
2021 has been a phenomenal run for crypto as the awareness and adoption of crypto brands and products exploded.
From Coinbase’s direct listing to the way Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are now breaking through the zeitgeist and powering the creator economy, it’s clear that crypto is here to stay. We are still at the very early stages of what may become the third generation of the internet.
And the continuing surge in global crypto momentum is also keenly felt in India.
After the Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) lifted the cryptocurrency ban in March 2020, the country’s cryptocurrency market has rebounded very quickly, surging 641% over the past year, catapulting the nation to be ranked second on the global crypto adoption index, according to a recent Chainalysis report.
Among the top three cryptocurrency global usage countries – Vietnam, India, Pakistan- India had the largest share of its activities taking place on Decentralised Finance (DeFi) platforms, pointing to greater innovation to increase accountability to the blockchain, crypto-based trading, yield farming platforms, and more.
Seeing everyone talking, trying, and adopting cryptocurrency everywhere in India, Srinidhi Moodalagiri, who mined his first bitcoin back in 2011, intuitively knew he had to jump in right away.
He left his job at American Express where he was building credit and fraud risk models for multi-billion-dollar consumer portfolios, to join Entrepreneur First where he met Srivar Harlalka, a third-generation entrepreneur, who had built multiple consumer-facing businesses in the past.
Together, they founded Flippy, one of India’s first social-first crypto investment platforms.
We caught up with them to learn more about India’s crypto landscape, its burgeoning opportunities, and potential risks.