India: Stakeholders form advocacy group to promote Web 3.0 adoption

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Key digital assets influencers have established a new lobby group called the India Blockchain Forum with a vision to make New Delhi a global hub for blockchain and Web 3.0 adoption.

The Economic Times reported that the forum was officially launched on August 21 in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Jayesh Ranjan, the state’s Principal Secretary of Industry & Commerce and Information Technology.

The founding members of the group include Prasanna Lohar, CEO of Block Stack; Pankaj Diwan, Founder & CEO, Idealabs FutureTech Ventures; Col Inderjit Singh, Chief Cyber Security Officer, Vara Technologies; Sharat Chandra, Blockchain Evangelist; and Srinivas Mahankali, Chief Business Officer, Secure Kloud Technologies.

To date, the forum has more than 40 members and plans to open up to more stakeholders interested in the digital assets industry. It also seeks to share its members into Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that will focus on blockchain and Web 3.0 adoption-related areas such as central bank digital currency, metaverse, policy framework, and non-fungible tokens.

The India Blockchain Forum is also looking to implement a collaboration model to realize its vision. It will work with governments, regulators, the industry, and academia to provide a robust framework for properly adopting blockchain and Web 3.0, as well as reach out to nurture the community.

The advocacy group was formed following the dissolution of the Blockchain and Crypto-Assets Council (BACC) lobby group last month. The BACC’s parent body, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), stated at the time that it could not continue to support the effort due to the unrelentingly inimical regulatory stance of the government towards digital assets.

India urged to focus on blockchain and Web 3.0 adoption

The India Blockchain Forum is not the only group tipping India to have the potential to become a blockchain and Web 3.0 hub through the adoption of the technology. In a recent interview, former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg implored the government to go beyond animosity toward digital assets by creating a framework that focuses on adopting blockchain technology.

Similarly, Dilip Asbe, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has proposed the creation of an Indian-government-owned Layer 1 (L1) blockchain platform on which the country can deploy many other Web 3.0-based applications. India has the potential to become a global Web 3.0 gaming hub and not just a tech support center, given that the country has the manpower with the know-how and can thrive in pioneering Web 3.0 adoption with the right regulatory climate.

To learn more about central bank digital currencies and some of the design decisions that need to be considered when creating and launching it, read nChain’s CBDC playbook.

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