A look inside India's first Web3 regulatory sandbox, Manish Agarwal's acquisition of IndiGG
Read about this week's developments, news, and trends in the Web3 ecosystem.
India’s first Web3 regulatory sandbox
Current crypto regulations in India have led to founders leaving the country, value flowing out from the nation, and the domestic market for Web3 remaining largely untapped.
To address this, Telangana recently launched a Web3 regulatory sandbox for selected blockchain startups to test their solutions in a controlled environment.
The companies can also receive support in the form of mentorship, regulatory compliance, and collaboration with key ecosystem stakeholders.
The sandbox is bringing together central bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to collaborate with Web3 startups at the state level.
It focuses on startups with solutions that could potentially have a significant impact on society, businesses, or the government.
The startups in the first cohort are , , , , , , , and .
Ex-Nazara CEO Manish Agarwal forays into Web3 gaming
, founded by ex-Nazara CEO Manish Agarwal, has forayed into Web3 gaming after raising Rs 160 crore. It has also acquired gaming venture IndiGG.
Kratos Studios has added Accel Partners, Prosus Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Courtside Ventures, and Nazara to its cap table, and is valued at Rs 1,200 crore.
Angel Investor Ishank Gupta has joined Manish Agarwal as co-founder at Kratos, and together, the duo plan to provide South Asian gamers an opportunity to leverage their time and skill to become creators of digital goods on the blockchain.
“This will enable South Asia to transform into a digital goods’ factory for the gaming world," Agarwal said.
The co-founders will continue to collaborate closely with Polygon Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Yield Guild Games' (YGG) co-founder Gabby Dizon to create the world's first gaming DAO.
WazirX shuts NFT marketplace
Indian cryptocurrency exchange , which launched its NFT marketplace in June 2021, has “sunsetted” it, it said, adding that the marketplace did not gain much traction.
“We are proud to have launched India's first NFT Marketplace in June 2021, which showcased the work of many creators. Unfortunately, it did not gain much traction," said the crypto exchange.
WazirX NFT Marketplace's users can continue to hold their NFTs in their wallets, and these can be sold in other marketplaces such as OpenSea.
Vishakha Singh, who led the marketplace as its co-founder and VP, exited from the entity in September last year. She then went on to consult for the Web3 app Coto.
