On Saturday, India’s crypto industry achieved a major milestone by hosting a successful conference on Web3, with the participation of lawmakers and members of India’s ruling party.
The event, called “Namaste Web3”, was held at a luxury hotel in New Delhi, and was organized by Indian exchange CoinDCX, in collaboration with the industry’s policy body Bharat Web3 and media outlet Forbes.
The conference aimed to discuss India’s G-20 presidency and the potential opportunities for the country in the Web3 sector.
It managed to bring senior leaders from India’s ruling party, National Vice President Baijayant Panda, and former Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, as well as a chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on commerce and a deputy leader of the parliament’s lower house from the opposition benches.
While the Indian government has held private consultations with the crypto industry, this was a rare occasion where lawmakers and government officials publicly showed up, lending the space fresh legitimacy.
Prasad, who has also been a former information technology minister, said, “Web3 is important with a caution… come out of the shadow of crypto.”
However, Prasad also added that he is a great supporter of blockchain, but crypto is a different ball game altogether, and that there are issues of financial sovereignty of India with crypto. He emphasized that Web3 needs to find its own ways of decoupling from crypto.
The opposition’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who chairs the country’s parliamentary committee on commerce, expressed his enthusiasm for Web3 and said it can be one of the biggest factors in bringing India’s dream of becoming a $5 trillion economy to fruition.
He also stressed that the blockchain narrative needs a paradigm shift from crypto to the transformative changes that can be brought about with the application of Web3.
India’s crypto industry continues to face challenges, including a 30% tax on profit and a 1% tax deducted at source that led to volumes plummeting, and a recent move to bring the industry under India’s rules to prevent money laundering. However, the conference showed progress and a willingness from both sides to engage in dialogue and find ways to work together.
BJP Vice President Baijayant Panda, who is considered the ruling party’s expert on technology, said Indian policymakers would update rules and regulations based on feedback and consultation.
Gaurav Gogoi, a parliamentarian from the opposition, expressed his concerns about the government’s true position on crypto and called for the crypto ecosystem to remove the perception of being used mainly for money laundering and terrorism financing.
