Like thousands of his countrymen in far-flung places, flower-shop owner Ashish Nagose has been learning about trading cryptocurrencies by attending classes every weekday for the past two months in his home city of Nagpur in western India.

STORY: Engineer Sagar Neware never used to pay much attention to things like Bitcoin. Now he says trading cryptocurrencies is taking over his life. The 25-year old Indian says he spends his nights monitoring prices,

The crypto market in India is witnessing an unprecedented surge as thousands of people—particularly young workers—turn to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin in an attempt to escape stagnant wages and a brutal job market,

Crypto adoption surges in India’s smaller cities as job opportunities remain scarce. Trading volume on top exchanges has doubled quarter over quarter, reaching $1.9 billion.