Cosmos Gains Traction in India Amid Broader Crypto Resurgence

Cosmos, promoted by the Switzerland-based Interchain Foundation, is especially finding traction with students like Aditya Nalini at the Vellore Institute of Technology in southern India.

He's one of four "Ambassadors" trained by the community organization Cosmos India, founded in November 2019.

The Cosmos India community grew from a handful people in 2019 to more than 1,000 participants in less than nine months, local organizers say, despite the pandemic.

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which both already have strong brand identities, Cosmos is still relatively new to Indian crypto fans.

This gives the project the feel of being the "Next big thing." Nalini described the Cosmos ecosystem as the "Father" network, because the Cosmos interoperability project allows all the different altcoin projects to "Talk and take help from one another instead of fighting for dominance."

According to Cosmos India co-founder Abhitej Singh - who is also the communications lead at the organization's sponsor startup, Persistence One - roughly 1,000 Indian people participated in Cosmos programs so far in 2020.

Beyond meetups and ambassador training, Cosmos India also operates outreach programs at the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology in Bangalore and the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad.For example, after working with Cosmos India, NMIT Professor Sanjay H.A. said he will add a Cosmos case study to his blockchain engineering course next semester.

"We aim to connect with around 50,000 students over the next year through the webinars, hackathons, tutorials and student chapters. Our goal is also to have Cosmos in the curriculum as an optional course in at least five universities."

As for the Cosmos community, Nalini said more than 300 people registered in less than a week for the next Cosmos hackathon, HackAtom India.

"The Cosmos community is rapidly growing in India," Nalini said, especially among students.