Namaste, India!

By Brian Armstrong

At Coinbase, we believe that crypto is the best tool that exists to advance our mission of increasing economic freedom in the world. But for crypto to reach its potential, it needs to be easy for anyone, anywhere in the world to use it.

That’s why we’re excited to be in India this week.

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.

On Thursday, April 7th, we will be hosting a crypto community event in Bangalore to discuss the future of crypto and web3 in India. We will have many special guests. You may register to attend online here. Additionally, Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of Coinbase, has partnered with Buidlers Tribe to host a startup pitch event on Friday, April 8th. Please visit the website to learn more about the event and apply.

Coinbase Ventures has already invested $150 million in home-grown Indian technology companies in the crypto and web3 space, and is constantly identifying new opportunities to help Indian founders scale. Coinbase’s Indian tech hub was launched last year and already has over 300 full time employees across India’s state and regions. 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.

On a personal note, I’ve spent the last week touring India — visiting the sites, and meeting the amazing people. This week, I’ll be joining members of our executive team as we meet with students from top universities, crypto founders, Indian entrepreneurs, and crypto evangelists.

India is a magical place, and I believe crypto has a big future here. We’re excited to help build that future, and this event is an important step.

Namaste, India! 🇮🇳 was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.