- India has the world’s third-largest web3 founder base, with a network of over 1,200 firms across varied sectors.
- A total of 11.8% of crypto developers are situated in India, making it the world’s second biggest crypto developer base.
Hashed Emergent, the venture capital company focused on advancing web3 mass adoption in India and other developing countries, has launched the 3rd edition of the “India Web3 Landscape” report. As India’s Web3 ecosystem continues to expand, the report gives unique insights into the country’s developer base, consumer & enterprise adoption, investments, and the regulatory situation.
India has the world’s third-largest web3 founder base, with a network of over 1,200 firms across varied sectors. In 2024, Indian entrepreneurs concentrated on building new DeFi applications, including producing Staking, liquid staking and re-staking products across ecosystems as well as perpetual DEXs, RWA and tokenization platforms.
A total of 11.8% of crypto developers are situated in India, making it the world’s second biggest crypto developer base. According to the report, 45.3% of Indian web3 developers are involved in code contributions, 29.7% in bug fixes, and 22.4% in documentation efforts. With 30% of developers involved, gaming and NFTs are the most common Web3 use cases, followed by DeFi and RWAs (26%).
Tak Lee, CEO & Managing Partner at Hashed Emergent stated:
“India’s Web3 ecosystem has grown stronger amid global challenges. The country’s unique blend of technological agility, entrepreneurial spirit, and digital adoption are driving progress. We now see renewed retail participation, shifting investor trends, and deeper integration of Web3 solutions by enterprises and the government. Last year, we noted India’s global leadership in Web3 adoption and today, that promise is turning into tangible advancements led by Indian innovators. We extend our sincere gratitude to our knowledge partners for their invaluable contributions and insights in preparing this report,” he added.
India accounted for 17% of all new developers joining the web3 space in 2024 alone, which was the largest percentage of any nation. By 2028, the nation is predicted to surpass the US and have the biggest developer community. India recorded the biggest YoY developer increase at roughly 28%, contributing more than 4.7M developers to GitHub in 2024.
With more than 50% joining in the last two years, the majority of Indian developers are still in the early stages of their web3 adventure. Approximately 85% of the population is younger than 27. With more than 87% of respondents having taken part in at least one, hackathons continue to be a major entry point for Indian developers.
A Global Vote of Confidence
In total, more than $3 billion has been invested in Indian web3 startups. Indian founders raised $564 million in 2024, up 109% from 2023, as investor interest resurfaced after a sluggish second half of 2022 and 2023. Real World Assets (RWAs), artificial intelligence (AI), and staking solutions were the main subsectors that drew investments. Big tech’s increased infrastructure spending around centralized AI was the main driver of these investments.
Companies that are actively investing in Indian ventures include Coinbase Ventures, Y Combinator, Animoca Brands, IOSG & LD Capital, as well as homegrown champions like Hashed Emergent, CoinDCX, PeakXV, Borderless, and Alpha Wave. Significant investments were also made by the Layer 1 and Layer 2 ecosystem funds. It is an international endorsement of Indian Web3 innovation.
The Rise of Web3 Gaming
The report claims that Indian Web3 gamers spend $220 a year, almost twice as much as conventional gamers pay, compared to $120. Additionally, 64% of them are paying customers, compared to 56% of Web2 users. Additionally, 60% of conventional gamers still play Web3 games, and 38% of them have previously played them. Web3 gaming is highly preferred, as seen by the startling 60% of hybrid players (Web2 + Web3) who have switched to just playing Web3 games.
These patterns imply that games driven by blockchain technology may hold players’ attention. The web3 gaming scene is dominated by Gen Z players, with around half of gamers being under 25.
Retail Participation Has Been Renewed and Enhanced
Due to the increasing sophistication of Indian cryptocurrency traders, the rise in 2024 exceeded the combined growth in 2022 and 2023. The country experienced a fivefold increase in meme coin trading volumes, demonstrating the market’s appetite for emerging opportunities.
A third of cryptocurrency investors are members of Generation Z, while those under the age of 35 make up two-thirds of futures traders. Notably, women make up one in ten futures traders, suggesting that there is a lot of room for female growth. What’s impressive is that 59% of the Indian crypto traders are using stop-loss orders, showing sophisticated risk management. Hashed Emergent’s poll indicates that 11x–20x leverage is preferable; this is measured risk-taking rather than rash trading.
Government and Enterprise
The Indian government has taken significant initiatives under the National Blockchain Framework. With features like Praamaanik and NBFLite, the Vishvasya Stack has been widely implemented, with 16 participating banks and 5 million consumers. Government adoption spreads 20 divisions, seven states, and six products, handling over 84 million records.
As government-backed blockchain projects gain traction, it’s critical to use private sector innovations to propel the sector forward. On the other side, huge Indian conglomerates such Reliance, Bajaj, Tata are embracing private sector solutions across different use cases. For instance, Reliance Jio and Polygon Labs are introducing Web3 to 450M+ consumers, boosting loyalty programs, digital transactions, and data management.
Furthermore, India has moved from a “ban crypto” mentality to a more sophisticated understanding and acceptance of web3 with the overall goal of regulating the industry, even if it still lacks a unifiedregulatory and legislative framework for Web3.
Together with its expertise partners CoinDCX, Lysto, Pi42, Devfolio, and Trilegal, Hashed Emergent created the report. The whole report is available here.
