India Local Node - Regional Evaluation

General
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India Local Node Proposal

Web3 Adoption in India

India has emerged as a global leader in Web3 adoption. With over 17 million developers active on GitHub and adding the most new crypto developers globally (Electric Capital, 2024), India is now the second-largest Web3 builder market — a critical territory for Layer 2 protocols seeking to capture long-term developer mindshare and infrastructure alignment.

According to the 2023 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, India ranks #1 globally in grassroots crypto adoption. India is home to over 115 million crypto users, and the developer ecosystem is rapidly expanding with Web3 projects being incubated across multiple regions.

Key facts:

  • A significant portion of GitHub contributions to EVM-compatible chains comes from Indian developers.
  • Major Web3 conferences like ETH India, Web3Conf India, and Polkadot India Tour collectively attract tens of thousands of attendees, developers, and startups each year.

Regulatory Landscape

The Indian regulatory landscape is evolving positively. Blockchain technology as a sector is not restricted, and government bodies such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and NITI Aayog have all issued favorable exploratory frameworks for its implementation in governance, banking, and infrastructure.India’s stance is gradually evolving toward regulation over prohibition.

Government blockchain initiatives include:

  • IndiaStack: a modular digital public infrastructure that could integrate decentralized identity
  • CBDC Pilot: Ongoing trials for a digital rupee

Adoption Challenges

The main barriers to adoption are:

  1. Taxation & Banking Compliance: High taxes restrict mainstream trading adoption.
  2. Developer Education Gap: While the talent pool is large, most developers are new to advanced Web3 paradigms such as ZK-rollups or account abstraction.
  3. Misinformation & Scams: Past scams have caused general mistrust among the broader population.
  4. Regulatory Clarity: Absence of a formal legal framework deters institutional capital.

Centralized Exchanges in India

The major centralized exchanges in India include:

  • Binance
  • CoinDCX
  • OKX
  • ZebPay
  • KuCoin

Local Ecosystem

India is home to globally recognized Web3 infrastructure projects and startups. Key players include:

India’s blockchain ecosystem is one of the most active and diverse globally, spanning foundational infrastructure, consumer applications, developer tooling, and educational platforms. The country is not only a top contributor to global GitHub commits in Web3 but is also home to both homegrown and internationally recognized blockchain projects.

Infrastructure Projects:

  • Polygon (originated in India): One of the most widely adopted Ethereum scaling solutions.
  • Shardeum and Avail: L1 and data availability-focused projects with roots in India.
  • Push Protocol: Decentralized communications layer, developed by an Indian team.

Developer Tooling & Middleware:

  • Biconomy: Focused on transaction relayers and gasless experiences.
  • StackOS and Arcana: Providing decentralized cloud infrastructure and privacy layers.

Crypto-Friendly Businesses

There is a growing number of businesses exploring or actively integrating crypto into their operations, especially in tech-forward urban centers like Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad.

Service Providers & Startups:

  • Several Indian startups accept payments in crypto for services such as digital marketing, web development, and SaaS tools—especially in the freelancer and remote work economy.
  • Companies like BitPay and NOWPayments have partnered with Indian merchants to facilitate crypto payments through plugins on platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.

Co-working Spaces & Cafes:

  • Select co-working spaces in Bangalore and Goa have piloted accepting Bitcoin and USDT payments for short-term desk rentals and food/beverages, especially targeting the digital nomad and tech founder community.
  • Goa, in particular, has emerged as a crypto-friendly hub due to its expat population and liberal economic zone status, where merchants are more open to alternative payment models.

Events & Ticketing:

  • Web3 events hosted in India—including ETHIndia, India Blockchain Week, and ICP/NEAR hackathons—frequently experiment with crypto-based ticketing, NFT-based passes, or token-gated access.

Remittance and Cross-Border Payments:

  • Crypto is increasingly used informally by freelancers and tech workers for receiving cross-border payments from clients, given lower fees and faster settlement compared to traditional banking.

Existing Communities

India is home to one of the most vibrant, decentralized, and grassroots-driven Web3 community ecosystems in the world. The diversity of communities ranges from student-led blockchain clubs to full-fledged DAOs, regional meetups, protocol chapters, and online learning collectives.

University-Based Communities:
Over 100 active blockchain clubs exist across institutions like IITs, NITs, BITS, IIITs, and private universities. These communities regularly host workshops, speaker sessions, and mini-hackathons. Notable ones include Blockchain Club IIT Bombay, BITS Blockchain, and D_Coder at IIIT Hyderabad.

Regional Collectives and DAOs:

  • Web3 Goa, BangaloreDAO, HydraDAO, and Mumbai Web3 facilitate city-based meetups and partnerships, attracting builders and investors alike.
  • IndiaDAO and DAOdisha represent grassroots efforts to increase accessibility and adoption at state and district levels.
  • Polygon Guilds are active in over 25 Indian cities, fostering protocol-specific engagement and L2 awareness.

Protocol-Specific Communities:

  • Superteam India (Solana), ICP India Hub (by Crewsphere), BNB Chain India and NEAR India operate highly engaged Telegram, Whatsapp and Discord groups, consistently producing localized educational content and hosting community calls.
  • Ethereum-focused communities like ETHIndia and BlockseBlock run regular hackathons, workshops, and builder programs aligned with the EVM and L2 ecosystems.

Leadership – Why Crewsphere

Crewsphere is a national initiative dedicated to positioning India as a key player in the global blockchain revolution. Since our inception in 2023, we’ve built one of the country’s most active and high-impact Web3 ecosystems focused on developers, entrepreneurs, and grassroots communities for ICP blockchain in India.

Key Impact Metrics:

  • 400+ Events organized across India
  • 80+ Hackathons hosted across multiple chains
  • 43,000+ community members across platforms
  • 5,000+ developers onboarded to Web3
  • 1,000+ MVPs launched through our ecosystem
  • 2M+ quarterly digital reach across India

Events and Hackathons in India

India has seen a massive uptick in Web3-focused technical events. Notable examples:

  • ETHIndia (organized by Devfolio) is Asia’s largest Ethereum hackathon, bringing together 2,000+ developers, investors, and protocols from around the world annually.
  • India Blockchain Week (IBW) and Web3 Carnival in Bangalore attract major L1s, L2s, infrastructure players, and VCs to India’s growing crypto capital.
  • Polkadot Pulse, BNB Chain India Tour, NEAR India Tour, and ICP Web3 Sankalpa Tour (executed by Crewsphere) have together engaged over 25,000 participants through regional workshops and developer roadshows in 15+ cities.

Proposed Initiatives

Our initiatives are designed to maximize technical depth, regional inclusion, and long-term builder retention.

1. National Developer Onboarding Campaign

We will launch a Scroll Builder Track across major Indian cities and top engineering campuses. This will include:

  • Technical workshops on zkEVM and Scroll’s architecture
  • In-person coding bootcamps and online masterclasses
  • Quests, bounties, and micro-grants to incentivize early contributors

2. Hackathon Integration & Scroll Track Creation

We will introduce Scroll as a dedicated track at top-tier hackathons (e.g., ETHIndia, BlockseBlock, and university fests) with technical mentorship and prizes. Crewsphere will also independently organize at least two major Scroll hackathons annually—one national-level (physical) and one fully virtual to cover Tier 2/3 audiences.

3. Scroll India Discord & Local Language Content

We will establish a localized Discord server for Scroll India, enabling region-specific support, project collaboration, and FAQs in multiple Indian languages. Alongside, we’ll produce explainers, Twitter threads, and YouTube walkthroughs for Scroll-based tooling and integrations.

4. Scroll India Fellowship Program

We’ll identify and support the top 25 Web3 developers in India through a 3-month fellowship. Fellows will receive mentorship, early access to Scroll ecosystem updates, and funding to build and document new use cases on Scroll.

5. Scroll-in-Residence at Campuses

Crewsphere will roll out a Scroll-in-Residence program to embed Scroll evangelists in university blockchain clubs across 15–20 campuses. These student leads will run Scroll weeks, learning circles, and mini hackathons.

6. Ecosystem Partnerships & Builder Incubation

We will work with Indian crypto VCs, incubators, and Layer 1s to co-host “Build on Scroll” demo days and identify high-potential MVPs to push into Scroll’s grant and growth programs.

Support Needed from Scroll

To ensure the successful rollout and long-term sustainability of the Scroll India Local Node, we request the following forms of support from the Scroll Foundation and broader ecosystem:

1. Technical Collaboration & Ecosystem Access

  • Early access to protocol updates, SDKs, documentation, and roadmap insights to accurately educate developers.
  • Direct communication with the Scroll DevRel and Product teams to ensure fast, accurate integration support for local builders.
  • Permission to co-brand with official Scroll visuals and messaging in regional content and events.

2. Funding Support

  • A baseline grant to support initial operations, including team costs, event execution, content production, and travel.
  • Micro-grant budget to issue developer bounties, quest rewards, and support MVP-stage builders.
  • Shared sponsorship model for major hackathons where Scroll is a primary ecosystem partner.

3. Marketing & Distribution Boost

  • Promotion of key Indian initiatives via Scroll’s official Twitter, blog, Discord, and newsletter.
  • Inclusion of Scroll India activities on the Scroll ecosystem homepage and community map.
  • Amplification of content co-created with Indian developers (e.g., tutorials, case studies).

4. Community Platform Integration

  • Admin/moderator access for Scroll India leaders on the global Scroll Discord to coordinate communications.
  • Templates and toolkits for community onboarding, such as event playbooks, branding assets, and community guidelines.

5. Scroll Ecosystem Partner Intros

  • Intros to DeFi, infra, tooling, and NFT partners within Scroll who are open to working with India-based builders.
  • Co-hosted AMAs, Twitter Spaces, or workshops to create exposure for local teams.

Why India

India is home to the world’s largest pool of software developers after the United States, with over 6 million developers and 1.5 million engineering graduates entering the workforce each year. It has rapidly evolved from a Web2 outsourcing hub into a thriving Web3 builder economy, attracting global attention from top protocols and VCs. In the past two years, India has ranked consistently in the top 5 countries for crypto adoption and has become a testing ground for innovative blockchain applications.

India is the most active technical community globally. Indian teams have shipped scalable protocols, contributed to open-source ZK research, and launched venture-backed startups across DeFi, infrastructure, and gaming.

A Scroll Local Node in India presents three major advantages:

  1. Volume of Talent: India offers the largest concentrated base of Solidity, zkEVM, and EVM-literate developers ready to experiment, contribute, and scale.

  2. Ecosystem Density: With frequent events, hackathons, guilds, and university initiatives, Scroll can tap into an already vibrant Web3 ecosystem.

  3. Geo-Strategic Value: India serves as a natural bridge to fast-growing Web3 markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, making it an ideal location for Scroll’s regional expansion.

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Hi Everyone,

I would really appreciate a feedback on my proposal

Thank you in Advance

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@rupin , Crewsphere and India stakeholders,

Thank you for submitting the India Local Node Proposal. We appreciate your initiative and enthusiasm in engaging with the Local Nodes framework. India represents a market of great strategic value. Below are our observations and recommendations:

Observations

  • India undeniably represents one of the largest pools of developers and hackers globally, not to mention the significant potential user base.
  • Polygon’s deep roots and brand presence in India are well-established, often serving as a barrier for competing Layer 2 solutions seeking to enter the market.
  • Scroll has previously engaged with the Indian ecosystem through events like ETHIndia and collaborations with communities such as Web3Samaj.
  • There is clear momentum toward more favorable crypto regulation, with encouraging signals coming from key institutions and government bodies.
  • The region continues to produce influential projects and founders that play major roles in the global Web3 ecosystem.
  • We’re impressed by the sheer volume of grassroots communities and DAOs across India, indicating a strong foundation for network effects and sustained growth.
  • Localized ecosystem efforts like Superteam India, ICP India Hub, and IndiaDAO exemplify the impact of regionally embedded builder networks.
  • The region faces similar adoption challenges as others, with the most notable being a high concentration of technical talent yet a limited understanding of advanced Web3 concepts like ZK, modularity, or account abstraction.
  • Although India was not among the initially prioritized regions for the Local Nodes initiative, we acknowledge its immense potential in terms of developers, users, and emerging founders.
  • Two teams from India—Constella and Tygr Money—have been admitted to the first edition of Open Campus. Supporting and collaborating with these projects would form a crucial pillar of any Local Node initiative in India, serving as a direct channel to nurture local talent and ensure continuity between Scroll’s ecosystem programs and on-the-ground community efforts.

Recommendations and Open Questions:

  • Given the size and population of India, we recommend narrowing the initial scope of activities to 1–2 key cities to ensure deeper impact and more efficient resource allocation. From your perspective, which cities would be most strategic to begin with?
  • We’re happy to facilitate connections with the Indian teams participating in Open Campus to explore how a Local Node could best support their growth—and how they, in turn, could contribute to identifying and mentoring other promising founders in the region.
  • The Local Nodes initiative is not designed to prioritize scale in terms of volume. Rather than a large number of hackathons, we are more interested in highly localized, strategic programs—similar to Open Zero (the precursor to Scroll Open)—that support long-term builder development.
  • While English is widely used across India’s Web3 ecosystem, we’re curious to understand whether additional localized language content would significantly enhance reach or engagement in specific regions or demographics.
  • Scroll has not historically operated an ambassador program. Could you elaborate on how the proposed ambassadors will contribute to identifying, supporting, and nurturing potential founders within the Scroll ecosystem?
  • When evaluating event partnerships, a strong on-the-ground presence from the Scroll team has proven to be a key success factor—particularly in regions where our direct exposure has been limited.
  • At this time, launching new social media or community channels is outside the scope of the Local Nodes initiative. However, we are happy to support amplification of regional efforts through Scroll’s existing channels where appropriate.
  • Considering that one of Crewsphere’s flagship achievements is the execution of the ICP India Hub, we’d like to better understand how this experience would translate into leading a Scroll Local Node. Would there be any potential for conflicts of interest, and how would those be managed? Is there enough bandwidth to engage in both programs?

Initial conclusion

Thank you again for the India Local Node Proposal. India is undoubtedly a region of high strategic value, and your initiative reflects the depth of opportunity there.

At this stage, we are already in the process of reviewing and elaborating proposals from approximately eight regions—surpassing our expectations for the initial rollout. For this reason, we believe it would be more appropriate to evaluate the India proposal in greater depth once the first batch has been finalized.

In the meantime, several open questions remain regarding the regional evaluation that we’d like to explore further before determining next steps. We appreciate your engagement and look forward to continuing the conversation.

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Hi @Juansito, Thank you for your thoughtful review and encouraging remarks. We appreciate the Scroll DAO team’s recognition of India’s strategic potential and would like to address your recommendations and questions with clarity and actionable intent. Below is our detailed response:

1. Scope Reduction – Strategic Cities to Begin With

We agree with your recommendation to narrow the scope. For the initial rollout, we propose focusing on Delhi NCR and Chandigarh. These two regions have demonstrated high Web3 adoption metrics (as cited in Hashed Emergent’s 2024 report) and offer low acquisition costs compared to more saturated hubs like Bangalore and Mumbai. The highly capable talent pools make them ideal starting points for deep, high-touch activation.

2. Collaboration with Open Campus Teams (Constella & Tygr Money)

We’re enthusiastic about collaborating with the Open Campus India teams. To move forward, we request introductions to Constella and Tygr Money, so we can align our roadmap with their growth needs and co-design initiatives where Scroll’s India Local Node actively supports these builders. We are happy to submit a revised proposal incorporating this alignment post-discussion.

3. Shift from Volume to Long-Term Builder Development

We fully align with the vision of quality over quantity. At Crewsphere, we have developed a builder-focused funnel that transitions participants from first exposure to Scroll all the way through to incubation:

Crewsphere’s 5-Stage Builder Funnel

  1. Awareness – Organize targeted events to attract and educate new developers.
  2. Education – Host technical workshops and train Scroll-aligned dev mentors to provide real-time support.
  3. Action – Conduct hackathons to identify high-potential builders.
  4. Evaluation – Offer a hybrid 30-day Builder Sprint with mentorship in ideation, GTM strategy, and pitch practice.
  5. Incubation – Recommend top teams to Scroll’s grant and ecosystem programs while providing sustained mentorship.

This funnel is designed to deliver not just projects, but founder-grade product builders aligned with Scroll.

4. Localized Language Support

While English is widely used in India’s developer ecosystem, regional language content can play a key role in creating top-of-funnel awareness. However, real impact is created through on-ground mentors and instructors. To this end, we plan to train ambassadors from local regions who can communicate effectively in native languages and serve as peer-educators, reducing dependency on central instructors.

5. Ambassador Program Purpose & Design

Our proposed ambassador program will decentralize engagement by creating hyper-local nodes that extend Scroll’s reach efficiently. These ambassadors will:

  • Host developer meetups and workshops
  • Refer and mentor emerging Scroll-aligned builders
  • Serve as community evangelists

The program will be performance-based, with monthly evaluations:

  • Minimum Tasks per Ambassador per Month:
    • Host 1 meetup (20+ attendees)
    • Conduct 1 dev workshop (20+ attendees)
    • Refer 3 builders to the Scroll ecosystem

Ambassadors will be rotated based on performance, ensuring ongoing freshness and quality.

6. Scroll Team Presence at Events

We’d love for the Scroll team to attend in person, where possible. For events where that isn’t feasible, we propose:

  • Live video Q&As with Scroll core contributors
  • Scroll being onboarded as a co-host on Luma (our primary registration tool), giving visibility and admin access
  • Post-event media packages including photos, testimonial clips, and highlight reels
  • A jointly developed Event Ops Handbook with the Scroll team to ensure alignment across all on-ground activations

7. Social Media Channels

We fully understand that launching new Scroll-branded channels is outside the scope. We propose instead:

  • Redirecting traffic from events to existing Scroll platforms
  • If appropriate, assigning moderator access to a vetted member of our team within Scroll’s Discord to manage India-specific engagement and demonstrate authenticity in our collaboration

8. ICP India Hub – Conflict of Interest & Bandwidth Clarification

Crewsphere currently operates the ICP India Hub, one of the most active and outcome-driven regional hubs for the Internet Computer. This experience is not a conflict it is proof of execution.

Clarifications:

  • Crewsphere is an independent entity, not contractually or otherwise bound to ICP.
  • ICP and Scroll serve different technical audiences: ICP focuses on Rust-based developers and multi-chain infra, while Scroll aligns with Solidity/EVM developers and zkEVM scaling.
  • The two ecosystems do not compete for the same builders.
  • We operate separate execution teams for each protocol with dedicated KPIs, budgets, and leads to avoid bandwidth issues or overlap.
  • Learnings from ICP Hub’s success have enabled us to skip the learning curve and offer Scroll an optimized go-to-market model from Day 1.

Final Thoughts

We appreciate your openness, strategic insight, and willingness to continue the dialogue. We’re fully aligned with Scroll DAO’s vision for community-led, founder-focused regional growth and would be honored to pilot this initiative with a tighter scope and sharper focus.

Looking forward to your response and next steps.