Launch of Telangana's Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox

Hyderabad: The internet, for years, is now on edge to experience a breakthrough with the help of blockchain and its decentralised nodes. Web 3.0 technology gives rights back to its users and focuses on peer-to-peer interaction. The move to Web 3.0 represents the next step in the internet ecosystem.The Government of Telangana is launching a Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox. Local and international firms or innovators wishing to test their products in a ‘live’ environment can apply to participate in the Sandbox.

The Principal Secretary, Information technology, Electronics and Communications Department, Shri. Jayesh Ranjan(shared his message through video byte) and the Director of Emerging Technologies Wing, Government of Telangana, Smt. Rama Devi Lankaofficially launched the start of the application process for the Telangana’s Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox at the closing ceremony of EthIndia on December 4th in Bengaluru. EthIndia2022 is the largest Web3 & Ethereum Hackathon with 2000+ attendees from 30+ countries building 459 projects

Through this initiative the Governmentwill enable firms to test and learn in a live environment. The aim is simple – to enable accelerated innovation in the web 3.0 industry by facilitating robust testing mechanisms and support required by the firms. Innovations that can be tested include new products, services, solutions, business models, and even policies. The Regulatory sandbox would extensively help the firms in navigating the regulatory space and help them provide a definite structure to their product testing process thus bringing in efficiency. The sandbox may also help the regulators identify the regulatory barriers to beneficial innovation. The Sandbox will not only benefit the innovators in testing but also the regulators and the consumers of the products.

The sandbox will operate in a continuous format. The participants can exit the sandbox as and when they are through with their testing process. However, the testing period for a participant may not exceed 6 months. The application to be a participant in the sandbox will open twice a year.Initially, we will keep the size of active participants in the Sandbox to about 10-15. This size may be increased later. The observations on regulatory policies will be passed on to the regulatory bodies and wherever necessary state-level policies will be drafted to implement the findings from the sandbox.

Government of Telangana is also partnering with Devfolio to conduct large scale Web 3.0 events in Hyderabad. The first one being India’s first ever EthforAll in February.

Sri. K.T Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for IT, MA&UD, and Industries said, “Telangana has always been in the forefront of enabling and driving the use of frontier technologies in several sectors. We have set up, a first-of-its-kind initiative, a dedicated vertical- Emerging Technologies Wing. I am proud to say that the journey of ET Wing has been rather incredible. It has played a very crucial role in the acceleration and adoption of emerging technologies, especially blockchain in the State. We have identified use cases that improve or enhance the lives of the common man. The solutions, developed by startups, were implemented in various domains ranging from microfinance, traceability, supply chain to voting.Now is the time for us to move to Web3 as these technologies have rapidly scaled up over the last few years. The Web3 ecosystem now boasts thousands of startups and innovators worldwide.A very important initiative taken up by the government is the Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox that we are launching today at EthIndia. We believe that the sandbox will help startups navigate the regulatory landscape in India.”

Sri. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary ITE&C and Industries, said, “Many Web3 ecosystem partners have expressed that the regulatory ambiguity which prevails in our country prevents them from bringing out more creative solutions and developing new products. To tackle this issue and to retain the best companies and startups in the Web 3.0 ecosystem in India,the Government of Telangana is starting the Web 3.0 Sandbox. Some of the national regulatory bodies also have chosen to join hands with this regulatory sandbox. This gives an extra level of assurance to startups, domain experts that this regulatory sandbox experience of Hyderabad would hopefully open many more doors for them at national level and even beyond.I look forward to the industry's participation and support for the sandbox.In February we are hosting at HyderabadIndia’s first everEthforAll event with the focus on "Public Goods". So, I invite all the delegates, all the participants and all the speakers to come to participate in Ethforall.

Smt. Rama Devi Lanka, Director of Emerging Technologies, said, “The Sandbox initiative will provide benefits to all the stakeholders in the web 3.0 ecosystem. It will benefit the innovators by providing them with a platform to test their product and get it validated by the regulators. The regulators will be able to gather evidence that can be used to draft guidelines or modify regulations in their respective sectors. The consumers will be able to shape the product by providing feedback in the testing phase itself.” I am also happy to invite you all to join our community on discord ‘Telangana Web3 Sandbox’. I am very proud of this new partnership that will enhance the web 3.0 ecosystem in the state and the country.”