India’s Web3 adoption deepens with 1,000+ startups & 35 million+ traders

India has one of the largest web3 ecosystems in the world emerging as a global leader in web3 adoption. According to a report by Hashed Emergent, a web3 venture capital firm focused on India and emerging markets, and its knowledge partners KPMG in India, Devfolio, Coinswitch, and Kratos Gaming Network (KGen).

Named “India’s Web3 Landscape 2023”, the report highlights that the Indian Web3 ecosystem boasts of 1,000+ startups and the country’s share of the global pool of blockchain developers has increased from 3% in 2018 to 12% in 2023, and has the highest share among the emerging markets. India has also claimed the top spot for on-chain adoption in 2023 among 150+ countries, with more than 35 million trading accounts on the top Indian exchanges. Bangalore has emerged as the hub for the sector.

With a large economy, skilled tech talent pool, and favourable demographics, the right conditions exist for a thriving Indian web3 sector full of innovation and opportunity

Tak Lee, CEO & Managing Partner of Hashed Emergent

Tak Lee, CEO & Managing Partner of Hashed Emergent, stated, “With a large economy, skilled tech talent pool, and favourable demographics, the right conditions exist for a thriving Indian web3 sector full of innovation and opportunity. We believe the regulatory environment is evolving slowly in the right direction, and further positive regulatory developments are required to fuel growth. India’s web3 sector is dynamic and vibrant.”

High Adoption

India now ranks in the top 5 in peer-to-peer (P2P) trading volume. Notably, 75% of Indian centralized exchanges (CEX) users are under 35, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) emerging as the most favoured assets among Indian traders.

The increasing adoption of web3 and blockchain across various sectors and industry is a big global opportunity for Indian tech talent and businesses

Krishna Tyagi, Head of web3 at KPMG in India

Krishna Tyagi, Head of web3 at KPMG in India stated, “The increasing adoption of web3 and blockchain across various sectors and industry is a big global opportunity for Indian tech talent and businesses. Blockchains have enabled various innovative use cases such as DeFi, Real World Assets tokenization, Self-Sovereign Identities, Track & Trace etc. which were not possible earlier.”

Institutional adoption is also evident. Large companies like Eros, Infosys and Shemaroo are participating in the web3 ecosystem. The Indian government and more than 50% of State governments are planning or running initiatives that leverage blockchain.

Regulation

The regulatory environment still poses challenges, but it’s getting better. In fact, India’s share of the global pool of web3 developers has increased from 3% in 2018 to 12% in 2023, so that the country has the highest share of web3 developers among the emerging markets.

Firstly, Indians continue to actively trade and invest in crypto as an asset class, even after the tumultuous bear market phase; and secondly, the builders continue to launch startups in the space as India becomes a key web3 developer market

Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Lead at CoinSwitch Ventures

Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Lead at CoinSwitch Ventures stated, “Firstly, Indians continue to actively trade and invest in crypto as an asset class, even after the tumultuous bear market phase; and secondly, the builders continue to launch startups in the space as India becomes a key web3 developer market. This is despite the lack of regulatory clarity and limited capital inflows into the space.”

Web3 Gaming

Web3 gaming is on the rise with 90% of surveyed web3 gamers stating that they played web3 games to earn NFTs and tokens, and 50% of the gamers surveyed also expressed that they enjoyed playing web3 games. Additionally, gamers have a higher propensity to play for web3 games over web3 games. Over 29% of respondents spend more than INR 1,000 in web3 games, compared to 10% among Web2 games.

The emerging web3 gaming sector in India shows promising growth potential and is poised to make a substantial impact on the country’s gaming market

Ishank Gupta, Co-Founder and Elder Council Member at Kratos Gaming Network (KGen)

Ishank Gupta, Co-Founder and Elder Council Member at Kratos Gaming Network (KGen), stated, “The emerging web3 gaming sector in India shows promising growth potential and is poised to make a substantial impact on the country’s gaming market. The landscape report highlights increasing growth in web3 gamers and a greater willingness to pay for web3 games.”

Funding wise, India has one of the largest web3 ecosystems in the world, boasting 1,000+ startups. The sector received USD 250M of investment in 2023, which was a decline from the total funding in 2022, but the number of deals has stayed flat showing sustained interest in early-stage web3 startup. There has been an increase in funding of startups in web3 subsectors of finance, entertainment, and infrastructure.