Google searches on Bitcoin, Bitcoin price down to April 2017 levels, after December peak

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked entities it regulates, including banks, mobile wallets and payment gateways, to end relationships with entities involved in crypto to fiat trading, creating panic in the Indian crypto markets. However, the panic, it seems, was only short-lived.

“There was an initial panic sell-off immediately after the RBI notification but the volumes as well as prices have significantly recovered,” said Shivam Thakral, founder and chief executive officer of BuyUcoin, a crypto exchange.

According to data from CoinGecko.com, the price of a single Bitcoin in rupee terms has seen a jump of close to 30% in 30 days up to 1 May. While there are several other crypto-currencies that are traded, Bitcoin is the most popular.

The RBI announced the restrictions related to crypto trading on 5 April. Though there was a small fall in Bitcoin prices immediately after the announcement, the prices have recovered from about Rs4.29 lakh per Bitcoin on 6 April to Rs6.14 lakh on 1 May. It touched Rs6.45 lakh in between (see graph). The prices are extremely volatile and vary from one exchange to another. Interestingly, even searches for the terms ‘Bitcoin’ and ‘Bitcoin price’ on Google saw a slight increase in this one-month period, according to Google Trends data.