The number of young investors in non-metro areas across India looking to purchase and trade crypto as well as stocks has increased significantly in the last year, The Economic Times reported Tuesday.

Crypto and wealth management platforms have been able to attract new users due to strong performing markets, targeted ads and increased awareness, the report said.The uptick in new user registrations is a 45% increase to 70 million when compared to the year prior, according to the report, which cites BSE stock exchange data.User sign-ups in the state of Uttar Pradesh jumped by almost 60% as of August 23, while the states of Odisha, Assam, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh also saw significant increases from the year before.Local crypto platform CoinSwitch Kuber is reported to have clocked a 135% increase in month-on-month growth from non-metro cities since June of last year.Meanwhile, India's first crypto unicorn, CoinDCX, saw 48.7 times growth in user sign-ups from India's less populated cities over the past six months.India's total population is one of the largest in the world, with 1.33 billion inhabitants, second only to China's 1.39 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.