Chingari – a short video application based in India – has unveiled its new cryptocurrency GARI, which is slated to begin trading on the India-based cryptocurrency exchange Coin DCX.
Chingari in India Will Have Its Own Crypto
The move comes at a rather strange – and potentially inopportune – time given that India is still very much up in the air when it comes to the fate of cryptocurrency. The country has had one of the most unstable relationships in the world with digital assets, and it doesn’t look like things are going to be calming down anytime soon.
India initially made a move against the growing crypto space back in the year 2018. The country’s Reserve Bank decided that no other financial institutions could do business with crypto companies. If you ran a firm that delved in digital currencies or blockchain technology, you were not allowed to get a bank account, and you were denied access to traditional money services.
This remained in place until 2020, when the country’s Supreme Court felt that the ruling was unconstitutional and reversed it. From there, it looked like India was going to be one of the biggest crypto havens in the world. People began trading like mad, and it truly seemed like digital assets had found a new and permanent home.
Unfortunately, this was not quite the case given that several months later, India announced it was now mulling a full ban of digital currency activities. You could no longer trade, purchase, or own digital currencies, and anyone who was caught in the crypto mix would either be fined or serve jail time.
While this law was never fully implemented, it doesn’t look like the smoke has cleared just yet. India has gone back and forth between considering a ban on crypto and regulating it and declaring it an official trading outlet for the country. At one point, it looked like India was even considering releasing a digital version of the rupee, the nation’s official currency, though at press time, not much is known about this endeavor.
In any case, Chingari may find itself having to rescind its decision to unveil a new digital asset if India winds up taking a reverse step in the field of digital assets. As it stands, approximately 75 customers – at least for now – are slated to gain access to the new GARI cryptocurrency, which will be housed on the Solana blockchain.
A Potentially Big Moment?
Sumit Ghosh – CEO and co-founder of Chingari – explained in a statement:
This listing is a huge moment for us as it will allow the creators from every nook and corner of India to trade the GARI token. This has come as a giant leap towards our goal of financially empowering creators on our short video app, Chingari, who have largely been ignored by the global short app platforms.
