The state of India’s NFT scene

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Editor's note: Imagine over 100,000 people waiting in a queue signing up for something that doesn’t exist yet. That was the case leading up to the launch of GARI—the NFT marketplace run by TikTok clone Chingari, which promised anyone who paid up a minimum of $100 a chance at making profits they hadn’t seen before.  GARI is India’s first NFT marketplace that is driven by a social media platform. Based on the Solana blockchain and using its own cryptocurrency, also called GARI, it promises holders the chance to empower their favourite creators as well as access to govern the platform.  It is also the first social media platform to fully integrate a cryptocurrency into its app in India—giving access to thousands of users to engage with a new payments experience. This deep integration of social media, a cryptocurrency and an NFT platform is propelled by Chingari’s staking rewards system.  Users with the Chingari app were handed out GARI tokens, a move known as airdropping in the crypto world, but anyone can buy GARI on Republic Crypto, with a minimum buy-in of $100. …