Algorand (ALGO), a blockchain protocol, has entered the world’s most populous country, India, with a project that aims to support the country’s transformation from the back office of the Web2 world to the innovation hub of the Web3 world, according to two senior representatives. Millions of Indians work as contractors for Silicon Valley firms and global banks.
AlgoBharat, which was launched on Wednesday, will not have a registered entity in India, but will have a dedicated team focused on real-world utility for blockchain in India with relevance for the rest of the world, according to representatives. The word Bharat represents the Indian nation.
“Wasn’t India effectively Web2’s back office?” “The innovation could have come from somewhere else,” said Anil Kakani, vice president and country head for India at the Algorand Foundation. “Blockchain use cases with the greatest real-world utility are taking place right here in India.”
For the past few weeks, Kakani and Nikhil Varma, AlgoBharat’s tech lead, have been touring the country’s engineering universities and blockchain-friendly states while avoiding the rule makers. “We will certainly engage with regulators this year,” said Kakani, a former US Treasury senior adviser for India. “We’ve been getting a sense of the appetite for Web3 here. When we meet with regulators, we will bring our experience working with the National Bank of Italy and the Marshall Islands CBDC project.”
India’s stance on cryptocurrency has shifted from the central bank attempting to prohibit the industry’s access to financial services to a strict tax regime in 2022. As President of the Group of 20 nations (G-20), India is currently pushing for global consensus on crypto asset rules, while also urging the Web3 and blockchain industries to decouple themselves from crypto.
“We believe the regulatory framework that is starting to emerge in India makes a lot of sense,” Varma said. “We believe that bringing India’s Web3 companies under the prevention of money laundering rules for clarity with KYC and AML laws is a positive step toward institutionalizing the space.”
Algorand’s India strategy is divided into three pillars: broadening the Web3 developer base through university education and events, focusing on startups transitioning from Web2 to Web3, and focusing on high-profile use case partnerships with the central and state governments.
“These collaborations with governments and ministries are already taking place,” said Kakani. “They have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of users, and we want to help them transition from a Web2 to a Web3 solution by addressing key bottlenecks in their systems.”
So far, Algorand has announced collaborations with the state of Maharashtra to create 100 million NFTs to store personal health data, the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) to support women-led enterprises developing blockchain solutions, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and the Indian School of Business to launch faculty development programs, and T-Hub, a prominent innovation hub, as its first blockchain partner to support startups.
