India urged to hasten blockchain transition for administrative transparency

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

American venture capitalist Tim Draper has urged India’s government to hasten their adoption of blockchain technology to increase administrative efficiency and foster transparency.

Draper made his stance known in an interview with The Decrypting Story, where he noted the advantages of blockchain over other models. The veteran Silicon Valley investor was particularly interested in the functionalities of immutability and decentralization, which he said would be vital in stifling incidences of corruption.

“I’m looking for more gov-tech Web3 startups that can help governments, especially in India, move to a more open and transparent system,” said Draper. “With Web3, governments can move away from slow and bureaucratic systems.”

Draper’s affinity with blockchain goes back to his successful investments in leading virtual currency projects through his VC firm Draper Dragon, known for fostering collaboration between Silicon Valley and Asian startups. Part of the Web 3 firms that Draper has previously invested in include CoinDCX, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), CropBytes, Ledger, and VeChain, among others.

Draper disclosed during the interview that he had spent considerable time crisscrossing through India and meeting Web3 founders. From his findings, he noted that deploying blockchain across healthcare and finance is a move that has the potential to improve the status quo.

One area Draper identified that could reap the benefits of distributed ledgers are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) markets through the inflow of virtual currency capital.

Other thought leaders in the space have also expressed similar sentiments to Draper regarding India’s potential in the Web3 space. Former Coinbase’s CTO Balaji Srinivasan has been at the vanguard in urging India’s government to create a healthy ecosystem for foreign virtual currency firms looking to do business in the country.

“In India, Web3 startups pay a lot of attention to the government, but they are more worried about regulations,” Draper said.

India’s chances with Web 3

Peering from the outside, it might seem that India’s chances with Web3 are slim, but a closer inspection indicates that the country is making significant strides. Capital city New Delhi is turning to blockchain for forensics, while Maharashtra’s Land Registry is using the technology to keep immutable records.

The country’s leading public policy think tank NITI Aayog’s recent collaboration with 5ire and Network Capital over a blockchain learning course and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s comments regarding a proposed blockchain adoption rate of 46% points to a bright future for the technology in India.

Watch: India will be the biggest blockchain nation in 5 years – IPv6 Forum’s Latif Ladid