Chingari looks to power creator economy with $GARI crypto token, NFT marketplace

Actor Salman Khan will be the brand ambassador of the NFT marketplace and the $GARI Token reward programme

by exchange4media Staff
Published: Oct 18, 2021 8:35 AM | 2 min read

Short video app Chingari has unveiled its first-ever crypto token $GARI at a public event on Saturday at the hands of Bollywood megastar Salman Khan. It will become the first social network in India to issue crypto tokens. The platform is launching its own NFT marketplace.

Khan will be the brand ambassador of the NFT marketplace and the $GARI Token reward programme. The popular Indian short-video sharing platform had recently raised $19 million funding from more than 30 venture funds and individual investors.

The funding will help the company to build $GARI with Solana, the fastest-growing ecosystem in crypto technology. The company also plans to build features to enable creator monetization and build utility of the $GARI token across interesting social media user cases.

Some of the biggest firms that participated in the funding round include Republic Crypto, Galaxy Digital, Alameda Research, Solana Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Kraken Ventures, Blackpine, NGC, Coinfund, LD Capital, 11-11 Ventures, AU21, Cultur3 Capital, Long Term Ventures, Afton Capital, and CSP DAO, among others.

With a vision of establishing 'Social Tokens' as the future of community platforms, $GARI aims to transform the creator ecosystem of the Indian subcontinent by enabling creators to set up their ecommerce space that includes physical merchandise, NFT creations and the ability for the fan community to fund their favourite artists.

“The creators are shaping the future of entertainment. With the incorporation of $GARI reward programme, the creators will further get motivated to create newer and more engaging videos on the Chingari app. It’s going to be an interesting journey here on,” Khan said in a statement.

Chingari CEO and Co-Founder Sumit Ghosh said that the platform is poised to become the trailblazer of social infotainment platforms and will forefront the Indian crypto blitzkrieg. “Chingari’s blockchain platform allows users to obtain tokens for creating or watching content. The idea is to monetize creators’ talent and empower them via a social platform. Chingari through its token $GARI wants to make this vision possible. We are certain $GARI will be a groundbreaking invention for the Indian digital and creator economy.”

Founded in November 2018, Chingari lets users download and upload short videos and shop for merchandise within the app, among other things. It boasts of 50 million monthly active users and 85 Million downloads to date. Since its redesign in June 2020, Chingari worked to fill the vacuum created by TikTok’s ban in India.