Namaste Web3 Ahmedabad edition explores the future of Web3 and why the next decade belongs to DeFi

Engaging discussions were held around the importance of education in Web3 and the growing potential of decentralised finance (DeFi)

By Shashank Bhardwaj

Published: May 24, 2023 05:05:43 PM IST

Updated: May 24, 2023 05:14:50 PM IST

Full Bio

Namaste Web3 is an educational and awareness initiative by CoinDCX, in partnership with Forbes India, launched with the objective of getting India ready for the Web3 revolution. The Ahmedabad chapter concluded on May 20, centred around DeFi and how the next decade belongs to the DeFi revolution.

The event commenced with a masterclass on DeFi tokens by Praveen Dilliwala, an internet entrepreneur and a motivational coach, who also spearheads Earnshala. The session on the financial freedom of DeFi was followed by a welcome address by Manisha Gupta, Editor - Commodities & Currencies for CNBC-TV18.

Shubham Gupta, IAS officer, assistant collector, Etapalli, and project officer, ITDP, Bhamragad, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, shared a successful use case around how Web3 has been leveraged in the public services industry. He firmly believes in Web3 and its wide-scale applicability in the government sector. “Web 3.0 supports the state administration to curb the menace of forgeries, it identifies the right beneficiaries for government systems. Public blockchains make the best ledger to commit or anchor citizen records. It's true democratisation of not only government records, but the entire government structure”, he says.

The special address was followed by a panel on ‘Onboarding the next 100M: Which public goods will make it happen?’, moderated by Gupta of CNBC-TV18. The panellists were Diigant Mahesh Trivedi, head of product, Shipfinex; Nitesh Mishra, founder of ChaiDEX, Sharat Chandra, blockchain and emerging tech evangelist, and Ashish Anand, founder and CEO of Bru Finance.

Speaking of ripe sectors which can start using DeFi, Chandra highlighted the real estate sector, and spoke about SEBI regulations in respect to the tokenization of properties. He stated, “The regulator [SEBI] has set the ball rolling for fractional ownership of properties. [tokenization] democratises the process of the ownership of assets and now you can unlock the liquidity of these real world assets. That would be one of the enablers of bringing more people into Web3.”

In the fireside chat on ‘The Future of DeFi: Predictions for 2023’ with Poulose Mathew, global head and CXO advisor, blockchain and emerging technologies, TCS said, “Blockchain technology continues to drive innovation across all layers of its architecture, opening up new possibilities for various sectors. From the emergence of decentralized finance applications to the adoption of blockchain in sustainable financing and gaming, the creative economy is witnessing a transformation fueled by blockchain applications.”

The fireside chat was followed by the final panel discussion on the importance of user education in DeFi. Session experts included names such as Gaurav Arora, head, DeFi initiatives, CoinDCX; Mukesh Jindal, CEO, Alpha Capital; Punit Agarwal, founder, KoinX, and Sudeep Saxena, co-founder, Coin Gabbar.

Talking about the importance of helping new users make informed decisions, Arora said, “As an investor, it is crucial to exercise caution and be wary of the hype surrounding crypto investments. It is important to remember that financial risks come hand in hand with the potential for returns. Therefore, it is advisable to always conduct thorough research (DYOR - Do Your Own Research) and avoid buying into the top of a hype cycle. Instead, focus on identifying the genuine value and the source of funds behind a project. Additionally, optimal design and utility should be prioritized, ensuring that the technology built on top of wallets provides practical use cases and simplifies secure transactions.”

Regarding crypto and DeFi adoption, Saxena added, “The steps to adoption are firstly, education, followed by acceptance, and lastly, adoption. So that is what the space really needs to think about.”

Talking about safe DeFi investments, Jindal spoke about the importance of DeFi as an upcoming, disruptive sector. “DeFi space is right now in the space where the internet was in the 90s; it's there, we know it's going to disrupt, it's important we understand, we educate ourselves, and it's important that we participate, and put part of our assets in this, because I believe it's going to create meaningful wealth for us all.”

The Namaste Web3 Ahmedabad chapter concluded with meaningful dialogues around DeFi adoption and Web3 education.

You can find the live coverage of the event here.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash