Bybit's India Blockchain Tour 2025. Sounds amazing, right? A huge, global crypto exchange coming down to India, pledging to level up the crypto literacy quotient in the country and empowering the youth within. Hyderabad saw over 1,000 attendees. Eight cities in total. All brought together by Octaloop, a Web3 consulting firm. Now, to be fair, it’s easy to get swept up in the awe of such a large-scale initiative. Hold on, let’s pump the brakes here for a moment.

Is this really altruism, or just a strategic land grab for the next billion crypto users?

Bybit’s recent FIU-IND registration is a massive victory for legitimacy, to be clear. It sends a message that you’re to their school and willing to follow the rules. The fact that Jayesh Ranjan, a top Telangana government official specialized in IT, added his presence and credibility makes it better yet. Remember, these companies are not non-profits either. They're driven by profit. India, with its nascent technology development ecosystem and crypto-hungry young population, is a huge potential goldmine.

Vikas Gupta, Bybit India’s Country Manager, in conversation on bridging the crypto literacy gap. That's a noble goal. Hackathons and workshops in collaboration with IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur, these are wonderful prospects. Bybit Learn and Demo Trading? Great tools. This initiative, after all, is supposedly about empowering ordinary Indians. Or is it just really interested in creating a new army of Bybit users who get hooked on their platform?

Think about it. The promise of mysterious easy money. The gilded promise of sudden wealth is a helluva drug. Particularly in a country where economic opportunity is not widely shared. Are we truly empowering consumers with the tools they need to get through crypto’s complicated maze and minefield of risks? Or are we simply dumping them into a black box that obsesses over Bybit’s bottom line first and foremost?

Literacy Gap: A Convenient Narrative?

There is a parallel here to the early days of the internet. Have you ever heard about the “digital divide”? The rationale was that access to the internet would work like magic pixie dust and fix all of society’s problems. What happened? We allowed the internet to be taken over by a handful of extremely powerful corporations, and with that the digital divide in so many respects increased.

Economic Times also reported on the crypto adoption spreading into the Tier-2 cities, such as Surat and Indore, beyond the big metros. This is where things get really interesting. These are all areas where lack a financial literacy wizard is low, and the siren call of get rich quick scams stronger.

India topping the Global Crypto Adoption Index for the second consecutive year is definitely motivo para festejar. Adoption doesn't equal understanding. It just means people are using crypto. Are they using it responsibly? Are they aware of the risks? Are they equipped to handle the volatility?

Wealth creation projections at $15 billion Indian crypto market by 2035 sound absurdly high. Who will benefit the most from all of that growth? Whether it’s going to be the small Indian citizen or if it’s going to be these big exchanges and investment companies.

Tier-2 Cities: The New Frontier?

This reminds me of the dot-com boom. Everyone was moving to invest in the next hot internet company, without a real grasp of the technology itself or the sustainable business models behind it. Many people got burned.

Now with the potential crash layout in the crypto space are we going down the same path.

Bybit had an immersive learning booth, where attendees could test their crypto knowledge with a crypto quiz. Fun! Engaging! A crypto IQ test isn’t exactly going to make you a whiz with money. It's a marketing tactic, plain and simple. Ahmedabad is next on the tour. More quizzes, more workshops, more "community engagement."

Are these mostly young, inexperienced, and newly “empowered” crypto users just going to be abandoned in this dangerous unregulated market? Will they have access to the tools, resources, and support that they need, in order to make informed decisions on their own? Or will they appear on the ever-increasing list of crypto scams and rug pulls?

I really do hope that Bybit’s India tour is genuinely intended to empower the masses. That’s a big win to help bridge the crypto literacy gap. I truly hope this is indeed just the start of a new era of financial inclusion and economic opportunity.

Community Engagement: More Than Just Quizzes?

So I’m fully aware that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, too. In crypto, caution and common sense often take a backseat to greed and hype. We judges need to counter these efforts with a good bit of skepticism, too. Here’s hoping that this tour catalyzes real local empowerment, rather than a new, misguided bubble of financialized speculation. Because the stakes are too high for mere window dressing. And the Indian population certainly deserves far better than that.

But what happens after Bybit packs up and leaves town?

Will these newly "empowered" crypto users be left to fend for themselves in a volatile and unregulated market? Will they have access to the resources and support they need to make informed decisions? Or will they become just another statistic in the long and growing list of crypto scams and rug pulls?

I want to believe that Bybit's India tour is a genuine attempt to empower the masses and bridge the crypto literacy gap. I want to believe that this is the beginning of a new era of financial inclusion and economic opportunity.

But I also know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And in the world of crypto, where greed and hype often outweigh caution and common sense, it's essential to approach these initiatives with a healthy dose of skepticism. Let's hope this tour sparks genuine empowerment, not just another wave of financial speculation gone wrong. Because the stakes are too high for anything less. The Indian population deserves far better than that.