Binance Group, a global decentralised cryptocurrency exchange, announced setting up of a $50 million blockchain technology fund for India. This comes after a recent Supreme Court ruling that had overturned Reserve Bank of India notification that had restricted banking access for virtual currency trading in the country.
The fund will be utilised to invest upwards of $100,000 per startup, and promises to open up direct access to Binance’s global blockchain ecosystem to India’s entrepreneurial community. The fund ‘Blockchain for India’ will also invest in projects using Binance Coin, Binance USD and WRX coins up to $5 million. These are all forms of cryptocurrency — virtual money managed through a secure digital ledger with no physical counterparts like banknotes or coins.
“When our team visited India last year, we saw that the blockchain startups were witnessing tremendous challenges in fundraising and scaling projects to meet growing consumer demands,” Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao said.
“The projects will receive mentoring from the leaders within the Binance ecosystem,” said Nischal Shetty, the founder of WazirX, a bitcoin exchange now owned by Binance.
“We also plan to provide support to universities and student organisations who want to set up blockchain tech incubators at their college to accelerate blockchain education in India,” Shetty said.
Binance’s global blockchain ecosystem includes Binance Chain, Binance Cloud, Binance DEX, Binance Launchpad, Binance Research, Binance Academy, Binance X and portfolio companies such as WazirX, DappReview and Trust Wallet among others.
In 2019, Binance acquired Mumbai-based WazirX. Other recent acquisitions by the company include Hong Kong-based DApp and JEX and San Francisco-based Trust Wallet.
According to Binance, the next phase of mass adoption for crypto will arise from developing nations and India, with more than a billion people, is primed for this. Over the last 18 months, the Malta-based crypto exchange has been actively looking to develop India’s blockchain ecosystem.
While the total number of verified virtual currency users stands at 1.7 million in India, according to IAMAI, the global market size is pegged at $430 billion. Separately, Binance has also applied for an operating licence in Singapore. Earlier this month, the company said Akbank, one of the largest banks in Turkey, had become the first bank ever to integrate directly with Binance.
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