Investors Flock to India’s DeFi Scene Months After Central Bank Ban Overturned

Six months after India’s highest court overturned a banking ban on crypto companies, investors have jumped at the chance to back decentralized finance (DeFi) projects hailing from the subcontinent.

• DeFi protocols UniLend Finance and PlotX announced Tuesday they had both successfully completed their seed rounds.
• UniLend, a lending protocol, raised $3.1 million in a round led by Woodstock Fund, which includes data oracle provider, Band Protocol, in its portfolio.
• (Disclosure: The author of this article has previously worked for one of the investors in UniLend, but has no current relationship.)
• Meanwhile, DeFi prediction market platform PlotX raised $2.4 million in seed, including a commit from NGC, whose portfolio ranges from Algorand and Zilliqa.
• The appeal of DeFi for investors has rapidly grown, as total value locked (TVL) increased more than tenfold over the summer, according to DeFi Pulse.
• Just in the past couple of weeks, Linear Finance has finalized a $1.8 million seed round, and Dune Analytics, which specializes in providing data on the DeFi space, raised $2 million.
• The raises for UniLend and PlotX come as the local cryptocurrency industry is finding its feet again after the Supreme Court of India overturned a two-year ban, imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), that prevented cryptocurrency companies from accessing mainstream financial services.
• Speaking to CoinDesk, a UniLend spokesperson said the lifting of the ban had been part of a broader thaw, as India's government becomes "increasingly progressive" on the question of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
• The spokesperson added that investors are turning to India as the hub for promising new blockchain projects.
• "With such a strong base of developer talent and a rapidly growing community of crypto enthusiasts, India is poised to become a leading hub of blockchain innovation and people are increasingly recognizing this," they said.

See also: India May Be Starting Its Biggest Bitcoin Bull Run Yet