31 October 2008. It is a
compound of the words bit and coin. No uniform convention for bitcoin capitalization
exists; some sources use Bitcoin, capitalized, to refer to the technology and network and
bitcoin, lowercase, for the unit of account Bitcoin is the most popular digital
cryptocurrency in the market and it is also the most expensive currency.

ALTCOINS

Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than bitcoins. Therefore they are called as alternate or
alternative coins. This was further abbreviated as Altcoins or Shitcoins. The term Altcoins
are used to refer coins and tokens which were created after the creation of Bitcoins. Altcoins
often have underlying differences with bitcoin. For example, Litecoin aims to process a
block every 2.5 minutes, rather than bitcoin’s 10 minutes, which allows Litecoin to confirm
transactions faster than bitcoin.

2. Litecoin
Litecoin, often called LTC, is like an older sibling to many digital coins. Think of it as a
cousin to Bitcoin. It's faster in processing transactions and charges fewer fees than Bitcoin.
It also has its own unique way of securing data. If you ranked cryptocurrencies by their
popularity, Litecoin would be in the top three and has more coins available than most,
totaling 84 million.Back in 2011, a guy named Charles Lee, who used to work at Google,
made Litecoin. He often said that Litecoin is like a "lighter" version of Bitcoin. The main
differences? Litecoin creates data blocks quickly and uses a method called Script to prove
its work. People often say that if Bitcoin is like gold, then Litecoin is like silver. Litecoin
can make 4 blocks in the time it takes Bitcoin to make just one! Since its start, Litecoin has
added many new things but always kept it safe and honest.

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Litecoin is that cryptocurrency which is giving tough competition to the leading
development of Bitcoin currently and the main agenda to design Litecoin was to do the
transaction for the smaller value in a fast way. Litecoin was found in the year 2011 and the
founder of Litecoin was Charles Lee. The main difference between Litecoin and Bitcoin is
that for the Bitcoin mining process is very heavy and the fast computing is required on
theother hand Litecoin normal desktop computer with slow processing is enough. As
comparison to Bitcoin, today Litecoin is four times bigger that is 84 million.
Litecoin is based on an open-source global payment network that is not controlled by any
central authority and uses script as a PoW, which can be decoded with the help of
consumer-grade central processing units (CPUs).

3. Dodgecoins:

Dodgecoins (DOGE) is a type of digital money that started in 2013. It has a picture of a
Shiba Inu dog. So many people recognize it. Some people think of it as a fun or "joke"
coin. Many people who know a lot about digital money are paying attention to Dodgecoins.
Even though people don't use it for many things, it's different because there's no limit to
how many Dodgecoins can be made. As per Investopedia one can exchange or spend his
Dodgecoins with an vendor or merchant who is ready to accept it. Businesses like Elon
Musk’s SpaceX accept Doge coins. Dodgecoins price as on 1st Feb ’24 is
US$0.07898, (prices obtained from www.crypto.com ). However there are many crypto
investors who still don’t invest in dogecoins thinking that dogecoins are not worth
investing.

4. Ethereum:

Ethereum can also be defined as Ether because of its generation on the platform of
Ethereum. Ethereum, often called ETH or ether, is like Bitcoin's younger sibling. It's the
second most famous digital money after bitcoin. People made it in 2015, and one of the
main guys behind it is Vitalik Buterin. Ethereum is special because it lets people set rules
for money exchanges, kind of like a digital promise. These rules make sure people do what
they said they would. If they don't, the money can be given back. Right now, some smart
folks are working on making Ethereum even better and faster. This new version will be
called Ethereum 2.0. It's going to break jobs into smaller parts and use a new method to
make sure all transactions are legit. This will save money and be better for our planet! It is
like platform which is public with source opening and has blockchain computing. Smart
scripting facility is also available in it. It works based on the version which is modified in
cryptocurrency and has transaction-based payment system. It was first set up in the year
2013 by Vitalik Buterin who was a computer programmer and was also the researcher in
cryptocurrency. Ethereum software development was funded by a crowd sale between July

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and august 2014 also developed a system that goes live on 30 July 2015. Earlier in the first
step 11.9 million coins was premined for the crowd sale and its circulation increases with
almost 13% of its total circulation of currency. The price of Ethereum grew in the past
years of 2014 to 2017.

In December 2020, Ethereum transitioned its consensus algorithm from proof of work to
proof-of-stake. This move is intended to allow Ethereum’s network to run itself with far
less energy and improved transaction speed, as well as to make for a more deflationary
economic environment. PoS allows network participants to “stake” their ether to the
network.

5. Ripples

Ripple (XRP) is like a digital money system that works really fast. People like it because
you can easily change it into dollars, yen, euros, and other money types. There's also a
place within Ripple where you can do these exchanges. Ripple lets computer experts make
their own ways to pay using its system. Ripple started in 2012. Two guys, Chris Larsen and
Jed McCaleb, made it. Jed also helped create another digital money system called Stellar
and a place to trade called Mt. Gox. Using Ripple, you can send money and it gets there
super fast with hardly any fees. It's so good that many big banks use it. Unlike other digital
money like Bitcoin, Ripple is simpler. Besides just sending money, you can also use Ripple
to trade assets and send money in ways like the SWIFT System. Ripple was established in
the year 2012 by a company named OpenCoin with its founder Chris Larsen. It is a
cryptocurrency which worked same as payment method like Bitcoin. The mechanism
payment method of Ripple is very fast which enables the funds transfer in any currency to
another user on the ripple network within seconds. Ripple is a real-time gross settlement
system, currency exchange and remittance network created by Ripple Labs Inc., a US-
based technology company. Released in 2012, Ripple is built upon a distributed open
source protocol, and supports tokens representing fiat currency, cryptocurrency,
commodities, or other units of value such as frequent flier miles or mobile minutes. Ripple
purports to enable “secure, instantly and nearly free global financial transactions of any
size with no chargebacks”. The ledger employs the native cryptocurrency known as XRP

1.6 Features of Cryptocurrencies.

Given below are the seven majorly important characteristics or qualities of

Cryptocurrencies.

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Decentralized

We understood from the explanation of cryptocurrency given in the very first part of this
chapter that, Cryptocurrencies are decentralised digital currencies which are not relied on
any central authority. Cryptocurrencies are safer because they don't rely on a single
authority. This means their value is less likely to be messed with by groups or governments.
Some use a Proof-of-Work system where users solve puzzles to process transactions,
keeping everything transparent and hard to mess with. The tricky part is making sure the
system can handle the demand without slowing down.

Security

As our lives increasingly shift to online platforms, the importance of prioritizing security
in financial and cryptocurrency matters becomes evident. Whenever we talk about
cryptocurrencies’ security the very first thing that hits our minds isCryptocurrencies are
stored in digital wallets, identified by a complex string of alphanumeric characters known
as a private key. Safeguarding this private key is essential for securing digital assets.
Transactions are documented in blocks, which, once added to a decentralized ledger,
become immutable. This ledger is distributed across a global network of computers,
enhancing the security and integrity of transaction records. This cryptography and
blockchain technology make Cryptocurrency and it's transaction secured.

Scalability

Scalability in cryptocurrencies means how many transactions they can handle each second.
It's crucial for any currency to quickly settle transactions between two parties.
Cryptocurrencies are working on solutions like lightning networks, parallel processing, and
sharding to improve scalability. As the cryptocurrency world is growing fast, we can expect
a good solution soon. Once solved, it will make people more comfortable using
cryptocurrencies for everyday transactions.

Demand

The demand for cryptocurrency follows the same economic principles as any other good
or service. The higher demand goes, the more valuable the product becomes. The market
needs to demonstrate a high enough interest for cryptocurrency to create value for the
buyers and increase the coin price over time.

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Problem Solver

The intended use of a cryptocurrency varies from person to person. Each project and
platform attempts to solve a different value exchange aspect not addressed in other projects
or in the real world.

Investing in a crypto project with the characteristics that align with your use case is a vital
step. Once you’ve found a couple of blockchains that solve a problem for you, the next
thing that makes a good cryptocurrency is that it must be easy to use.

Supply is limited

Unlike fiat currencies that can be printed endlessly, most cryptocurrencies have a set
amount defined by math. Some new blockchain projects use a strategy called "burning"
where they send cryptocurrency tokens to inaccessible wallets. This makes each coin more
valuable over time when done in a controlled way.

Utility.

good cryptocurrency not only needs to be fast but also easy to use. Dealing with things like
private keys, public keys, block size, and confirmation consensus can be confusing for new
or less tech-savvy users. The best blockchain technology allows developers to simplify
these complexities, offering a user-friendly experience through mobile apps, browser
extensions, or desktop applications.

1.7 The Concept of Blockchain.

Today, many transactions of black money occur under the table which leads to corruption
in the country. The records of all these transactions are stored somewhere or the other in
some or the other databases. However we fail to trust these Systems because of Centralized
access to these ledgers that store the information about black money transactions. Second
reason for lack of trust is no resistance to alteration. This means the admin of the database
can anytime change or manipulate this information. Therefore it is not reliable.

Hence if we bring into existence, such a system which store information with a
decentralized access to the data, and makes manipulation of data nearly impossible, it will
become very difficult to hack and corrupt the system. And Such a system is no more a
dream. There exist a similar system called as ‘Block chain.’

Blockchain can be described as, “collection of records linked with each other , which
is strongly resistant to alteration and highly protected using cryptography.”

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Let’s understand this with the help of an example.

➢ The records of business transactions are recorded in the ledger or Bahikhata.

Similarly the Block chain is a ledger or Bahikhata where a single transaction is
recorded in a separate block. Just like in manual ledgers we pass a separate entry
for every single transaction, similarly in blockchain a new block gets created for
recording each transaction. And collection of all these blocks together forms a
network known as a Block chain. The working of blockchain is shown in the
pictorial form through the diagram given below.

Three major things are stored in every block

Relevant information : It is the information that a user actually wants to store. In the case
of cryptocurrencies it is the information about the crypto transaction between two or morw
parties.

Hash: Just like for Aadhar card we provide our biometrics and get a unique aadhar number
in the same way on the basis of relevant information stored in the block it generates a
unique code known as hash.

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Previous Block hash: this is the hash code of previous hash. The very first block created
which is the first element of blockchain and doesn’t have a block previous to it in order to
store the hash of previous block, is known as ‘Genesis block.’

Let’s take an example of 4 blocks namely A,B,C and D. Now the hash of the block A will
be saved in Block B as well. Similarly Hash of block B will be saved in C. Block C in D

and so on. This leads to creation of a chain network which we call as block chain. Because
of this it becomes very difficult to manipulate data stored in these blocks . If he manipulates
even a single block , this will lead to generation of new hash which will not be validated
by next blocks because the old hash is already saved in the blocks creating a network of
blocks. Therefore, if he wants to hack or manipulate the single block he is required to
manually change the hashes of each block. On an average in Bitcoins it takes 10 minutes
to change a hash of one single block. Approximately there exist more than 1 crore blocks
which will take 200 years to change the hash of all these blocks, through which the hacker
can manipulate single block. Now this is all about time factor, also block chain works on
proof of work mechanism , according to which the hacker has to prove that he has spent
exact 10 minutes to change each block in the network. Last but not the least it has an
additional layer of encryption which provides access of this blockchain data base to all the
users in the network, these users are known as nodes. Therefore whenever an entity tries
to change or manipulate the block, because it is shared with all the nodes, it will send them
a poll where they have to approve or disapprove the change. If the hackers fails to get
majority i.e. more than 50% of votes, his attempt of manipulation will be smashed straight
away. This process is shown in the above diagram as well.

Because of this highly encrypted mechanism it becomes nearly impossible to change or

corrupt the data stored in the chain of blocks. This makes the Block chain system most
secured and trustworthy system for storing information and processing the transactions.

Because of this the Government of India has been taking a keen interest in blocked in
technology and its application to the public domain as is evident from the release of national
strategy on block chain in December 2021 which shown its vision to adopt blockchain in
various sectors like Healthcare agricultural finance voting etc

Best example of official use of blockchain technology is digital Rupee of India. Digital Rs
or E-rupee is a token or digital version of Indian rupee, issued by Reserve Bank of India.
The digital rupee was proposed in January 2017 and was launched on 1st December 2022.
Digital rupee is using blockchain distributed ledger Technology.

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1.8 How does Cryptocurrency Transactions take place via Blockchain ?

Let us understand the crypto transaction through a case study.

Phil and Jack are friends. On Christmas eve they went to party in a Multi Cuisine restaurant.
Jack paid the entire bill. Now Phil is liable to pay his share to Jack. So, he decided to do
the same by using crypto-currency.

Very firstly using his private key (Secret like a password) Phil passes the number of Bitcoin
she wanted to send to Jack along with his and jacks wallet address through a hashing
algorithm. This initiates the transaction. The entry of this request for transaction is recorded
in a separate block and a hash is created . This block is now passed to the nodes across the
world using Jack’s Public key (known to all like an Email address). This is done for the
verification process. Once this transaction receives the majority of positive votes or
verifications from the notes the transaction gets processed and completed. This encrypted
transaction can we decrypted by Jacks private key and ultimately Jacks receives the
cryptocurrency sent by philosophy. This is how a Crypto transaction is completed via
blockchain. However the nodes, for verifying the transaction get some rewards in the form
of tokens or coins. This is known as earning through mining.

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1.9 What is Cryptocurrency Mining ?

We all know that how money evolved from barter to commodity and commodities to
metallic money after which the concept of Gold standard system came in to being where
the value of currency in circulation was equivalent to the reserve of gold available within
the country. This means the currency was backed by gold reserves of that country.
Gradually this system was abolished and all the countries started adoption of Fiat
currencies, where the control on minting of currencies lies solely with government. They
print currency as per the requirement in the country. As this currency is not backed by any
asset, the value of the same is dependent only upon the trust that people have on the
government and country monetary system. People believe that the value of each currency
is equivalent to the denominations mentioned upon them.
In the same way there exists a decentralized currency known as cryptocurrency. Similar to
Fiat Money, Cryptocurrency can be said as another way of assets coin which is digital for
which group of people have specifically agreed or have a trust that it has some value. It
was first created in the year 2008 by anonymous user Satoshi Nakamoto. Year 2008 was
the year of financial crisis for the entire world, when Satoshi came up with a decentralized
currency named Bitcoin. He using some cryptographic coding techniques created a network
of blocks which ultimately resulted in creation of his own currency known as Bitcoins. At
the initial stage its value was 0$ , then in 2010 for the first time, 10 thousand bitcoins were
exchanged for 2 large pizzas. This transaction brought up the value to 0.65 $. Slowly and
gradually the demand for bitcoins increased this also started increasing its value and finally

22
in the year 2023 it touched 63000 $, becoming world’s costliest cryptocurrency till date.
Like stocks the prices of crypto is also influenced by demand and supply from its investors.

New Cryptocurrencies are generated by mining. Now the question arises that What is
Mining? Mining is the method by which Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are generated
and the transactions involving new coins are verified. Even tough the generation of Bitcoins
is decentralized, it is bound to a limit of 21 million. The number of Bitcoins issued will
likely never reach 21 million due to the use of rounding operators in the Bitcoin codebase.
No additional bitcoins will be generated when the Bitcoin supply reaches its upper limit.
Bitcoins are not printed out like traditional money, they’re mined out of the system. The
reason it is called mining is because just like any other natural resource there is finite
amount of Bitcoin. The maximum amount of Bitcoins can be generated is 21 million and
until today over 12 million Bitcoins where mined. Just like real world mining we need to
invest energy in order to extract these Bitcoin, these miners computers need to solve
Complex mathematical problems and once it solvse them new bitcoin is generated and
awarded to the miner. Miners don't just generate new Bitcoins but also use their computers
to verify the transactions in the blockchain in order to prevent fraud. So more miners means
faster transaction verification and less fraud. And in order to compensate these miners for
their hard work. They for verifying each transaction get a small fee out of the transaction
of his work. Therefore Miner get paid twice firstly by generating new Bitcoins and secondly
for transaction verifications.

However this mining is not that easy because Satoshi, the guy who invented Bitcoin wanted
the number of Bitcoins that were mined each time to remain constant, no matter how many
minors came abroad. That's why the difficulty of mining increases as more miners join the
network. In 2009 you could mine 200 bit coins with your personal computer at home. But
in 2014 it will take you about 98 years to mine just one bitcoin. That is why ASIC
(Application Specific Integrated Circuit) where invented. These are superpower computers
designed just to mine the cryptocurrency. But since so many minors have joined chain in
the past few years it is still almost impossible to mine alone. To solve this problem, mining
pools where invented full stops groups of minor form together to deal with the growing
difficulties of Bitcoin mining is known as mining pool. Each Miner gets paid for his relative
share of the book. So that is how Bitcoins are born through mining.

1.10 How is money made using crypto-currency. ?

Cryptocurrencies were originally introduced to act as a medium of exchange. Gradually

the increase in demand for cryptocurrencies resulted in heavy rise in the cryptocurrency’s
store of value. For example value of Bitcoins today evolved from 0$ to 63000 $. Due to
this people has started looking towards it as an investment opportunity. It is often
considered as equivalent to investment in gold.

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People either prefer to hold the cryptocurrency investments in the long run and some prefer
trading them for short terms yields. In India the people invest as well as mine and also mint
the cryptocurrency.

There are applications like Coin switch, Wazir X which provide platforms to investors for
trading and investing in Crypto. Cryptocurrency investment begins with a minimum
amount of 100. The market being highly volatile market players buy in bears and trade in
bulls. This helps them to make a good amount of money. Bitcoin has consistently delivered
an impressive average annual return of 155% over the past five years, while Ethereum has
appreciated by 460%. Such figures underscore the transformative potential of cryptos in
wealth creation and financial autonomy

mined or minted coin can be converted to cash by P2P network or even through a exchange
platform like WazirX in 3 easy steps.

Step 1: deposit your crypto into an exchange like WazirX.

Step 2: place a request for withdrawal in the currency of your choice.

Step 3: The money will be deposited into your bank account after some time.

In short, some people utilise the value of Cryptocurrencies either by exchanging the minted
and mined coins with other commodities from the seller who agrees to accept the
cryptocurrency. Some of them often convert them to cash . Lastly many of them invest and
trade in Crypto to make money.

1.11 Common notions about the Cryptocurrencies

As per the report of Business Standard around 1.9 crore Indians invest in cryptocurrency.
This shows that the crypto culture is well flourished in India . Inspite of all this we have a
common saying in India , “ जितने मुंह, उतनी बातें ” which means As many chronicles as
there are bards. Many people have some pre conceived notions about Cryptocurrencies.
These common notions are stated below along with some logical facts to burst these myths.

1. Cryptocurrencies are illegal and are used only for illicit activities

Cryptocurrency are decentralized digital currencies. Because of being decentralized they

are not given the status of official medium of exchange by the government of our country.
Many people mistake the meaning of not getting the official status with the status of illegal.
Therefore people often consider currencies to be illegal. Also there have been some cases
where this money is used for money laundering therefore it is commonly associated with
illicit activities.

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 ➢ Myth Buster

According to Chainalysis—a company that assists investigators in cryptocurrency crimes

with blockchain data analysis—the number of cryptocurrency transactions related to illicit
activities fell in 2021 (the latest report) to 0.15% of all cryptocurrency transactions.

Even tough sometimes it is used for illegitimate purposes, It's important to note that
governments and the international community are cracking down on cryptocurrency uses
by criminals and organized crime. Many countries have adopted cryptocurrency anti-
money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism measures; agencies and teams
have been established to combat the use of cryptocurrencies in these illegal activities.

2. Cryptocurrencies are not secure

Again as there is no any Central authority to regulate the cryptocurrency many people often
think that cryptocurrencies are not secure and the system on which the cryptocurrencies are
operated can be easily hacked by outsider leading to severe loss of money.

➢ Myth buster

Cryptocurrency use the blockchain Technology which use cryptographic codes to keep ii's
transaction and processing secured. Blockchain Technology is like a multi ledger
Technology in which a transaction is completed only after passing through several ledgers.
Any error even in a single ledger will block the chain of transaction This is because of
cryptographic codes that verify and validate the ledger transactions. Also cryptocurrencies
are stored in the digital wallets which are encrypted by private keys. This make the
cryptocurrency extremely secured and difficult to hack.

However, whether cryptocurrency is safe or not depends on your perspective, how much
you know about it, what you want to use it for, and how you control it. It can be as safe as
fiat currency in the bank with the proper controls; used without care, it can be as safe as
placing money under the doormat to hide it beside the house key.

3. Cryptocurrencies don’t have any value and are a big scam

Because cryptocurrency don't possess the official status from the Indian government many
Indian open think that cryptocurrencies have no any value. They are mere scam.

➢ Myth Buster
Value is a subjective concept—a person, community, or society may place value on an
object that another puts in the recycle bin. For example, the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin,
was valued shortly after its launch in 2009 in thousandths of a cent. Its popularity

25
continued to rise, and in 2021, it reached $69,000 per Bitcoin. Its rise in value
demonstrates that how an asset is percieved by a society is essential in establishing
whether it has value.

4. Cryptocurrency will replace Fiat money

This myth is very common among the investors. They often think that the increase in use
and popularity of cryptocurrency will lead to replacement of Fiat money by cryptocurrency

➢ Myth Buster

Cryptocurrencies became popular recently. However traditional Fiat currencies are in use
over centuries. It is true that if merchants began posting prices in cryptocurrency and more
people began using it to purchase goods and services, it might start a trend. But
governments and officials will not let go of fiat currency lightly because of the established
system of controls in place for collecting taxes and funding government-sponsored
programs and services. Without the collection of taxes, social programs that people depend
upon will disappear, and other government funding could dry up.

Event tough a lot of concepts have been explained in this chapter there are many more
concepts which cannot be studied because of time constraint. Detail list of Scope and
limitations is included in the further chapters. Keen interest in the topic led the researcher
to undertake this study and understand the concepts of cryptocurrency along with the
investment attitude of the investors in Thane region. It also attempts to highlight the
Current Scenario of Crypto in India.

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 CHAPTER 2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 INTRODUCTION

A reserve starts with defining the problem and examining the researches that
have been done already in the selected field .However after Proper review of
literature the investigator understands the gaps and work in proper order to
address and fill these gaps. In order to do so it is necessary to have a proper
Research Design ready in hand. Research Design refers to a plan made in
order to answer your research question. It offers investigator and opportunity
to carry out different research operations effectively and efficiently making
the research valuable by producing maximum output with minimum input. It
can be said that research design acts as a blue print of research. Following are
the three important need for Research Design.

Need to have a proper research design.

1. Smooth Sailing: A good Research Design provides the investigator

write direction in which the research is to be carried out in order to achieve
fruitful results.

2. Efficiency : proper research plan eliminates wastage of time and

eradicates bias and marginal errors therefore excellent efficiency is achieved.

27
3. Proper testing of Hypothesis: when the proper design of the research is
clear in the mind of the investigator then it becomes easy to define and test
the hypothesis.

If the Research Design is a plan to answer the Research question then the
research methodology is the strategy adopted by and investigator in order to
implement the plan.

Research methodology means a step-by-step method for garnering the data ,

analysing, and processing the collected data, in order to interpret the same and
come to a fruitful conclusion. Everything here is according to the research
design. It is associated with the process that researchers systematically follow
to design a study by ensuring validity and reliability while addressing and
bridging the research gaps. Research methodology is just a game of what,
whom and how. Because it is the process, where researchers decide what data
to collect(from research objectives) , from whom this data should be collected
(Sample population) via sampling, how to collect it (Methods of data
collection), and how to analyze that data (Analysis and Interpretation) . We
can say that Research Methodology is the Brain of the research that guides
both, the rear her and his research in following the right direction.

In other words, Research methodology is a way of explaining how a researcher

intends to carry out their research. It's a logical, systematic plan to resolve a
research problem. In Research Methodology, research design is very
important. Research Design is a structure aiming to provide an ideal
framework for the study being conducted. The most important decision to be
made about research is the process or the methodology that the researcher
wishes to employ. This design includes the processes that will be used to

28
collect the information and other relevant decisions regarding the study’s
conduction.

Having a sound research methodology in place provides the following

benefits:

● Source of information: Other researchers who want to repeat the

research have enough information to do so.

● Guide or Cicerone :It can help provide researchers with a specific plan
to follow throughout their research.

● Proper Selection: The methodology design process helps researchers

select the correct methods for the objectives.

● Design achievable goals: Allows researchers to document what they

intend to achieve with the research from the outset.

2.2.OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

A research is always undertaken to achieve some or the other objectives. These

objectives always try to address research problem and bridge the research
gaps. A valid and reliable research always has proper objectives with social
relevance, achievement of which adds on to the existing ocean of knowledge.
This research ‘A conceptual study on Cryptocurrency, and it’s awareness
among investors in Thane Region ’ tries to achieve the following objectives

I. To understand the concept of Cryptocurrencies and Crypto investment.

II. To deduce the awareness about Crypto investment among the investors
in Thane.

29
III. To bring to light the Investment Attitude/ Behaviour of these investors
towards cryptocurrency.

IV. To Highlight the difference between India’s newly launched Digital

Currency and Cryptocurrencies.

V. To study the Current status and future of cryptocurrency in India.

2.3.HYPOTHESIS

The term hypothesis has many meanings full stop it may be taken to me in a
possibility or a supposition or even an assumption. In general sense that can
be said that hypothesis is a proposal to except something as true which can be
either Prove the correct or incorrect . The research hypothesis are the
supposition for expected results that are possible to occur from a research .

In the words of George Lundberg, “ a hypothesis is a tentative generalization

the validity of which remains to be tested.”

Quite often a research hypothesis is the predictive statement which is capable

of being tested by scientific methods that relates and independent variable to
some dependent variable. Goode and Hatte says, “a proposition which can be
put to test and determine the validity.”

Hypothesis helps in identifying the areas that should be focused on for solving
the research problem. It is the estimation of the possible outcome of the
research which helps frame the concepts of study in a meaningful and
effective manner. It also helps the researcher arrive at a conclusion for the
study based on organized empirical data examination plus plays a pivotal role
in the scientific method by providing a basis for testing existing theories.

30
A research may or may not have the hypothesis. But if a research consists of
research hypothesis then it can have the following 3 major benefits:

Clarity and focus: hypothesis clarifies the objectives of the research. The
researcher knows the focal point of the research which provide him the proper
direction for analysis and interpretation to draw valid conclusions.

Objectivity: Without proper hypothesis there may be loss of efforts in

collecting the data which is irrelevant. But if a proper in hand hypothesis is
framed then only 11 data will be collected which will lead to proper analysis
providing objectivity to the research.

Add to body of knowledge: The hypothesis can only be framed after Proper
review of literature which will add on to the existing body of knowledge.

There are two types of hypothesis:

• Null Hypothesis: Null hypothesis are the hypothetical statements which

deny the explicitly working hypothesis. A null hypothesis states that there is
no statistical significance between two variables. They are formed in negative
statements. A null hypothesis is donated by H0.

• Alternative Hypothesis: An alternative hypothesis states that there is

statistical significance between two variables. It is exactly contrary to null
hypothesis. An alternative hypothesis is denoted by H1.

This study has framed the following hypothesis.

(H0): On an Average 3/4th of investors in Thane are not aware about the
concept of Cryptocurrency

(H1): On an Average more than 3/4th of investors in Thane are aware about
the concept of Cryptocurrency

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2.4. SCOPE OF RESEARCH

India is a country which reports ample amount of money laundering cases

every year. In this scenario cryptocurrency finds to be adding on to the
problem, because of its decentralized nature. The government is not yet
convinced about cryptocurrency in India . The government and RBI are
concerned about the various ill effects of cryptocurrency . One among them is
supporting terrorism and money laundering. Inspite of this it is seen that large
number of youth population is getting attracted towards cryptocurrency
without knowing even the basic concepts of Cryptocurrencies.

Hence it becomes necessary to bring to light the concept of blockchain and

cryptocurrency. It is also necessary to bring to light the current scenario in
India for cryptocurrency, recent announcements by the officials and do on.

Therefore, the researcher tries the cater the above requirements through this
research dissertation.

2.5.SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The significance of the study is a written statement that explains why your
research was needed. It’s a justification of the importance of your work and
impact it has on your research field, its contribution to new knowledge and
how others will benefit from it. It shows that how your research will add on
to the existing ocean of knowledge and how it has some social relevance. The
significance of the study, also known as the rationale of the study, is important
to convey to the reader why the research work was important as it convinces
the reader to read the work/ dissertation.

32
The researcher finds this study significant because of the following points.

• Conceptual study: This study aims to study and understand the concept
of newly emerging sector, ‘Cryptocurrency ’

• Awareness: This study aims to determine and study the awareness and
behaviour of investors in Thane towards Cryptocurrency.

• Indian context: The study further highlights the difference between

India’s Digital Currency and Cryptocurrencies. It also studies the current
status and future of cryptocurrency in India.

• Knowledge addition: All the above covered points will help the
investors especially the new ones to understand this newly emerging
investment avenue. It will also act as a myth buster for myths relating to Indian
Digital Currency and Cryptocurrencies in the context of India. Therefore, the
investors can consider this research beforehand actually making investment
decisions.

2.6. LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

It is impossible for any human to study the entire huge population or sector
scientifically. Therefore ever research is conducted within the boundaries of
limitations. The limitations of a study are its flaws or shortcomings which
could be the result of unavailability of resources, small sample size, flawed
methodology, etc. No study is completely flawless or inclusive of all possible
aspects. Selecting and studying a small part of aspect of the huge population
or sector is always better than studying the entire population sector
haphazardly. Highlighting the limitations along with the significance is not

33
only a sign of transparency and honesty but it also reflects the level of
awareness that an investigator has of the selected area.

Some limitations of this study are as follows:

1. To conduct research we often required additional softwares which are

sometimes not available, due to that might not cover each and every aspect of
the study.

2. Due to limited time could not study each and every aspect of
cryptocurrency.

3. Keeping in mind the time constraint main focus is laid on Basic

concepts like Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoins, Ethereum, Dogecoins) blockchain,
investing, mining, and its awareness along with investment behaviour of
investors.

4. This research study is limited to specific number of Investors especially

youth investors .

5. The present research study is based on specific region i.e. Joshi Bedekar
College, Kalwa, Vitawa.

2.7. SELECTION OF PROBLEM

Research begins with identifying and defining the problem. Research is the
process which an investigator has to complete in a prescribed order only. A
research problem helps researcher formulate that order. Research problem also
helps to avoid unnecessary steps during the research. The research problem
should have great clarity since the research process in itself generates more
questions. In the absence of research problem, the researcher can become
confused.

34
The researcher selects the research Area on the basis of his likings. Therefore
there is a possibility that he has a lot to say about this research area. However,
without a well-defined research problem, anyone is likely to end up with an
unfocused and unmanageable project. Therefore, we need a problem in order
to do research that contributes new and relevant insights.

Cryptocurrency is a decentralized currency which is looked upon as a newly

emerging investment area by many investors. Many investors are attracted
towards this market to earn more yields. However this new area has number
of risks associated with it. This is because unlike Stocks, Bonds and Funds
there is no any central body like SEBI or RBI to regulate this sector. However
this market being new and small in size, it can be easily manipulated by
market players. This can even attracts many frauds and mal practices.
Therefore before dealing with these cryptocurrencies one needs to have proper
conceptual knowledge about the same.

Also there exists many myths and misconceptions about the Official Indian
Digital Currency which is similar to a cryptocurrency. Also myths exist about
the current status and future of cryptocurrency in India. There it becomes
necessary to de bunk these myths.

Hence the investigator from this research tries to address and solve these
problems by providing an in hand information about the cryptocurrencies to
the investors especially the new ones and also bursting the myths mentioned
above.

2.8. METHODOLOGY

This research dissertation adopts Explorative and Descriptive research design

to achieve the research objectives. Exploratory design is typically based on
primary data where we attemt to explore a certain field for conceptual

35
understanding. Whereas, Descriptive research is typically concerned with
describing the problem and its solution full stop it is more specific and
purposive Research study. It requires properly defined problem on hand
before making rigorous attempts towards achieving the objectives of the
study. Generally descriptive research is the research which provides answers
to the questions like who what when where of the research. Descriptive
research is a simple attempt to describe or identify what is where as the
analytical research attempt to establish why is it so. Descriptive research aims
at casting light on current issues problems through a process of data collection
and enables them to describe the situation more completely then it was
possible without employing the method.

In simple words, “descriptive studies are used to describe the various aspects
of the phenomenon.” Most of the descript you research are observational in
nature and typically start with ‘what is?’. Majority of descriptive researches
are not repeatable due to the observational nature. Descriptive research
includes surveys and fact finding interviews of different kinds full stop the
main characteristic of this method is the researcher has no control over the
variables and can only report what has happened or what is happening.

Following are the features of descriptive research methodology.

1. Observational in nature : Most of the descriptive researcher observation

in nature therefore are non repetitive.

2. Answers ‘What’: descriptive research are the research at provide

answer to the question with start with what.

3. Basis for further research : descriptive research is the research in which

an aspect of the phenomenon is described full stop this description ads on to
the existing knowledge and acts as the basis for further research.

36
4. Requires pre defined problem: descriptive research always requires a
predefined research problem before making attempts in the direction of
addressing the research gaps.

5. Uncontrollable variables: descriptive research is the research where

only the variables are reported. These variables are beyond the control of the
investigators.

2.9. DATA COLLECTION

After the researcher is done with identifying the problem, reviewing the
relevant literature, identifying the gaps deciding the research methodology,
the next step is collecting the data from the sample respondents in order to
move ahead in the direction of analysing and interpreting the conclusions, to
solve the research problem. Data collection is the process of gathering,
measuring, and analyzing accurate data from a variety of relevant sources to
find answers to research problems, answer questions, evaluate outcomes, and
forecast trends and probabilities.

Before a researcher actually begins with data collection he should try to

answer these five questions.

• What’s the goal or purpose of this research?

• What kinds of data are they planning on gathering?

• From whom the data will be collected?

• What methods and procedures will be used to collect the data ?

• How will the information stored, and processed ?

There are several sources of data viz. Interviews, questionnaire, jounals,

periodicals, books, websites, and so on. If the researcher made correct use of

37
data collection methods then it can help in reducing errors in research study.
Data collection helps to maintain accuracy while doing the research study.
Data collection is further categorized in two types

1. Primary Data Collection

2. Secondary Data Collection.

1. Primary Data Collection:

Primary data or the first hand data is collected from the original sources. The
researcher directly collects the data from the respondents. Primary data is the
data without any fabrication or tailoring or the data that have not been
previously collected.. Primary data simply means the raw data. This primary
data is further classified in to Quantitative and Qualitative data.

Quantitative data is numerical in nature and further classified into discrete or

continuous. are cheaper to apply and they can be applied within shorter
duration of time compared to qualitative methods.

Qualitative methods are especially useful in situations when historical data is

not available. Or there is no need of numbers or mathematical calculations.
Qualitative research is closely associated with words, sounds, feeling,
emotions, colors, and other elements that are not quantifiable. These
techniques are based on experience, judgment, intuition, conjecture, emotion,
etc.

Some methods of Primary data collection are

A. Observation

B. Experiment

C. Survey

38
D. Interview

E. Questionnaire

In this research study, researcher has collected primary data from various
investors in Thane region. 40 investors were surveyed to collect data regarding
the study. These investors included some student investors from Joshi
Bedekar College, some living in Kalwa area , Vitawa area of Thane Region.

2. Secondary Data Collection:

Secondary data is second-hand data collected by other parties and already

have sorted, classified, tabulated or undergone some statistical analysis. It is
the fabricated or Tailored data. It is the data that has been used in the past.
This data is either information that the researcher has tasked other people to
collect or information the researcher has looked up. It is the process of
collecting data that already exists, be it already published books, journals,
and/or online portals. In terms of ease, it is much less expensive and easier to
collect. Simply put its second-hand information. However like Primary data,
Secondary data also plays a crucial role in any research.

Unlike primary data collection, there are no specific collection methods.

Instead, since the information has already been collected, the researcher
consults various data sources, such as:

1. Journals

2. Periodicals

39
3. Dissertation and black books

4. Magazines, Newspapers, Books

5. Videos and articles over the web, etc.

For this research dissertation researcher has referred many research paper
from the reliable sources, articles across the web, dissertations, videos,
journals and website, in order to obtain the second hand information by
ensuring authenticity to understand a topic well.

2.10. SAMPLE SIZE

All the items under consideration in any field of enquiry constitute a universe
or a population. A complete enumeration of all the items in the population is
known as the census. However Census enquiry is not possible in practical life
under many circumstances therefore a set a subject or respondent from the
population is selected for research to main the project manageable. These set
of subject represent the entire population and are the subset all the universe.
This selected set of respondent is known as sample and the sample is to be
selected using scientific method of sampling in order to avoid the error.

In this research study, researcher has selected a sample of 40 investors in to

collect data regarding the study. These investors included some student
investors from Joshi Bedekar College and some investors living in Kalwa and
Vitawa area of Thane Region.

2.11. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

40
It is quite essential to select the sample scientifically in order to avoid the
errors and make the results reliable.

For this study the investigator used both probability and non probability
sampling methods

1. Probability sampling is the method of sampling where every item in the

universe has equal possibility of getting selected as a sample. The researcher
here used the stratified sampling technique of probability sampling.

Random Selection. The research circulated the question to TY Students of

Different courses like BAF, BBI, BFM, BMS and B.Com using messaging
tools. This helped in random selection of respondents.

2. Non Probability sampling is the method of sampling where there is no equal

chance for each item in the universe to be selected as a sample. From the non
probability sampling, the investigator employed convenient close to hand
technique for primary data collection.

Convenient Sampling a convenient sampling method is the method of

Sampling where the sample is obtained by selecting convenient population
unit. Here the sample is selected neither by probability nor by judgement but
by convenience. For this research the researcher interviewed the investors in
the Vitawa and Kalwa area, which were easy to reach for the researcher.

2.12. TECHNIQUE OF DATA COLLECTION

After defining the sample size and selecting the samples by using scientific
method, the researcher decided to collect the data using questionnaire
method. Therefore, a questionnaire with a set of questions related with
investments and awareness about cryptocurrency was prepared. The said

41
questionnaire was circulated to the respondents online, vis messaging
applications and mails.

This method of data collection was selected after keeping in mind the
following advantages.

Advantages of Questionnaire:

• Questionnaire are one of the most affordable ways to gather quantitative

data

i.e., they are inexpensive.

• Questionnaires are a practical way to gather data. They can be targeted

to groups of researcher’s choice and managed in various ways.

• Questionnaires offer a quick and easy way to collect results with online
and mobile tools.

• Questionnaires and surveys allow you to gather information from a

large audience.

• Most questionnaires and surveys providers are quantitative in nature

and allow easy analysis of results.

• Questionnaires do not have a time constraint.

• One of the biggest advantages of questionnaire is being able to ask as

many questions as you like, and if framed properly then there is no chance of
getting back the unfilled questionnaires.

Blank copy of questionnaire is attached in appendices.

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2.13. TABULATION OF DATA

Tabulation is one of the most significant methods of presenting the classified

data into systematic and meaningful way. It is the process of logical listing of
the classified data in the form of a table containing horizontal rows and
vertical columns. It's summarizes to data and simplifies the complex cities to
provide the answer to the question. It helps to make the data easy to read and
understandable, it facilitates comparison and reveals the trends of the data.
The researcher has used certain tables to systematically present the numerical
data. Detailed list of same is given in table of contents.

2.14. GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF DATA

Sometimes that tabular data becomes dull, monotonous and uninteresting.

Therefore in order to make the data easy to understand even by the layman at
a glance, diagrams and graphs are used. These charts and graps help to attract
the eyes of the reader, give bird’s-eye view of the entire data and facilitate
longer remembering. In this dissertation various graphs and pie charts have
been used by the researcher to make the results interesting and easy to
understand.

CHAPTER 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

3.1 Introduction

Identifying and defining the research problem marks the beginning of the research work.
After this the investigator has to begin with the survey of literature related to problem. This

43
means that the researcher has to go through and study the available research works that has
been already done in the area in which the problem lies. This is very essential to know
whether the defined problem has been already solved or what is the current status of the
problem.

While reviewing the available research works, sources like

I. Journals that publish abstract articles and research papers

II. Advance level books on the chosen topic
III. Thesis of any doctorate person in the area of research selected by the researcher.
IV. Dissertations and Black books.
V. Proceeds of meetings and conferences where the papers are presented.
VI. Internet.

Play an important role by providing authentic and relevant information in the concerned
area.

A literature review can either be a simple summary or both a summary and a synthesis. The
difference between the former and the later is that , a summary is a precise recap of the
important information from the source, but a synthesis is a restructuring, or a reshuffling,
of that information. It may result in New interpretations of the old material. And depending
on the situation, the literature review may undertake evaluation of these sources and advise
the readers on the most relevant. Thus, a literature review provides you with a handy guide
to a ascertain the status of the research problem.

SIGNIFICANCE OF REVIEW OF LITERATURE

➢ Improvement in Research Methodology:

44
While doing the literature review the investigator comes across many notable scholarly
work. They learn the Research Methodology opted by research scholars in their work. They
become aware of the pros and cons of different types of Methodology. Therefore they can
take timely precautions to avoid the cons and adopt the pros .By doing a review of
literature, you will become aware of pitfalls and problems and could strategize well to
select a methodology that you feel will suit your research work better. Which indeed
improves the research Methodology od the research.

➢ Cater to knowledge base for research area:

One of the most important objectives of literature review is to ensure that you read widely
around the subject area in which you intend to conduct research study. It is fundamental
that you know what others are doing in your field of interest or the similar topic you have
been working on as well as understanding theories that have been put forward and gaps
that exist in the particular field. M.Sc. and PhD candidates are expected to be experts in
their area of study, therefore a thorough review of literature helps to fulfil this expectation.

➢ Clarity of Research Problem:

Review of literature helps to understand the relationship between your research problem
and body of knowledge in your research area. After doing timely and Proper review of
available literatures won becomes more aware about the research problem and the area
select it for the research therefore he can focus effectively on the research problem and
carry on the research in the fruitful directions because helps in proper framing of the
research problem and focusing on the same.

➢ Contextualizing research findings:

45
Obtaining answers for your research questions is easy. The difficulty lies in how you
examine your research findings in the existing body of knowledge. How do you answer
your research question as compared to what the other researchers have done how is your
research and the answer to your research problem unique from what other has done . How
does it add on to the existing source of knowledge therefore first you need to know the
level of research that has been already carried out in the concerned area for which the
investigator needs to go back to the literature review which helps in contextualising the
research findings.

➢ Avoiding Duplication of efforts:

Working on a problem already addressed by another researcher is nothing other than mere
duplication of efforts. This duplication of efforts adds nothing to the existing ocean of
knowledge therefore one should do proper literature review to know the status of the
problem and work in the direction of addressing he research gaps which will ensure the
Novelty to the researcher’s work.

In this research dissertation the researcher reviewed Foreign and Indian research literatures
in order to get some insight on the work already completed in the field of Cryptocurrencies
at National as well as international level.

3.2 Review of Indian research Literature.

The investigator began to root around some research works in India in order to know about
the level of completion of research in the direction of addressing the research problem.
Some remarkable works from the same has been mentioned here.

46
Gandal, N. and Harburda, H. (2014)1 explored the competition in the cryptocurrency
market. They stated that current development within the Bitcoin ecosystem as well as cut
throat competition with other cryptocurrencies may have a notable impact on the future
success and operation of blockchain Technology and cryptocurrency investment. The
researchers in their notable work analysed how network affect the competition in the
cryptocurrency market. They did the same

i. By examining the competition among different currency

ii. By examining competition among different exchanges where this currencies are
traded.

They found that during the research period Bitcoin was more valuable against the US dollar
therefore it also becomes more valuable against other cryptocurrencies. The research
primary focused on the top currencies that have been traded for a longer period of time this
help to find out competition among the different currencies. After this they compared the
same currencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin being traded on different exchanges. This helped
to study the competition among different crypto exchanges. They framed a hypothesis
where Ho was There is no competition in the cryptocurrency market and H1 was exactly
opposite of the same. Scientifically Z test was applied and H1 was accepted. From their
research they found out that there exist around 200 cryptocurrencies. The researchers
conclude from their study that during the initial period the Bitcoins popularity increased
against the US dollar and other cryptocurrencies. But later the prices of other
cryptocurrencies increased even more against the US dollar than Bitcoin did. Interpretation
of this results shows that Bitcoin through its popularrity in the initial stage opened up the
market with a great high and leading position in the competition but later on the other
cryptocurrencies like litecoin Peercoin also gained popularity and manage to stand at par
with Bitcoins even at different exchanges. Therefore from the study we can understand that
Bitcoin enjoyed a first mover advantage in the Crypto environment.

Ujan Mukhopadhaya, etal (2016)2 in their work ‘A Brief Survey of Cryptocurrencies’

compared and surveyed the current mining techniques as used by major cryptocurrency.

47
The author also highlighted the SWOT of each mining strategy. They also studied the
overall perspective on how cryptocurrency is mined where they have a compatible
performance in Assurance and where they have unique strength and threats .
Cryptocurrencies are decentralised form of currencies that can serve as a medium of
exchange without any intervention of Central authority. These cryptocurrencies are
exchanged through a computer network. These Cryptocurrencies rely on a secure
distributed ledger Data Structure where mining is an integral part of such system. Mining
add records of past transactions to the distributed ledger which is known as blockchain.
This allows the user to reach secure, robust consensus for each transaction. Mining also
introduces wealth in the form of new unit of currency. Cryptocurrencies lack a central
authority because they were designed as peer to peer system. They therefore rely on minor
to valid the transaction. Cryptocurrencies hence require a strong and secure mining
algorithm therefore the researcher highlighted the strength weaknesses opportunities and
threats associated with each mining strategy. Cryptocurrencies are one of the fastest
growing alternative investment options that lower the risk level and vulnerability in the
event of financial setback. This is because cryptocurrencies are not affected by the trade
cycles in the economy because they are not controlled by any Central authority. Therefore
many investor are attracted and are moving towards cryptocurrency investment. The
researchers interviewed a group of such investors that deal with cryptocurrencies. From
which they found out the pros and cons of each mining strategy. The respondents from their
study also highlighted the strength and threats associated with the mining. The Study
Qualitative in nature which further suggested the necessary precautions that are needed to
be taken while dealing with cryptocurrency investment. From the above research paper one
can become aware about what are the necessary precautions which are to be taken keeping
in mind the pros and cons while making cryptocurrency investment.

Narayanan A, et al (2016)3 from their research paper titled ‘Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency
technologies: a comprehensive introduction.’ understated authoritative introduction of the
innovative technologies of digital currency, "Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies"
offers a thorough overview of these groundbreaking yet often misunderstood
advancements. Whether you're a student, software developer, tech entrepreneur, or
computer science researcher, this comprehensive and self-contained research provides all

48
the essential information about the emerging global currency for the Internet era. It
addresses key questions about Bitcoin and its blockchain, exploring topics such as security,
user anonymity, regulation, decentralization, mining, the political landscape of Bitcoin,
altcoins, and the future of digital currency. The book also offers practical foundations for
developing secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network and incorporating
Bitcoin concepts into your projects. Additionally, it traces the history and evolution of
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. An indispensable guide to the new frontier of digital
currency, the book is accompanied by a website featuring instructional videos for each
chapter. Therefore, from this scholarly work one can understand about the block chain
technology which is used by cryptocurrencies. It also provides insights on security, user
anonymity, regulations, decentralisation in the field of Cryptocurrencies.

Banwari, V. (2017)4 published a research paper which discussed about strengths,

weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Cryptocurrency and its scope in India. The
Author from his scholarly work mentioned that Cryptocurrencies are considered to be
profitable investment in long run. Because of its various advantages: Easy availability, No
involvement of any mediator, Fast payments, Low transaction fees and Information
privacy. However, Cryptocurrencies also suffer from some weaknesses. Security of data
and cryptocurrency has been major concern. Interestingly, though there is lack of clarity
about legal status of cryptocurrency in India, the country may levy Goods and Services Tax
on cryptocurrency trading. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has proposed to
levy 18% GST on dealing of cryptocurrency.

This Descriptive research explained the concept of Bitcoin along with the working of the
same. It further highlighted the following strengths of Cryptocurrencies

i. Easy availability

ii. No central intervention

iii. Fast payment

iv. Low transaction fees

v. No information theft

49
vi. Privacy

It further highlighted the weaknesses like Easy to hack, and threats of Security, black
marketing and money laundering. The investigators from this study suggested that the
investors while investing in the Crypto Market should take a not of above mentioned
SWOT analysis of the same. So that the risks and threats can be minimised through timely
actions.

Jani, S (2018)5 studied the growth of Cryptocurrencies in India. From their thesis they also
highlighted the challenges and potential impacts on legislation. Through this descriptive
study the investigator further stated that Rapid development in the field of Information
Technology has lead to a huge growth in number of online users. Today almost everything
can be done online. This created a new business phenomenon which is cryptocurrency to
facilitate the financial activities such as buying selling trading etc. Criptocurrencies
represent value able and intangible objects which are used electronically in different
application and networks such as online games online, social networks, peer-to-peer
networks and so on. Today use of this decentralized currency has become wide spread in
many areas. Therefore this paper studies the user expectation from the growth of
cryptocurrencies along with its effect on Indian legislation. The researchers conducted a
survey. The survey aimed to measure the spread of cryptocurrency use to have a clear
picture from the practical view. It explored what cryptocurrency that the participants use,
how often they use it and how they spend it. Moreover, the survey also explored the
participants’ confidence of dealing with cryptocurrency in a time that using such virtual
money is not fully controlled and regulated. The survey also investigated the participants’
expectations of the future of cryptocurrency. The survey questionnaire involved 21
questions that were expected to be answered in a short time (5-10 minutes) in order to save
participants’ time and encourage them to participate. This survey shown that investors are
highly attracted towards cryptocurrency investment due to lack of effect from economic
trade cycles. Therefore, this shows that the future of Bitcoins is very promising. The study
further highlights the challenges like

i. Security threat from hackers

50
ii. Collapse in cryptocurrency system

iii. Impact on monetary system

iv. Gold farming risk

v. Fluctuations in virtual money value

vi. Money laundering

vii. Black marketing etc

Are faced by the legislation of India. Therefore Cryptocurrencies are not an accepted
medium of exchange. The researchers also mentioned about different countries like USA
, Canada where there are Crypto friendly laws , China and Vietnam where there are hostile
laws and France and Britain where the laws are neutral. Therefore we can say that this work
provides comprehensive insights on Legislative challenges and laws in different countries
for Cryptocurrencies

Kashyap, S. et al (2019)6 studied the Impact of cryptocurrency through their research

work. They in their work highlighted not only the impact but also the difficulties before the
Central authority to legalise the cryptocurrency as medium exchange. This work put
forward the following challenges

i. Safety Controversies

ii. Variations problems

iii. Black marketing

iv. Impact on Central banks and other authorities.

From their study they also found that cryptocurrency which is the Digital coin money of a
country established electronically are performing its function freely and without any
restriction from the central bank have the hurdles of this threats in their path of getting
acceptance as medium of exchange. This research was majorly based on secondary data
which concluded with an outcome that though we all know that India is moving fast
towards the era of Digital age and that day is not far away that India will also be considered

51
as one of the most developed nation in the world. These virtual digital coins will be more
popular in the coming future. However, there is no confirm institution to determine the
number of bitcoins and to decide about the number for the production, keeping the
document about how many are there and to interrogate in case of any issue. It can be
considered as association of connections. They are controlled by the non centralized
network. Their actions are guarded by their owners and the highly strict codes are
developed to safeguard their boundaries in which they work accordingly.

Syed Shahjad, etal (2019)7 studied the Co-explosivity in the cryptocurrency market. In
this work the researchers stated, that most of the Limited evidence on the price rice in the
cryptocurrency market mainly considered the case of Bitcoin all though The Other
cryptocurrencies have gradually eroded bit coins dominance importantly none of them has
been documented therefore the researchers from their study reveal that all the
cryptocurrencies investigated where characterized by multiple explosivity. The researcher
studied from the exchanges the increase of prices in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoins.
These currencies involved Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and Nem. The researchers found
from there investigation that these cryptocurrencies surged several thousand percent price
in the year 2017 alone. Further Bitcoins dominance over cryptocurrency market exceeded
85% from 2010. This has gradually faded the determinants of other leading cryptocurrency.
They research captured extreme price movements in cryptos in both long run and short run
which makes that study relevant and important. The researchers conclude that Bitcoin in
particular is found to be more subject to long live explosivity which depends on the
presence of explosivity in other cryptocurrency . This quantitative study shown that even
if cryptocurrencies are decentralized medium of investment which stays unaffected of
economic Changes also faces price explosions just like other Investment Avenue like stock
which are traded on stock exchange. This is because of price explosion of other
cryptocurrencies especially that of Bitcoins.

Singh, SK. (2021)8 published a research paper which titled ‘Cryptocurrencies in India :
Need for an unconventional policy ’. The research study asserted that Cryptocurrencies is
a hot topic, both among the academic and non-academic worlds, as it has attracted the

52
attention of the information-technology professionals, economists, investors, banks, the
government, and even the police. It is a digital financial asset, for which the ownership,
and transfer of ownership bothe are guaranteed by cryptographic decentralised technology.
This technological novelty has increased over the last decade due to its innovative features.
Cryptocurrency is a remarkable innovation, but its complexity and the lack of its
understanding have generated many debates and conflicts between several actors around
the world, each one with a specific interest in using this technology. It has opened several
black boxes regarding the payment systems and the concept of money itself, and maybe it
is creating new concepts. The rise of cryptocurrencies' value in the market and the growing
popularity around the world has opened several challenges and concerns for the economy,
particularly its regulation. The paper is organised and divided into seven sections.

Section 1 presents the concept and the mode of operation of cryptocurrency.

Section 2 describes the reasons behind its increasing popularity.

Section 3 explores the regulatory challenges posed by cryptocurrency and its

regulation.

Section 4 is devoted to the crypto market in India and the approach of the
government.

Section 5 discusses India's cautions approach to the cryptos and the introduction of
the CBDC.

Section 6 briefly introduces the necessary cryptos regulation around the world and
the need for a global approach to policy. Finally,

Section 7 contains the concluding remarks

Yadav, A. (2021)9 in his scholarly work titled ‘Cryptocurrency in India: To ban or not to
ban’ tried to explore the evolution of Cryptocurrency in India. Furthermore, he analysed
the Cryptocurrency jurisprudence in different jurisdictions wherein he found that some
countries have banned it and some have not. He also tries to understand India's stance on
Cryptocurrency and the implications of the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official
Digital Currency Bill, 2021 which puts a blanket ban on ‘private’Cryptocurrencies such as

53
Bitcoin and introduce its own digital currency which is often termed as ‘Central Bank
Digital Currency’(‘CBDC’) like Tunisia’s eDinar (launched in 2015), or the most recent
China’s digital Yuan (2020)

While mentioning about the countries that do and do not ban the cryptocurrency the author
states that in the highly populated country like India even if it is not possible to introduce
cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange due to some risks associated, it should be allowed
as an investment opportunity just like common stock. Banning the cryptocurrencies in
hurry would only invite prolonged litigation in the apex court of the country leaving Crypto
traders in Straits resulting in uneasiness within the sector which is this time to accelerate
to higher Heights in India.

Chaturvedi, A. Et al (2022)10 explored the journey of Cryptocurrencies in India with

respect to Financial budget 2022-23. They stated that Indian Finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman announced in Union budget 2022-23 that Indian government will put 30% tax
(the highest tax slab in India) on income generated from cryptocurrencies. Big financial
institutions and experts have different opinions in this regard. They claim that it would be
the end of cryptocurrency market in India or it would be possible that RBI (Reserve Bank
of India) may launch its own crypto or digital currency. So in this context, in this research
work, the journey and future aspects of cryptocurrency in India are discussed. Their work
concludes with an interpretation that the journey of Cryptocurrencies is not too long in
India. In spite of this it has seen may ups and downs in the short span. It further states that
banning of cryptocurrency Bill in 2019 and Court verdict in 2020 are the key issues.
However crypto currency have a chance of seeing a promising future. The interesting thing
is to see the behaviour of the investor after imposing 30% tax on cryptocurrencies. Hence
this research article by highlighting the announcement of 30% tax on cryptocurrency,
makes it very clear that India is following China by giving soul authority to RBI to launch
and promote digital currencies.

Kumar, V. et al. (2022)11 Undertook a study to explore and highlight the legality of
cryptocurrency in India. The study states that Bitcoin is a digital currency or computerized

54
money which is decentralized or not governed by the government, there is no requirement
of a national bank or an administrator tosend from one client to another client over
distributed bit-coin network without the necessity for mediators.

Therefore in order to keep the transaction secure between clients it uses the network process
of cryptography. There is no physical money, only balances kept on a record-keeping
system known as a public ledger. Each record is encrypted (converted into code, especially
to prevent unauthorized access) and has access to everyone. All the transactions of bitcoins
are verified by the huge amount of competency of computer via a process called" mining".
The investigator from this research found, that mining attracts the risk of system network
failure and Collapse, Hacks, Disturbance to central authority, Frauds and black marketing
Due to Decentralization. This Decentralization and possibility of frauds has led to blanket
ban on Cryptocurrency in 2021 in India.

Singh, P. et al (2022)12 published a paper with the title ‘Cryptocurrency, the future of
India. Where, they affirmed While some discerning investors are increasingly becoming
disenchanted with virtual currencies like Bitcoin as a result of recent price drops, others
believe it is too early to declare it a dead end. In this study, we try to find an answer to the
burning question: to invest or not to invest? The paper looks at a variety of aspects of
cryptocurrency platforms in an effort to address the key questions from them, for eg: “Will
cryptocurrency be the next money platform?” and “Will cryptocurrency be the next
currency platform?” “Is it possible to use virtual currency platforms?” In this paper, we try
to elaborate these issues. To answer these questions, the investigators collected primary as
well as secondary data for the analysis. The primary data was collected from Delhi. The
respondents were asked question about cryptocurrency to understand the preliminary
impression of cryptocurrency’s use, development, trustworthiness, and future expectations.
Due to the vast amount of cryptocurrency that is flowing through multiple systems, the
massive expansion and growth of using and implementing cryptocurrencies, and the
possibilities that cryptocurrencies provide, the finding of our research suggests that
cryptocurrency is quite likely to be the future currency platform.

55
Thakur, D. et al (2022)13 Understated the Issues and challenges in regulation of
cryptocurrency in India from their well read work. They went through secondary data
through reports, journals etc. This descriptive research interpreted that Existing data laws
may be unable to address data theft and financial fraud originating from crypto assets.
Another challenge for legislators is

i. Decentralized exchange

ii. peer to peer exchange

iii. use of crypto assets for money laundering

iv. tax evasion

v. terrorism

vi. corruption and

vii. political funding.

The investigators undertook comparative analysis of Cryptocurrencies globally which

highlighted the positive as well as negative impact of cryptocurrency world wide. The
study also mentions about the blanket ban of private private cryptocurrencies by ‘Official
Digital Currency Bill 2021.’ The investigators concluded that investments in Crypto can be
done by Strong KYC standards and ensuring privacy and transparency.

Balaji, C. et al (2023)14 published a study on prospects and challenges of cryptocurrency

in India where the researchers discussed that due to the fast development of facts and
conversation technology, A tremendous increase in the number of online users has
reactivated digital word concepts and spawned a new business phenomena known as
cryptocurrencies to facilitate financial activities such as shopping, selling, and buying.
cryptocurrency is a web-based medium of trade which uses cryptographical features to
conduct financial transactions. cryptocurrencies leverage blockchain technology to benefit
decentralization, transparency, and immutability. The use of virtual foreign money has
come to be huge in lots of exclusive systems in latest years. This descriptive research work
investigates users’ confidence in interacting with cryptocurrency at a time when the use of

56
such virtual currency is not entirely regulated. it identifies investors perspective,
Government perspective, corporate perspective on cryptocurrency. it investigate State of
cryptocurrency in India and global. And to identify which source is best for investing stock
exchange or cryptocurrency. It also Aimed to study the challenges and uses of
cryptocurrency in India. This study discussed about the challenges like black marketing,
Security and privacy threats which were discussed in the previous papers as well. The
author suggested that because of decentralization this currency should not be allowed as an
official medium of exchange.

Pallathadka, H. et al (2023)15 Researched and explored about strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats of the Cryptocurrencies. From which the major advantages of
cryptocurrencies include cheaper and faster money transfers, decentralized systems that do
not collapse at a single point of failure. The disadvantages of cryptocurrencies include their
price volatility, high energy consumption for mining activities, and use in criminal
activities. However Inspite of all this in India, cryptocurrencies still have a promising
future. If dealt with proper precaution it can be said that it is time for this sector to accelerate
to higher Heights in India.

3.3 Review of Foreign research Literature.

After reviewing the scholar work done by research intellects of India, The researcher in
order to have knowledge of the level of completion of research and the status of the problem
in the selected research area i.e. cryptocurrencies, also studied some research theories and
dissertation of the scholars overseas. Some of the noteworthy works from them has been
included here.

Choo, KKR. (2015)1 in their research thesis rooted around the corruption and money
laundering risks of cryptocurrencies. In their view Individuals involved in bribery and

57
corruption will constantly seek to exploit new areas and opportunities to offend and launder
their corruption proceeds and evade the scrutiny of law enforcement and other government
agencies. Therefore their research is undertaken with a broad objective of examining
whether cryptocurrencies and other virtual methods are potential instruments for
laundering corruption proceeds. The results interprete that Cryptocurrencies are
anonymous at their point of creation therefore the placement stage of the money laundering
process is often absent.It only takes a few seconds to create an account (“address”) and this
is free of cost. It is only possible to use each account twice: to receive money and then
transfer it elsewhere. Therefore, It is possible to create a large money laundering scheme
with thousands of transfers at a low cost and to execute it using a computer script. Also,
due to rapid increases in exchange rates, with some cryptocurrencies showing 10,000%
growth, it is very easy to justify unexpected wealth through cryptocurrencies. This shoe
that using the invisible veil of Cryptocurrencies, black money in lakhs of amount can be
laundered easily.

Carlson, J. (2016)2 explored the Cryptocurrency and Capital controls. They in their
dissertation stated that development of cryptocurrency technology has made it possible to
transfer value securely and instantaneously without a third party intermediary such as a
bank or financial institution. This is an exploratory analysis of where and why this
technology has gained traction. In particular, the authors focus on the hypothesis that the
relative popularity of cryptocurrency in Argentina can be explained by the presence of
long-term capital controls. To test this hypothesis, I conducted expert interviews with
market players. The main conclusion is that cryptocurrency can and has been used to evade
capital controls. However, it is unlikely that substantial volumes have been moved via this
mechanism. Cryptocurrency’s popularity in Argentina is attributable to more than the
country’s history of capital controls or high rates of inflation. Other factors, including tax
rate, levels of corruption, and history of multiple exchange rates have also contributed to
adoption of this technology in Argentina.

Diputra, Y. et al (2017)3 studied the effects of cryptocurrency on investment portfolio

effectiveness. In their vision The emergence of financial technology in the last 10 years

58
has created a new type of asset that is Cryptocurrency which offers a small transaction fee
without involving a third party in its transaction and the ability to make its users
anonymous. Cryptocurrencies became one of the main selling points and were quickly
accepted widely in the financial world. Cryptocurrency price movements become volatile.
For examples, Bitcoin issued in 2009, the value is not more than USD 10, but in early June
2017, Bitcoin is worth about USD 3000 (Bloomberg, July 5th, 2017). many investor
especially investor with high risk tolerance are interested to invest in cryptocurrency. The
researchers from their study discovered the effects of cryptocurrency on well perform
portfolio. The assets used were Foreign Currency, Commodity, Stock, and ETF whereas
the Cryptocurrencies used for the comparative study were Bitcoin, Ripple and Litecoin.
Using the Modern Portfolio Theory approach, investment portfolio was created . The
results show that the portfolio with Cryptocurrency indeed increases the effectiveness of
the portfolio in two ways. The first is to minimize the standard deviation and the second is
to create more allocation options for investors to choose from. The optimum allocation of
Cryptocurrency is from 5% to 20% depending on the risk tolerance of the investor.

Frebowitz, RL. (2018)4 examined the cryptocurrency and state sovereignty. The author
from this thesis tried to draw everyone’s attention towards growth of cryptocurrency after
introduction of Bitcoins in late 2008’s . Investigator highlights the fact that
Cryptocurrencies are resistant to sovereign law and international financial regulations, and
an alternative to the sovereign state’s concept of fiat money. The Wild West nature of
cryptocurrency has enabled a number of individuals, criminal organizations, terrorist
groups, and sovereign states to use Bitcoin, among other cryptocurrencies, to avoid
detection, interference, or punishment from regulatory agencies to commit actions such as
money laundering, trafficking narcotics, purchasing weapons, and bypassing international
sanctions. This thesis addresses the disruptive nature of cryptocurrency by asking what
legislative options are available to sovereign states to maximize the effectiveness of
sovereign laws while limiting undesired cryptocurrency use. To tackle this question, this
thesis breaks down the legislative actions countries may take into three categories viz.

i. prohibition

ii. regulation

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iii. adoption

to investigate the benefits, limitations, and effects of each policy. By examining the
legislative actions of countries like China, the United States, and Russia, this thesis finds
that sovereign states have had limited success in preventing illicit cryptocurrency use;
however, without implementing a refined, multifaceted global regulatory standard on
cryptocurrency transactions in the near future, cryptocurrency will remain an unchecked
means to transact on an international level.

Inshyn, M. et al (2018)5 highlighted the issue of cryptocurrency legal regulation in

Ukraine and all over the world through their comparative study. The authors of the paper
have emphasized that despite increasing popularity of cryptocurrency in Ukraine and
throughout the world, there is no single clear definition of this concept. Therefore, the
authors of this article state that cryptocurrency is a digital decentralized currency, a unit of
which is a coin cryptographically protected against tampering since it is encrypted
information that cannot be copied, while all information about transactions is stored in the
blockchain system. The study primarily used comparative methods for the purposes of
examination of the approaches taken under different jurisdictions towards cryptocurrency.
Additionally, it also highlighted the current legal status Cryptocurrency in Ukraine while
stating the definition and global approach towards cryptocurrency. along with it the
analysis of the body of theoretical literature on the matter was conducted. Results of the
study allowed drawing several conclusions on the prospects of further development of the
legal framework for cryptocurrencies in Ukraine. Finally the research paper throws light
on the fact that Ukraine is neutral on the issue of issuing and regulating Cryptocurrency.
In Conclusion it clarified that issue of regulations of cryptocurrency is not only relevant in
Ukraine but all over the world. The issue is first, potential losses money, which could enter
the state budget from individuals, who receive income from transactions on cryptocurrency
markets; and second, the state runs a risk of citizens’ rights violation, because of no
real instruments for their protection.

60
Alzahrani, S. et al (2019)6 presented a research titled Analysis of the cryptocurrency
adoption decision in Portland. This work is based on secondary data therefore in this work
the authors reviewed many scholarly works of research intellects. They in their thesis also
mentioned about the concept of cryptocurrency and its working through blockchain
technology. The research was undertaken with an aim to fill the gap in the current literature
by investigating the current cryptocurrency adoption level, adoption-influencing factors,
providing an in-depth analysis of these factors and discussing some pitfalls surrounding
the cryptocurrency adoption.

In addition, the paper suggests that the main factors driving the adoption decision revealed
from the literature review are the investment opportunity cryptocurrency forms, the
anonymity of the transactions and privacy, the acceptance by businesses as a payment
method, the fast transfer of funds, the low cost of transactions, and technological curiosity.

Cheong, CWH. (2019)7 from their study made a comparison between Cryptocurrencies
and global foreign exchange risk. The investigators in their study examined the properties
of 4 major cryptocurrencies and how can they be used as a simpler alternate mode of
heading foreign exchange as compared to existing mainstream financial risk management
techniques. The study made use of combination of visual data representations and two pass
procedure regressions. From this they found that cryptocurrency can be more effective has
against Forex risk as compared to other heading instruments. However the study is limited
to cryptocurrency like Bitcoin Etherium litecoin and Ripple.

Chen Bo. et al (2019)8 brought out a noteworthy research work titled ‘An international
comparative study on the intention of using cryptocurrency’. As it is well known that
various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins, Ripples etc are being traded throughout the day
24x7 via cryptocurrency market in this boundary less virtual world. Many people invest in
cryptocurrencies which can be utilised and replace existing currencies. Despite this there
are very less studies on actual demand for cryptocurrencies have been conducted yet.
Therefore the researchers under 2 the research extensively to study the elements

61
influencing intention of usage of cryptocurrencies. Particularly this research to figure how
characteristics among different countries respond to the intention of usage for currencies
by comparing China, Korea and Vietnam. The results shown that many people use
cryptocurrency as medium of exchange, many use them as a remover of risk associated
with foreign exchange rate also many look at it as an Investment Avenue. However absence
of Central authority to control the transactions of cryptocurrencies attract many threats
associated with the same which are needed to be dealt with care.

Habbal, A. et al. (2019)9 published a research paper, from which they explored the status
and current stage of research on adoption, along with opportunities and open challenges
to cryptocurrencies. They began with an affirmation that cryptocurrency is attracting the
attention of academic and non academic researchers as an alternative architecture of
currency. Because of growing cryptocurrency research it is essential to value the existing
research of cryptocurrency and identify potential future research area. This paper provides
and up to date review of information of research on cryptocurrency adoption. The the
research work is based upon secondary data which is collected for a systematic literature
review in order to gather the previous research information related to adoption of
cryptocurrency. Moreover, the paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 25
research articles published on the adoption of cryptocurrency from 2014 to 2017. The
results show that cryptocurrency adoption research has grown significantly throughout this
period, and remains a fertile area for academic research. The paper addresses similar
opportunities and threats as that of opportunities and threats of Cryptocurrencies in India.
Dividing the research into Qualitative and Quantitative one, the results of the SLR finally
reveal that there is a lack of study focusing on the factors that are significantly influenced
on the acceptance of cryptocurrency. Furthermore, there is also a lack of technology
acceptance models used in addressing the issues and only upto 58% of research is done in
this area with a further scope for remaining 42%.

Shirakawa, JBR. et al (2019)10 presented a research article which discussed about the
cryptocurrency regulations. The authors, from the study assessed and examined the
influence of governence institutions and de jure financial openness on the attitude of policy

62
makers in pursuing further financial developments by allowing the use of Cryptocurrencies.
In other words, they examined the relationships between

a) de jure openness to cryptocurrency and institutional strength and

b) de jure openness to cryptocurrency and de jure capital openness.

main method of estimation is a cross-sectional ordered probit model using institutional

and macroeconomic data drawn from several sources, including the Chinn-Ito index, the
World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, and the World Bank’s World
Development Indicators, among others, over the period 2010‒2018. To measure the de jure
openness to cryptocurrency, they composed an index of 218 economies by using the current
legal and regulatory status of cryptocurrency compiled in 2018. Their results asserted that
effective governance institutions are associated with a less restrictive regulatory stance on
cryptocurrency, whereas financial openness is not found to be significant. The results imply
that a certain level of institutional quality may be necessary before opening up to new forms
of financial technology. As cryptocurrency is recognized as a risky speculative financial
instrument, its current state of many unknowns can prevent policy makers from conducting
a thorough surveillance to avoid system-wide vulnerabilities.

Maciejasz, M. (2020)11 Compared the cryptocurrency perception within different

countries by exploring the differences between countries concerning perception and use of
traditional and virtual money. The authors tried to answer the question who uses virtual
money for investment? and building assets and who uses it just for Internet payments?. The
background of the analysis are significant changes that have taken place in the virtual
money market in recent years in relation to changes in the global financial market. The
researchers conducted a pilot study in Poland, the Russian Federation, and China, which
is supposed to be an introduction to the bigger and wider survey. It was conducted within
December 2019 and January 2020 with 81 surveyed respondents in all. These were students
of financial studies in the chosen countries. The paper questionnaire used in the survey
consisted of 26 questions connected to virtual money plus 5 demographic questions. It was
provided personally by teachers in class. Analysis of collected data indicated that there are

63
differences between countries in perception and the use of traditional and virtual money.
These discrepancies can have cultural or historical background. The practical usefulness of
the whole study is that gathered information will permit to examine the economic and
financial literacy of the respondents and their preferences for the use of innovative financial
instruments.

Reznik, N. et al (2020)12 explored various problems in cryptocurrency transactions in

Ukaraine. The research article is devoted to the research of the problem of legal regime of
cryptocurrency under the legislation of Ukraine and foreign countries, which is due to the
lack of proper legal regulation of cryptocurrency circulation in Ukraine. The legal nature
of cryptocurrency is analyzed and suggested ways to overcome the decentralization of the
last. The subject of this paper is the representation of the cryptocurrency transactions in the
modern socioeconomic conditions.

Their research discussed about the problems in Crypto transactions which were very similar
to those in India. The problems included

i. Security threat from hackers

ii. Collapse in cryptocurrency system

iii. Fluctuations in virtual money value

iv. Money laundering etc

The results of the article are aimed at developing theoretical provisions for determining the
legal regime of cryptocurrency and related categories The results of this research are of
crucial importance for practice and theory as it provides deep understanding of the nature
of cryptocurrency. The article provides the readers with the essence of virtual assets,
allowing scholars and practitioners to understand the particularities of cryptocurrency
transactions.

64
Kuzmenko, O. et al (2021)13 published a research paper which studied the effects of
international cooperation in the investigation of economic crimes related to the circulation
of cryptocurrency. The research methodology of the study is based on the method of content
analysis of reports, recommendations and standards of the FATF (Financial Action Task
Force) for 2012-2020, which is a leading international organization for the prevention and
development of policies for the regulation of economic crimes related to the circulation of
cryptocurrencies. The results demonstrate the following effects of international cooperation
in the investigation of economic crimes related to cryptocurrency: 1) the need to use a risk-
oriented approach of the international community at the global level, coordination of
government efforts to prevent economic crimes;

2) formation of a network of organizations that provides an effective balance between

existing threats and opportunities for cryptocurrency circulation;

3) the development of free, decentralized management networks at the global level, which
is an innovative and effective way to combat criminal activity, compared to traditional
centralized forms of coercion in an era of rapid and unpredictable technological change.

The considered experience of the absence of regulatory acts of cryptocurrency circulation

and taxation of virtual assets on the principle of traditional assets indicates the absence of
concern about illegal activities and possible economic crimes in this area. At the same time,
decentralized and quasi-autonomous virtual assets could potentially threaten years of
global anti-money laundering efforts. There is a “race” in the international community for
leadership in combating economic crime. However, such efforts to establish legitimate
jurisdictions that meet the requirements of the AML (Anti-Money Laundering) provide few
measures in practice to counter and limit the opportunities for money laundering in other
jurisdictions.

Watorek, M. et al (2021)14 carried a research to study the Multi scale characteristics of

global cryptocurrency market. The authors in their thesis stated that Modern financial
markets are characterized by a rapid flow of information, a vast number of participants
having diversified investment horizons, and multiple feedback mechanisms, which
collectively lead to the emergence of complex phenomenon. The striking development of

65
the cryptocurrency market over the last few years–from being entirely peripheral to
capitalizing at the level of an intermediate-size stock exchange–provides a unique
opportunity to observe its evolution in a short period. From this thesis the authors
examined the properties of the cryptocurrency market and the associated phenomena, and
clarified the extent up to which, the characteristics of the complexity of exchange rates on
the cryptocurrency market have become similar to traditional and mature markets, such as
stocks, bonds, commodities or currencies. The review introduces the history of
cryptocurrencies, offering a description of the blockchain technology behind them.
Differences between cryptocurrencies and the exchanges on which they are traded have
been consistently shown.In the last part of this paper, through applying matrix and network
formalisms, the co-evolution of the correlation structure among the 100 cryptocurrencies
having the largest capitalization is retraced. The detailed topology of cryptocurrency
network on the Binance platform from bitcoin perspective is also considered. Finally, an
interesting observation on the Covid-19 pandemic impact on the cryptocurrency market is
presented and discussed: recently we have witnessed a “phase transition” of the
cryptocurrencies from being a hedge opportunity for the investors fleeing the traditional
markets to become a part of the global market.

Goncalves, TC. (2023)15 Understated a systematic literature review of investor behaviour

in Cryptocurrency market. This research which was majorly based on subordinate
information analyse and synthesize the literature produced so far on investor behaviour in
the cryptocurrency market. The authors used VOSviewer 1.6.17 software to perform a
bibliometric analysis and elaborate a systematic literature review on investor behaviour in
the cryptocurrency market on a sample of 166 papers published in journals ranked in the
ABS 2021 journal list, considering the different fields of knowledge. We found a growing
body of literature on the presence of herding behaviour in the cryptocurrency market, where
there are indications that the main intentions behind crypto investment are mostly affected
by social influence or public sentiment; the crypto market is dominated by irrational
investors who base their investment decisions on market sentiment; the uncertainty of the
fundamentals leads to investors’ dispersed beliefs, which in turn leads to high trading and
speculative bubbles. Additionally, it demonstrated some sociodemographic characteristics
of crypto investors and some characteristics of the crypto market that affect investors’

66
behaviour, such as market inefficiency. This study helps researchers and academics,
investors, and regulators by providing a structured network analysis for literature strands,
with relevant information for future studies on crypto investor behaviour.

3.4 Research gaps.

Research gaps refers to that part of the problem which is unsolved or untouched by
the other researchers. While digging in to some notable research works by Indian
and Foreign intellects, the researcher found that there are many works which
address about the Concepts and working of cryptocurrency along with the process
of mining and blockchain. The researcher also came across articles that highlight
the advantages, disadvantages and Swot analysis of Cryptocurrencies. Many
researchers also examined the Challenges before the legislature in adoption of
Cryptocurrencies and how these Challenges can be tackled, while also many papers
talked about the crimes done behind the veil of decentralized cryptocurrency.

Therefore it can be interpreted that there are very fewer researches that talk about
awareness of cryptocurrency among the investors in Thane Region and also about
the investment behaviour of these investors towards cryptocurrency. Also very less
researchers touched or highlighted the differences between official Digital
Currency of India and other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin,
Etherium etc.

Therefore the investigator tries to bridge these research gaps from this dissertation.

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 CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.

Today’s era is an era of data. Data founds to be very useful in almost every field. Whether
it be education or business Data plays a very important role in the direction of success.Data
can contribute to success only when backed by proper data analysis. While various groups
and experts have their own methods for analyzing data, they mostly agree on what it means.
Data analysis is about cleaning, changing, and working with raw data to find helpful
information that guides business decisions. It lessens the risks in decision-making by giving
valuable insights and stats, often shown in charts and graphs. People often talk about "big
data" in these discussions, as data analysis is crucial for making big data useful. If beginners
want to understand big data better, they should start by asking, "What is data?" Ultimately,

68
data analysis helps improve processes and spot problems, which is crucial for growth and
making reliable improvements.

Analysis of data collected for this study:

The investigator In this research study, has selected a sample of 40 investors in to

collect data regarding the study. These investors’ sample included some student
investors from Joshi Bedekar College selected via Probability random sampling and
some investors living in Kalwa and Vitawa area of Thane Region selected using non
probability convenient sampling. To find out the awareness about Cryptocurrencies
among the investors and to determine their investment attitude towards
cryptocurrency, the collected data is analysed as follow.

4.1 CRYPTOCURRENCY AWARENESS AMONG THE SELECTED

SAMPLE OF INVESTORS.

The researcher selected a sample of 30 investors from Joshi Bedekar College and
10 investors from personal contacts for the study.He further collected the required
data via Questionnaire method. The data was analysed for finding the crypto
awareness among them. Analysis is shown and interpreted as follows.

Investors aware Investors unaware

69
 35 05

13%

87%

Yes No

Interpretation.

The above Table and Diagram clearly shows that 35 (87 %) out of 40 are aware about the
concept of cryptocurrency where as 5 i.e. (13%) of 40 are unaware of the concept of
cryptocurrency. Therefore, It can be said that majority of investors from the sample are
aware about the concept of Cryptocurrencies.

Further analysis shows the investors’ general investment behaviour as well as investment
behaviour towards cryptocurrency.

70
4.2 ANALYSIS SHOWING INVESTMENT BEHAVIOUR OF INVESTORS’
SAMPLE.

The collected data was analysed to reflect the Investment attitude. It is shown in 2 parts.

A. General Investment Attitude

Investment Avenue Investor’s Preference

Shares 23
Debt Securities 04
Banks 27
Post office 12
Mutual Funds 14
Other areas 06
Don’t invest 04

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Interpretation:

The above chart shows the investor’s preference towards different investment arenas, in
figures as well as in percentages. From this it is quite clear that Banks investment avenue
like Savings account, FD, RD attracts majority of investors’ preference. This is followed
by stocks and lastly Mutual Funds. This may be because of more secured framework of
Bank investments, More returns in Shares due to market demand and supply and Attractive
SIP plans of Mutual funds.

B. Crypto Investment Attitude

After having a look at General Investment Attitude of the investors, the investigator
tries to throw light on Investment Behaviour of investors towards Cryptocurrency. This
is shown in the below analysis.

Non-investors Investors
35 05

72
 Yes
12%

No
88%

Yes No

Interpretation:

The Tabular and Pictorial representations above reflect that even if majority of investors
are aware about Cryptocurrencies they do not invest in cryptocurrency. It shows that
majority i.e. 87.5% of investors don’t make Cryptocurrency investment. This can be
because of many reasons. Some of the investigated reasons are Security Threats, Market
Uncertainties and even lack of government control.

4.3 MAJOR REASONS FOR NOT INVESTING IN CRYPTOCURRENCY.

The major reasons for investors not investing in Cryptocurrency is depicted in the graph
below.

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Interpretation: Among the major reasons like Security Threats, Market Uncertainties,
lack of government control. The major reason that affects the investors’ attitude I’d Market
Uncertainties. As the cryptocurrency market is decentralized and unorganised there are
many Uncertainties in the same. Due to which many of the investors in spite of being aware
about the Cryptocurrencies, do not invest in the Cryptocurrencies

However they further state that if cryptocurrency sector gets more organised and
centralized they will think of making cryptocurrency investments. The chart below will
make it very clear.

74
 13%

87%

Yes No

Interpretation:

From the above chart it can be interpreted that 87 % of people will think of making
cryptocurrency investment if cryptocurrency sector gets more organised and
centralized. However there are 13 % people who Still won’t consider cryptocurrencies
for an investment

4.4 PREFERENCE OF CRYPTO INVESTORS.

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We saw that 12.5% of the investors still invest in cryptocurrencies. There are various
cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins, Dodgecoins, Ethereum, Ripples and so on. The below
analysis shows which cryptocurrency is most preferred by these 12.5% people?

Interpretation:

The above Graph clearly shows that majority of investors prefer investing in Bitcoins. The
popularity and Good risk return ratio of Bitcoins is responsible for the same.

4.5 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS

Awareness Frequency
Aware about cryptocurrencies (X) 35
Unaware about Cryptocurrencies (Y) 05

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The Mode of the collected data Is X which denoted investors aware about
Cryptocurrencies. This shows that majority of investors are aware about the
Cryptocurrencies.

12%

88%

Unaware Aware

From the above pie chart it is very clear that 88% of the investors are aware about
Cryptocurrencies. And only 12% of them are unaware . 12% is less than 3/4th .

Therefore, The H0: On an Average 3/4th of investors in Thane are not aware about the
concept of Cryptocurrency , is rejected.

However 88% is more than 3/4th .

Therefore, the H1: On an Average more than 3/4th of investors in Thane are aware about
the concept of Cryptocurrency, is accepted.

CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION.

5.1 Findings From Data Analysis.

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 ➢ It is found that majority ( more than 50%) of investors from the respondents (in this
research 87.5%) are aware about the term Cryptocurrency.
➢ Inspite of this they don’t prefer investing in Cryptocurrency.
➢ The reasons for not investing in cryptocurrencies are stated as
1. Security Threats
2. Market Uncertainties
3. Changes in government policies
➢ Among the above mentioned reasons Market Uncertainties is the major reason
stated by the investors for not investing in to the Cryptocurrencies.
➢ The Non-investors say that if the cryptocurrency sector becomes organised and
centralized the they will think of crypto as an investment opportunity.
➢ It is found that some investors have invested their money in Cryptocurrencies and
are benefitted from the profits. They give their major preference to Bitcoins along
with some other Altcoins and Memecoins.

5.2 Other Findings

5.2.1 HOW DOES CRYPTOCURRENCY INVESTMENTS WORK ?

As mentioned above, some of the respondents do invest in cryptocurrency and enjoy the
benefits from the profits earned. The Investigator conducted telephone interview of these
investors and ascertained the information about process of making cryptocurrency
investments. This will help the persons who wish to invest in Cryptocurrencies. The
Procedure for investment is given below.

Installing the Exchanger:

Exchangers are the applications that act as a platform for trading in cryptocurrencies. Just
like we have Upstox, Sharekhan etc. for stock trading in the same way we have WazirX as
an Indian platform for Cryptocurrency investments. There are several other

Exchangers like Binance, Bitmart which are Foreign registered. So, the very first step is
installing these Exchanger Applications.

Know Your Customer (KYC):

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Second step is completing necessary KYC formalities by uploading the required personal
details.

Bank Verification:

After KYC completion, one needs to enter his bank details and get the same approved, to
proceed further.

INR TO USDT :

Now, you are ready to trade in cryptocurrencies. But before that one needs to convert the
amount desired to invest in cryptocurrencies from INR to USDT. USDT is a
cryptocurrency designed to provide a stable price point at all time. The USDT
cryptocurrency was created by Tether Limited to function as the internet's Digital Dollar,
with each token worth $1.00 USD and backed by $1.00 USD in physical reserves. It is
required for buying of Cryptocurrencies. One of its benefits is that it’s value doesn’t
fluctuate unlike the other currencies like USD. Therefore it provides high utility for dealing
in cryptocurrencies.

For this there is P2P ie Peer to Peer Services which converts INR in to USDT. Once you
have USDT in your digital wallet you can start with Crypto Investment.

ACTUAL INVESTMENT:

Now, once can start investing his USDT in cryptocurrencies, based upon his choices and
preferences and also risk taking capacity. One of the most popularly preferred coin for
investment is Bitcoin. However it is also one of the most costliest coin having the value of
50 lakh per coin (predicted to touch 1crore by 2024 end), one can take small shares (even
in values of hundreds) in lots for futures and options trading.
There are some altcoins like Ripples, Ethereum, etc and Meme coins like Doge coin which
investors can think of buying.

PROFITS:

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The Investors have an option of Futures and Options, Predictions and also Holding the
cryptocurrency for earning considerable amount of profit. Again when we sell the coins we
receive USDT .

This USDT is to be converted in INR by availing P2P Services. Finally the Amount of
profit can be withdrawn in Indian Rupees.

MARKET TIMINGS

As we all the the stock market stays open 9.15 am to 3.30 pm Also the trading session is
only from Monday to Friday. On contrary to this there is no opening and closing time for
Cryptocurrencies Market. The market is open 24×7. It means the coins can be bought and
sold anytime anywhere.

CRYPTO PRICES

Similar to the prices of stocks and other exchange traded instruments, the price of
cryptocurrency is also determined by its demand and supply. This can be seen form the
price of Bitcoin as explained in the Introduction Chapter. In the beginning of 2024, it’s
price was 32 lakh which within 10 days touched 50 lacs . Currently it is also predicted that
the price of cryptocurrency Bitcoin will touch 1 Crore by the end of 2024.

There was a period when the price of bitcoins fell. It was Pandemic time when China
Banned Bitcoin by saying it fraudulent. At this time the prices of Bitcoins faced a severe
fall.

TIP:

Crypto investment should be held as long term investment to maximise the returns

NOTE
Cryptocurrencies as a payment medium in India are not regulated by any central authority.
There are no rules and regulations or any guidelines laid down for settling disputes while
dealing with cryptocurrency. So, trading in cryptocurrency is done at investors’ risk. The
researcher do not advice investing or not investing in cryptocurrencies.

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5.2.2 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CRYPTOCURRENCY AND INDIAN DIGITAL
CURRENCY.

The Digital Rupee (e₹), also known as eINR or E-Rupee, is a tokenized form of the Indian
Rupee, introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a central bank digital currency
(CBDC). Initially suggested in January 2017, it was officially rolled out on December 1,
2022. Utilizing blockchain distributed ledger technology, the Digital Rupee represents a
digital incarnation of the Indian Rupee, managed and issued by the RBI.

81
Similar to traditional banknotes, the Digital Rupee will be distinguishable and overseen by
the Central Bank, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assuming liability. It will be
accessible both online and offline. The RBI has introduced two versions: the Digital Rupee
for Wholesale (e₹-W), tailored for financial institutions to facilitate interbank settlements,
and the Digital Rupee for Retail (e₹-R), intended for use in consumer and business
transactions. The introduction of the Digital Rupee seeks to eliminate the expenses
associated with printing physical currency, which are typically incurred by the general
public, businesses, banks, and the RBI itself.

However many people think that this Digital Currency is same as cryptocurrency. Even
tough E Currency uses blockchain technology and is inspired by functioning of
Cryptocurrencies, it differs from cryptocurrency in the true sense. The differences between
them is found and highlighted in the following table

DIGITAL CURRENCY CRYPTOCURRENCY

Digital currency of India is the electronic Cryptocurrency is a store of value that is
form of Fiat currency that can be used in secured by an encryption through
contact list transactions. cryptocurrency and blockchain
Technology.
Digital currency is regulated by a central Cryptocurrency is decentralized and
authority which is Reserve Bank of India unregulated. therefore there is no any
for India. Central authority to regulate the
functioning of cryptocurrency.

Electronic currency rates are stable and this Cryptocurrency rates are highly volatile
currency are globally accepted as a and subject to market fluctuations also
medium of exchange. cryptocurrencies are not yet widely
accepted as a medium of exchange
formally.
Digital currency transactions are only Transactions of cryptocurrency are
known to sender receiver and the bank. publicly available on a decentralized ledger
with a generalized access.

Digital currency need strong password to Cryptocurrencies are secured by

protect digital wallet, banking app, credit encryption known as public keys and
card and debit card private keys.

82
5.2.3 EVOLUTION AND CURRENT SCENERIO FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY IN
INDIA.

No one knows exactly when, but the govenrment is expected to ban all “private”
cryptocurrency in India and simultaneously announce a sovereign digital currency
sometime “soon”. This despite numerous appeals from the industry, and a failed attempt
by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at sneaking in a ban in 2018 by preventing banks from
touching crypto. The Supreme Court ruled this ban was unconstitutional last March.To
understand the ongoing controversy over cryptocurrency in India, we need to examine how
we got here.

2008:

A paper titled ‘Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System’ is published by a

pseudonymous developer by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

2010:

The first sale of an item using Bitcoin takes place, with a customer swapping 10,000
Bitcoin for two pizzas. This attaches a cash value to the cryptocurrency for the first time.
2011:

Other cryptocurrencies began to emerge, including Litecoin, Namecoin and Swiftcoin.

• Bitcoin becomes embroiled in a controversy over claims it is being used on the dark
web to pay for guns and drugs among quite a lot else.

2012-2017:

Cryptocurrencies steadily gain traction. The price of Bitcoin shoots up from around $5 at
the start of 2012 to almost $1,000 at the end of 2017.

• This period also sees cryptocurrency exchanges mushroom in India, including

Zebpay, Coinsecure, Unocoin, Koinex and Pocket Bits.
• It is also almost perfectly bookended by two RBI press releases on
cryptocurrencies. The first, dated December 24, 2013, says:
1. Virtual currencies are not backed by a central bank.
2. Their value isn’t underpinned by an asset and thus a matter of speculation.

83
The second, dated February 1, 2017 repeats these concerns.

• It’s thus safe to assume that the crypto boom that followed 2016’s demonetisation
was an unintended consequence of that particular experiment. The emphasis on
digital payments led to a search for alternatives to traditional online banking and
drove tech-savvy customers to cryptocurrency exchanges.

Oct-Nov 2017:

Two PILs are filed in the Supreme Court, one asking it to ban buying and selling
cryptocurrencies in India, the other asking for them to be regulated.

• In November, the government forms a committee to study issues around virtual

currencies and propose actions.

Dec 2017:

The RBI and the Ministry of Finance issue statements on cryptocurrencies. The ministry
compares them to ponzi schemes.They issue more such statements but the status quo
remains.

April 6, 2018:

Suddenly, everything changes. The RBI issues a circular preventing commercial and
cooperative banks, payments banks, small finance banks, NBFCs and payment system
providers from:

• Dealing in virtual currencies

• Providing services to all entities which deal with them

Crypto exchanges, unable to access banking services in India, find their businesses crippled
overnight. Trading volumes fall by 99% and by August 2018 about 95% of jobs vanish.

May 15, 2018:

Faced with an existential threat, several exchanges filed a writ petition in the Supreme
Court.

July 2019: The committee submits its report, recommending a ban on “private
cryptocurrencies” in India.

March 4, 2020: Hope at last. The Supreme Court strikes down RBI’s banking ban on
crypto, terming the April 6 circular unconstitutional. One of the SC’s reasons for

84
overturning the ban is that cryptocurrencies are unregulated but not illegal in India. A
decaying crypto market is jolted back to life.

▪ Exchanges see a sharp increase in interest as the SC ruling coincides with a crypto
boom. The price of Bitcoin jumps more than 700% between April 2020 and
February 2021. However, rumours of an impending ban persist.

Jan 29, 2021:

The government says it will introduce a bill to create a sovereign digital currency and
simultaneously ban all private cryptocurrencies. The recently-revived industry realises it
faces a second existential threat.

“The bill seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India. However, it would allow
certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses,”
the government says.

Cryptocurrency Bill 2021: The Road Ahead.

The Cryptocurrency Bill 2021, proposed by the government in the Lok Sabha, aims to
oversee the burgeoning cryptocurrency market in India, which has seen significant
investment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Platforms like WazirX, CoinDCX,
and Zebpay are experiencing increased trading volumes. Recognizing the risks of an
unregulated market, the government seeks to protect entrepreneurs and investors by
introducing this bill. It outlines plans to regulate cryptocurrency, including the creation of
an official digital currency by the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI), while also allowing for
certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology. Additionally, the government has
already implemented measures such as a 30% tax and 1% TDS on gains from virtual assets
in the 2022 Union Budget.

Union Budget, 2022:

Cryptocurrency transactions in India lack central authority regulation, leaving investors

without established rules for dispute resolution. Consequently, trading in cryptocurrencies
carries inherent risks. The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has proposed taxing
digital assets, sparking discussions on the legal status of cryptocurrencies in India. While
some view this move as a step towards recognition, the government has yet to provide
official clarification on the legality of currencies like Bitcoin in the country.

85
Based on statements from the Reserve Bank of India Governor and government
spokespersons, including the Finance Minister, it can be inferred that cryptocurrency
operates in a legal gray area in India. While there isn't a definitive ban, they remain
unregulated. However, the recent Union Budget 2022 introduced a 30% tax on
cryptocurrency gains, along with a 1% tax deducted at the source, indicating a move
towards formalizing their taxation.

Indian Tax regimes and Cryptocurrencies.

Taxation of cryptocurrency remains a complex issue in India. Previously, there were no

specific provisions in the Income Tax Act or Goods and Services Tax (GST) regarding
cryptocurrencies. However, in the recent Union Budget 2022, the Finance Minister
introduced a tax framework for virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies.

➢ Cryptocurrency investors are obligated to report their gains and losses as part of
their income.
➢ A 30% tax applies to profits from the sale of digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies
and NFTs.
➢ Only the acquisition cost can be considered, with no deductions permitted for
reporting earnings from virtual asset transfers.
➢ Additionally, a 1% tax deduction at source (TDS) is imposed on the buyer's
payment if it exceeds a certain threshold.
➢ If cryptocurrency is received as a gift or transferred, the recipient is liable for
taxation.
➢ Losses from virtual asset investments cannot be offset against other income.

The Cryptocurrency Bill 2021, is still in process and might even take a while to be open
for consultation. The Government of India already took a step when they introduced
taxation on virtual assets in the Union Budget 2022. However, the introduction of the
Cryptocurrency Bill is an important milestone.

cryptocurrency regulation can actually be a good thing as it will reduce the risk factors for
investors and can be a healthy development sign for technological advancement in areas of
cyber security including the use of blockchain. It can be a powerful measure to prevent
black marketing and money laundering through cryptocurrency transactions.

86
Legal Status.

While cryptocurrencies are not illegal in India, there is currently no specific legislation or
regulatory framework governing their use and trading. This legal vacuum has created
uncertainty and challenges for businesses and investors operating in the cryptocurrency
space. The RBI too continues to caution people against crypto despite the US SEC's recent
approval of Bitcoin spot ETF trade. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman skipped any
update on crypto regulations and taxes in her Interim Budget speech on February 1, as India
continues to work with the G20 nations aligned with the ministry’s view of having a
common global regulatory framework.

The government has been in talks with the Indian crypto industry and has taken several
measures in the recent months to meet some of their demands. These include sending show-
cause notices to offshore crypto exchanges such as Binance and Kucoin in December, for
not being compliant with the local anti-money laundering laws and not getting registered
in the country.
This led to Indian retail crypto investors opting for the offshore exchanges to evade 30
percent virtual digital asset (VDAs) tax, and the 1 percent TDS charged on every crypto
transaction of over Rs 10,000. The government also followed up on this show-cause notice,
making Binance, Kucoin and seven other exchanges delist from Apple App Store and later
blocking their URLs in India.

To Sum up with, it can be said that the government likes the technology of blockchain
which makes cryptocurrency exchange possible, but not the decentralized nature of
cryptocurrency which makes it one of the risky investment opportunity for the investment.
therefore government advises investment in cryptocurrency on investor risk saying that
there is no Central authority or law for regulation of cryptocurrency so would we difficult
to compensate for the losses caused due to cryptocurrency Investments. As one found guilty
cannot be sued to court.
On the same lines Government launched its own E rupees in 2022 which made use of
blockchain technology. This is looked upon as an important measure of cost cutting which
reduces the fiscal expenditure.

5.3 Suggestions From Respondents’ End.

While interacting with the respondents the researcher came across many suggestions from
their end, for the cryptocurrency sector and also for cryptocurrency investments. These
suggestions have been paraphrased and presented below.

87
1. If one wishes to invest in cryptocurrencies. It should be looked upon as a long term
investment plan . As a long holding period will maximise the returns.

2. Cryptocurrency regulation can actually be a good thing as it will reduce the risk
factors for investors and can be a healthy development sign for technological
advancement in areas of cyber security including the use of blockchain.

3. It might be the foreign concept but as the government is being working on foreign
investment and privatisation it will have good potential for the crypto sector and
still the risk is minimised then it will get good response .. also in addition to this
equity shares and mutual fund market is at peak in india there should be some
medium of awareness of crypto sector in the conclusion lack of awareness and
knowledge about the crypto sector may face financial losses and insolvency

4. Instead of investing your money in crypto we can buy various securities and hold
that for longer period for better returns either way for safer side we can evenly
diversify our portfolio according to our risk taking capacity by investing in equity
and debt mix. Yes, the crypto currency market is growing rapidly worldwide but
not that much in India. We can invest in crypto as a bet but not by stats because it's
a digital currency which fluctuate by demand and supply. We should not put our
money blindly in crypto as an investment

5. If there is a proper regulatory body established for the cryptocurrency market and
its operations related to trading are undertaken smoothly without any frauds or
malpractices then I think potential investors would take an initiative to invest, make
payments or trade with cryptocurrency

6. There should be more awareness and information should be circulated on behalf of

crypto sector, also government should also support this sector by launching their
own securities on the same, so that a better ecosystem and awareness can be built
around this sector indeed.

7. Need to create more awareness and understanding among people specially in

female investors because females mostly invest their money in traditional ways
such as gold, etc hence having good knowledge about the same will may lead to
challenging money in more organised way

88
 8. Cryptocurrency as a concept promotes integrity as it is backed by blockchain but it
isn’t a regulated entity in India. Cryptocurrency will find some traction in India if
it is recognised by the RBI and forms a regulation around it.

9. A person needs To invest money which can afford to lose without impacting
financial stability. For this one must Understand the technology behind
cryptocurrencies, such as blockchain, Practice risk management and beware of
scams in the cryptocurrency space.

10. Currently people are not much aware about crypto currencies and hence there is a
need to spread awareness about the same.

11. Awareness campaigns should be organized by government regarding investments

in cryptocurrencies. for eg. simulation training ,workshops or seminars.

5.4 Suggestions from researcher

1. Cryptocurrency is a digital currency which is resigned to work as a medium of

exchange through a computer network. This network is not reliant on any Central
authorities such as government or a bank for its maintenance or regulation. This
shows that cryptocurrency is a decentralized currency designed to work as a
medium of exchange. However the number of investors in cryptocurrency are
increasing in number. Even if there is no legal step taken towards banning or
legalising cryptocurrency there are certain norms like tax regimes for
cryptocurrency. These norms are essential to minimize the risk factors for investors
and can be a healthy development sign for technological advancement in areas of
cyber security including the use of blockchain.

2. Since, there are no certainties cryptocurrency market and also about when
government will take what action in the direction of banning cryptocurrency
because it is nearly impossible to accept or legalise the cryptocurrency in current
form because of its decentralized nature, Investigator Do not advice to invest in the
cryptocurrency sector.

3. One can consider investing the amount in other diversified investment areas other
than in cryptocurrency to gain comparatively good return.

89
 4. However, it is found from the study that some people earn good returns from
cryptocurrency investments. Therefore the investigator strictly advices that one
should invest in this sector only with if expert detailed knowledge about the
Cryptocurrencies is possessed by him. One should also consult some experts like
CA of Financial controllers before making such investments in order to avoid the
risks. This is because any losses due to Uncertainties cannot be recovered by any
means because of its decentralized nature.

5. Government should organise some campaigns or sessions to highlight the laws

made for ccryptocurreny investments in India. They , through these campaigns
should also highlight the Risks and Uncertainties of Cryptocurrency investment and
Cryptocurrency Market.

5.5 Conclusions

In conclusion, this dissertation has delved into the multifaceted landscape of

cryptocurrency, exploring its origins, technological underpinnings, socio-economic
implications, and future prospects. Through comprehensive analysis, several key insights
have emerged:

Firstly, A cryptocurrency, crypto-coins or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as

a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central
authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.

Secondly, while cryptocurrency holds a good value, it also has significant challenges and
risks. Security Threats, Market Uncertainties and even lack of government control cause
hurdles to widespread adoption and mainstream acceptance. Moreover, the emergence of
cryptocurrencies has given rise to cybercrime, such as ransomware attacks and fraudulent
initial coin offerings (ICOs), necessitating robust regulatory frameworks and cybersecurity
measures and also black marketing.

Thirdly, Majority of Investors in Thane are aware of the concept, Cryptocurrency. Inspite
of which they don’t prefer investing in Cryptocurrency because of rusks mentioned above.
They further state that they will consider Cryptocurrency investment if this sector gets
organised and centralized.

90
Looking ahead, Some of the minority investors make Cryptocurrency investment which
give them higher returns when held for longer period. Among all other cryptocurrencies
Bitcoins receives considerably good responses from the investor. The current price of
cryptocurrency Bitcoin is 54,567.3 USD.

Cryptocurrency is a decentralized currency designed which is to be used as a medium of

exchange. It derives value depending upon the trust between the parties involved. Where
as E money od India is an electronic form of Centralised Fiat currencies. They make use
of blockchain technology. The introduction of the Digital Rupee seeks to eliminate the
expenses associated with printing physical currency, which are typically incurred by the
general public, businesses, banks, and the RBI itself.

The Cryptocurrency Bill 2021, is still in process and might even take a while to be open
for consultation. The Government of India already took a step when they introduced
taxation on virtual assets in the Union Budget 2022. However, the introduction of the
Cryptocurrency Bill is an important milestone.

Based on statements from the Reserve Bank of India Governor and government
spokespersons, including the Finance Minister, it can be inferred that cryptocurrency
operates in a legal gray area in India. While there isn't a definitive ban, they remain
unregulated. However, the recent Union Budget 2022 introduced a 30% tax on
cryptocurrency gains, along with a 1% tax deducted at the source, indicating a move
towards formalizing their taxation.

Moving forward, the future of cryptocurrency remains uncertain yet brimming with
potential. Ongoing technological advancements, regulatory developments, and shifting
consumer attitudes will continue to shape its trajectory. To unlock the full transformative
potential of cryptocurrency, stakeholders must collaborate to address its challenges, foster
innovation, and promote responsible use. However the investigator does not advice
investing in Cryptocurrency.

In closing, cryptocurrency stands at the nexus of technological innovation, economic

transformation, and societal change. By navigating its complexities with foresight and
diligence, we can harness its transformative power to build a more inclusive, equitable, and
resilient financial ecosystem for generations to come.

91
Cryptocurrencies as a payment medium in India are not regulated by any central
authority. There are no rules and regulations or any guidelines laid down for settling
disputes while dealing with cryptocurrency. So, trading in cryptocurrency is done at
investors’ risk.

CHAPTER 6
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 APPENDICES
Questionnaire for primary data collection.

1. What is your Good Name?

2. Age of the respondent.

A. 14 to 25
B. 26 to 35
C. 36 to 45
D. Above 45
3. Name of the Course.
A. BAF
B. BBI
C. BFM
D. B.Com
E. Other
F. Graduated/ Working
4. Do you prefer investing your money?
A. Yes.
B. No, I prefer saving my money at home.
5. Where do you invest ?
A. Shares
B. Bonds and Debt Instruments
C. Banks (Savings account, FD, RD)
D. Post office
E. Mutual funds
F. Other
G. I don’t invest
6. Do you know about the concept of cryptocurrency?

7. Do you/Have you invest/ed your money in Cryptocurrencies ?

8. If yes, then in which cryptocurrency do you invest?

A. Bitcoin
B. Dodgecoins
C. Ripples
D. Ethereum
E. Other

X
 F. I don’t invest in Cryptocurrency.

9. If no, what is the reason for not investing in to cryptocurrency ?

A. Security Threats
B. Market uncertainty
C. Uncertainties about Government policy.
D. Others, Please specify.
10. Will you invest in cryptocurrency if this sector gets more organised or centralized
(Government undertaking)

11. Any suggestion from your end , for the Cryptocurrencies Sector.

XI