Announcing The Crypto Summit — India’s Largest Crypto And Blockchain Summit

Whether it is currency, economy, the internet or the metaverse, we believe that open, trustless and decentralised systems are the future. Crypto is, therefore, a way forward, and we need to talk about it.

Known for its extensive coverage of startups, entrepreneurs, investments and emerging tech trends over the past six years, Inc42 Media is one of the few platforms in India that has been tracking and reporting every aspect of crypto since the days when the value of bitcoin hovered around $250. We have interviewed crypto enthusiasts from all over the world. We have also witnessed experts buying bitcoin at $50,000 after they firmly declared (years ago) that bitcoin would not be worth $1,000.     

In essence, the crypto universe has evolved over a decade and started disrupting the world. What began with little-appreciated virtual currencies was just the take-off. Ashish Singhal, cofounder and CEO of CoinSwitch Kuber says, “Interestingly, a major chunk of investors are from tier-II and tier-III cities, showing the widespread awareness and diverse appeal of crypto. This is a great indication that the Indian crypto industry is booming and that there is an appetite for further innovations and products.” 

Similar to Singhal’s faith in the Indian crypto ecosystem, Piyush Gupta, founder and CEO, PolyTrade, believes that the crypto industry is gaining more popularity and will continue to rise. Commenting on the factors contributing to the same, he said, “India has a history of producing fine tech resources that have been powering global tech enterprises for over 3 decades now. The number of engineers that we churn out year on year is one of the highest in the world. From a tech outsourcing hub in the early 2000s, today we’re a breeding ground of new-age tech enterprises. At a macro-level, our political leadership is encouraging entrepreneurs, promoting Aatmanirbhar Bharat and a large part of this initiative is spearheaded by home-grown product and technology companies.”

The crypto, in its new avatar (the non-fungible token or decentralised finance, for instance), is bound to change the way our economy and our digital world function. Most importantly, it can set the internet free as was imagined in the first place. In a crypto-led metaverse, no Facebook or TikTok can make money out of the moments we have lived or hold the rights to that data. With the NFT in place, one can be the sole owner and beneficiary without worrying about hacking or other forms of digital piracy.

But this is just one example of how NFTs will change the way digital properties are currently created, stored, sold, copied or stolen. In other words, they can redefine digital content, its ownership and provenance, converting the likes of Paris Hilton into crypto fangirls.

“Introduction of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) will democratise finance by eliminating gatekeepers and middlemen and empowering people through peer-to-peer transactions. It will also make finance more inclusive. NFTs will also move beyond art by becoming entering industries such as gaming and music and also become a way to verify the authenticity of physical objects.” – Ashish Singhal, CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber

Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius Network and inventor of VoIP, estimates that the blockchain systems will be 1,000 times the size of today’s internet. He explains the analogy by comparing the telephones in the 90s and their transition to the internet, which is just an application on the voice network. “Working on voicemail, I could sense that the internet will be so huge that voice will be just an application on the internet.” 

Similarly, he firmly believes that the blockchain today is just a fraction of what it can be. “Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are the future of everything. It means the network is gonna be 1,000x bigger and more powerful than the internet because it requires much more processing power. Also, the largest network always wins.”

According to Gupta, the ecosystem is full of opportunities and trends, yet to be tapped into by the startup ecosystem. He believes the key trends and opportunities to be decentralised finance, NFTs and gaming. “While NFTs are for the audience with an interest in traditional, digital as well as new-age art/collectables, gaming is for the avid gamer population that we’ve in our country.”

Now that we know why crypto is the ultimate future, let us go deep inside the ecosystem to explore how it will rule over other systems, in what shape and form.    

Announcing The Crypto Summit 2021

In 2021, when the crypto market is undergoing a sea change and the iconic bitcoin’s market share is sharply falling — it has tanked to 46% from 67% in January this year — we think this is the right time to capture the current trends for an insightful look into the future. We are, therefore, excited to announce The Crypto Summit 2021, India’s largest crypto and blockchain event, an initiative by Inc42 Plus.

Supported by CoinSwitch Kuber, PolyTrade and Tezos, the summit aims to foster crypto development and its future, focus on the leaders and the developers in the crypto space, and play a significant role as it ushers in Web 3.0.

Attend The Crypto Summit

Scheduled for September 18-19, 2021, The Crypto Summit will bring together 1,000 plus founders, industry leaders and makers/developers working at the intersection of technology, investment and regulation to get everyone on the same page and build an inclusive, financially decentralised India. 

“Events like The Crypto Summit play an important role for a young and nascent industry like Crypto, in India. Events like these help to bring all the stakeholders together (regulators, startups, VCs, retail investors, developers), and help open up a dialogue so that the entire industry can move forward in a positive direction and contribute to the Indian economy,” said Om Malviya, President, Tezos India.

He further added, “All the major drivers of this industry, be it global exchanges, protocols, or big funds, have understood that India is a key market. That’s the reason we are seeing a huge amount of influx of funds from globally recognised VCs to Indian startups. I think that’s one of the major factors contributing to the growth, as those startups are the ones who are leading the charge on the ground to enable a seamless entry for Indians to this space, in a frugal way.”

What To Expect At The Crypto Summit

The event will reach a diverse audience and we expect it will initiate productive conversations about crypto, decentralised finance and blockchain space. India has seen considerable innovations with many companies creating an immense impact both nationally and internationally. The Crypto Summit will highlight these achievements and encourage future crypto entrepreneurs.” – Sharan Nair, chief business officer, CoinSwitch Kuber

At The Crypto Summit 2021, we will dig into challenging and intriguing questions regarding regulatory/compliance issues, the state of crypto before and after the emergence of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), NFT and the creator economy, and Web 3.0 and the metaverse. The two-day summit will also hold sessions on 101 things about De-Fi, crypto taxation and compliance, and tokens and protocols.

“Events such as this should be able to bring the decision-makers and blockchain entrepreneurs under one roof. There is a deeper mutual understanding in such forums and all parties are able to appreciate each other’s points of view. Only when we understand each other, do we move forward in a meaningful fashion rather than being caught in a vicious loop,” said Gupta.   

With 40+ speakers and 25+ sessions spread across 2 days and 3+ tracks, The Crypto Summit, will explore at great length the future of cryptocurrencies and all related businesses, the role of fiat money in a tech-driven future and 101 QnAs for a deep dive into all things crypto. 

Stay Tuned For More Info On Sessions, Agenda And Speakers!

Attend The Crypto Summit

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