A space where the only code you're switching is onchain.
SAIDA is a community for South Asians building in digital assets, across engineering, investing, operations, and everything in between. A place to show up fully without context-setting.
What people took away from the first dinner.
After our first gathering in New York, we asked attendees to share what the evening meant to them.
The room filled itself.
No agenda, just an invitation to a table. The people who showed up were the proof: senior operators and builders from across the industry, choosing a dinner with strangers who happened to share a cultural thread over another panel.
Representation from the first table included:
An organization built on the premise that belonging changes the work.
The representation is already here. South Asians are founders, executives, and innovators shaping digital assets at every level. But representation in a lineup doesn't always mean belonging in the room.
The truth, at least for some of us, is that we still hold back a portion of ourselves to fit in. The space can feel foreign even when it's technically home, and the conversations can feel performative in ways that leave you more tired than they should.
SAIDA's hypothesis: a curated space, small enough to be real, can give us somewhere to actually recharge, not just network, so we can sustain this work and elevate each other communally instead of carrying it alone.
This is early. We're asking whether there's enough energy to build something real, and we're starting by gathering the people who'd make it worth building.
"The most useful thing isn't another panel or happy hour. It's a room where someone already gets where you're coming from, so you can skip straight to what matters."
No credentials at the door
You don't need a title, a fund size, or a following. If you're building in this space and part of the diaspora, you belong here.
Not a monolith
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the second generation, the third. We hold all of it. The range is the point.
Peer density matters
The value isn't a speaker lineup. It's the people you meet, the intros that land, and the candid conversations you can only have with people you trust.
How SAIDA shows up in the world.
We're building from the bottom up, starting with intimate, high-signal gatherings and growing into something more permanent as demand shapes what comes next.
Small rooms. Real food. Conversations that go somewhere.
An intimate dinner series for South Asians in digital assets, built on the belief that the most meaningful professional relationships aren't formed at panels. They're formed over a meal where nobody's performing.
No keynotes. No forced icebreakers (okay, maybe just one). Just a curated table of people who share a cultural thread and are shaping a space that's still being defined.
New York City
If you see yourself here, you're who we're building for.
SAIDA spans the full spectrum of how South Asians are building in digital assets, from protocol engineers to institutional compliance leads.
Founders & Builders
You're building the protocols, the companies, the infrastructure. You want peers who understand the craft, and the particular pressure of doing it as part of the diaspora.
Investors & Capital Allocators
Crypto-native funds, traditional institutions moving into digital assets, angels. You want signal from people actually in the work, not the hype cycle.
Engineers & Protocol Contributors
You're doing the technical work that makes this possible. You want peers who match your depth without needing a validator explained to them.
Finance, Ops & Compliance
Accounting, audit, legal, treasury: the institutional layer that makes this asset class legible. Often underrepresented here, always essential to it.
Operators & Generalists
BD, product, strategy, marketing: the connective tissue that makes crypto companies function day to day.
Curious & Adjacent
Earlier in your journey, adjacent to the space, or genuinely considering a pivot. You don't need to have arrived. Curiosity is enough.
Tell us you want a seat at this table.
SAIDA is being built based on genuine interest. If enough people want this, we'll build it properly. Raising your hand is the most useful thing you can do right now.
- Get notified when the next Diaspora Table comes to your city
- Shape what SAIDA becomes: your input directly influences what we build
- Be part of the founding cohort, here from the beginning