By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 23rd, 2024
Brian Armstrong revealed that the venture firm looks to tap into India’s software talent with the crypto and Web3 technologies as well as help accelerate India’s economic and financial inclusion goals.
Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of US-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase has released a proposed $1 million investment plan in several cryptocurrency and Web3 projects in India.
Coinbase stated that it will hire 1,000 people in its India office as part of the proposed investment plan which will be done through an in-person pitching event in Bengaluru.
The in-person pitch day will be held on April 8, in collaboration with Builders Tribe, and Belief DAO who will be providing bonus grants of up to $25,000. India’s crypto tax law which, effectively since April 1, requires all Indian citizens to pay 30% of unrealized crypto gains as tax, was also highlighted, as investors will not be allowed to offset any crypto losses to compensate for the taxation.
Builders Tribe co-founder Pareen Lathia, speaking on the notion of Web3 being a disruptor, stated that Indian entrepreneurs are willing and excited to take their firms to the global market.
CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong in a blog post while visiting India revealed that, the venture firm looks to tap into India’s software talent with the crypto and Web3 technologies as well as help accelerate India’s economic and financial inclusion goals.
Coinbase launched its Indian tech hub last year and currently employs over 300 people working full time across India’s states and regions. Coinbase plans to build upon its progress and heavily invest in its Indian tech hub. Coinbase Ventures has already invested $150 million in home-grown Indian technology firms in the crypto and web3 space and is always identifying new opportunities to assist Indian entrepreneurs’ scale.
The CEO of the crypto firm also described crypto as the best tool that exists to advance Coinbase’s mission of increasing economic freedom in the world, highlighting the fact that, for crypto to reach its potential, it needs to be easy for anyone, anywhere in the world to use it.
“India has built a robust identity and digital payments infrastructure and implemented it at rapid scale and speed. Combined with India’s world-class software talent, we believe that crypto and web3 technology can help accelerate India’s economic and financial inclusion goals,” Armstrong stated.
“We are excited to tap into the dynamic Indian software talent to build out our products and will continue to invest heavily in our India hub. We have ambitious plans for India and seek to hire over 1,000 people in our India hub this year alone,” he added.
Armstrong also described India as a magical place, where crypto has a big future. “We’re excited to help build that future, and this event is an important step,” he wrote in the blog post.
India’s vibrant ecosystem of 4 million developers, skilled tech operators, and a tight-knit web3 community has also attracted several global investors looking to boost their investments in Indian web3 start-ups. Cypher Capital, a UAE-based VC firm, recently allocated 40% of its $100 million blockchain fund to invest in Indian crypto and blockchain start-ups.