The post-Covid times have brought India among the global leaders in crypto adoption. While in 2020, India was not even among the top 10, we ranked second for crypto adoption in the Chainalysis 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index, next only to Vietnam. 

Exchanges across the country have witnessed an influx of new registrations in the past year, with steadily rising trading volumes and a growing need for talent. As a result, the Indian crypto sub-sector has witnessed revenue growth of 40-50% – 4 times that of the overall tech sector in the last two years. Additionally, retail ownership of crypto assets has observed a remarkable growth of 612%.

Along with the growing adoption of digital currency, blockchain technology has also gained traction with private and public institutions in India, resulting in a steep rise in blockchain and Web3 related work opportunities. Furthermore, the demand for tech talent and relevant skills within the crypto sector has also been growing all over the world; the Microsoft-owned platform LinkedIn reports crypto-related job postings in 2021 grew by 395% within the US in comparison to 2020, far outpacing the tech industry, which witnessed a mere 98% growth in job-listings during the same time period. 

While the Indian government has yet to deliver any decisive move endorsing the trading of crypto, the Union Budget 2022 is expected to bring some positive regulations for the cryptocurrency market in India. This, in turn, can translate into even more varied jobs being created in the sector in the upcoming times. 

The Indian Government’s Stand on Cryptocurrency 

Despite regulatory clarity still pending, the Indian government has been gradually warming up to the concepts and wide range of use cases for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. The Cryptocurrency Bill 2021 aimed to assign the role of SEBI in regulating cryptocurrency as an investment class within the capital markets, and with the revised bill reportedly in the works as of right now, the government’s perspective regarding crypto-related matters seems to be positive. 

Many investors in India are waiting for the government to green light crypto trading with favorable regulations for the markets to jump onto the cryptocurrency bandwagon. Therefore, the upcoming Union Budget is anticipated to shed some light on cryptocurrency’s regulatory status in India.   

Indian Job Market Landscape for Web3

People in the crypto space are well aware of the multitude of job opportunities blockchain and Web3 have already offered. As a result, job postings related to blockchain have shot up significantly all through 2021; as per reports from the specialist staffing company Xpheno, the cryptocurrency sector has created over 10,000 active jobs in India, with Gurgaon, Mumbai, and Bengaluru combinedly contributing to about 60% of the total openings.

A report from the major employment platform Indeed suggests blockchain jobs in India have expanded by 138% since August 2018. Further, the report shows job postings for the crypto industry as a whole went up by 37% in the August of 2021, as opposed to the 13% of August 2020, while the demand for similar jobs grew by an astonishing 76%. 

In the meantime, as crypto adoption in tier-2 and tier-3 cities have gone up considerably faster than the bigger cities, places like Chandigarh, Vadodara, Indore, Coimbatore, Kochi, and Trivandrum are also emerging as future tech talent hubs.  

What Job Opportunities Does the Indian Crypto Market Offer?

While Indian tech talent is in high demand worldwide for up-and-coming blockchain projects, jobs in the blockchain and Web3 domains are growing at a rate of 2000-6000% in India. Aside from crypto, companies operating in healthcare, education, supply chain management, cloud computing, stock trading, real estate, and even government agencies are looking for blockchain techies for diverse requirements. In fact, blockchain expertise is already considered the second most demanded skill in the Indian market. In tandem, the average salary of a blockchain developer is also 50-100% higher than that of a conventional developer.

While the blockchain sector demands the tech talent that India is so widely known for, the numerous blockchain job opportunities Indian companies are generating cover a broad range of skill sets. Web3 demands reach beyond technology to span the creation of support functions for the blockchain industry and other such requirements; there is truly something there for everyone. 

For instance, there are opportunities for economists in Web3 games to help with creating incentive layers for the games. This is a critical role within a Web3 project, as the incentive layers in question can make or break the micro economy for a Web3 product.

The demand for UI/UX experts is also quite high for new Web3 applications. To aid the mass adoption of a certain product, the usability and experience have to be simple yet attractive for users who are not familiar with platforms of its kind. 

Further, even those skilled in taxes and regulatory compliance have many opportunities they can come across within the burgeoning blockchain sector; there’s scope to help make Web3 projects more tax compliant for the evolving regulations.

The Indian crypto Sector Job Market will have a great year.

With the growing awareness of Web3 among the general populace, we expect more and more skilled individuals to join the industry. Notably, the youth of India are already showing an incredible amount of interest and contributing to the growth of the blockchain sector within the country; even teenage developers who have yet to complete university are already participating in the development of Web3 applications.  

At this stage, with crypto being an industry that can generate this spectacular amount of job openings, the Indian government needs to release a statement discussing crypto and blockchain technology and help the industry as a whole move forward with the much-needed clarity. We remain hopeful that the Union Budget 2022 will bring forth a healthy regulatory framework for crypto in India, thus setting up the right stage for the industry.  

Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is currently unregulated. Kindly ensure that you undertake sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information provided in this section doesn't represent any investment advice or WazirX's official position. WazirX reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change this blog post at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.