The new brain drain: Indian Web3 startups flock to Dubai amid regulatory uncertainty, stiff taxes

moneycontrol.com:

If there was one recurring theme that cut across multiple Web3 meetups held in Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai in the last month, it was Dubai. A city that has almost become an emotion and a panacea for entrepreneurs building on the Web3 platform—the so-called next version of the Internet, which will be decentralised and run on blockchain—even as they grapple with an uncertain regulatory landscape and hefty taxes in India. Every second founder we met at these meetups has either moved to Dubai or is in transition.

This was also visible at the Web3 events held in Dubai in March, the biggest ones being Binance Week and ETHDubai, where Indians made up the majority of attendees, with pictures being flooded on Twitter and Web3 Whatsapp groups.

“75 percent of the attendees were Indians. The others included Russians and Europeans,” says Santhosh Panda, founder of Foundership, which provides coaching and capital to Web3 projects, and was one of the attendees at these events.

india’s web3 capital: dubai pic.twitter.com/WF6Xr1BV9A

Fabulous catching up with the OG in Dubai @_jdkanani An early supporter and backer of our vision @vcParadigmShift from Day 1, and a true confidante! @DhruvWashishth pic.twitter.com/lNPsJqwJsr

These meetups are no different from the ones in India. They help you meet peers, form partnerships, and have more productive discussions around your product, say some of the attendees.

But, it's not just events. India’s Web3 startups are moving to Dubai for a number of reasons. Similar to how India’s Web 2.0 entrepreneurs registered companies such as Flipkart, Ola, InMobi, in Singapore for ‘ease of business’, India’s Web3.0 entrepreneurs are now registering businesses in Dubai, Singapore, British Virgin Islands and