The Bharat Web3 Association (BWA) has announced a cybersecurity workshop that will be conducted in Bengaluru on May 8. During the upcoming event, the BWA will discuss security challenges related to crypto exchanges and wallets. Representatives from multiple crypto firms like Coinbase and Bitgo have been listed as speakers for this workshop. The BWA is aiming to prepare Indian Web3 firms to deal with the sophisticated hacking and scamming methods used by malicious actors to target the $3 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,52,75,450 crore) industry.
CoinDCX CISO Sridhar Govardhan is one of the speakers scheduled to discuss the lessons that can be learnt from recent breaches that impacted the Web3 space. Other representatives from companies like CoinSwitch and Mudrex are also slated to speak at the workshop, Chenoy told Gadgets 360.
Muralidharan Sundaramurthy, Head of Technology Risk and Security Compliance, APAC, Coinbase and Barath Jawahar, Director of Engineering, BitGo are slated to talk about the risks for Web3 projects around third-party integrations and cloud security.
Marc Krisjanous, a senior committee member from the CryptoCurrency Security Standard (CCSS) will also be joining the discussions virtually. The CCSS is a certification programme that audits Web3 firms on their safety protocols. The certification programme was reportedly founded in 2014 by the CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium (C4).
As part of the upcoming workshop, the BWA plans to highlight critical vulnerabilities that pose a serious threat to the ecosystem’s stability. These are part of ongoing efforts to protect Web3 businesses and the investor community from volatility and scams.
Topics around the safe custody of digital assets, API security, and infrastructure protection have been listed as top priority for the workshop, BWA chairperson Dilip Chenoy told Gadgets 360.
Industry representatives will also discuss cooperative ways to adopt healthy practices to keep their users safe against Web3 crimes.
While the Web3 industry has grown in several cities across India, Bengaluru is touted as the biggest hub in the country. In November 2024, a report by the BWA claimed that Karnataka was home to at least 97 Web3 firms.
Similarly, a CoinSwitch report also claimed that Bengaluru and Delhi are the key crypto trading hubs in the country.
The State of Web3 Security in India
A recent survey by Binance said that the crypto players in Asian countries like India, demand advanced security measures. Over half of the respondents to the Asia-focussed Binance survey expressed the desire to participate in platform-organised anti-scam simulations like phishing detection tests.
Following the WazirX hack last year, that led to the loss of over $250 million (roughly Rs. 1,900 crore) in funds, the BWA had released detailed guidelines to promote safe business practices for India’s Web3 service providers in January this year.
As part of its guidelines, the BWA directed its member companies to provide customers with transparent information regarding asset listings, market prices, and trading rules. VASPs have also been instructed to implement measures for detecting activities such as wash trading, insider trading, and pump-and-dump schemes. Additionally, the BWA encourages initiatives to educate investors on safe trading practices.
