Chingari’s much-vaunted cryptocurrency token GARI came crashing down to Earth earlier this month after a whale dumped millions of dollars worth of coins on a major exchange, sending its price down more than 80% in a matter of hours.
The GARI price crash led to howls of despair, with the internet quickly laying the blame at the feet of Chingari itself, some even accusing it of a so-called rug pull – a common scam in the crypto industry where developers pocket investor’s cash and disappear into the wilderness.
While this kind of reaction is understandable for investors who may have lost thousands of dollars in value from their GARI holdings, such claims have little basis in reality. Chingari remains by far and away the most successful Indian-built social media app in history, with ambitions to expand globally.
Chingari boasts an active user base of more than 40 million users, with over 70 million account sign-ups. It’s a profitable business, too, with the company forecasting revenue of more than $100 million by the end of the year. Not surprisingly, it has become India’s fastest-growing social media platform, not to mention the most downloaded app in India on Google Play.
Chingari is a socio-infotainment app centered on enabling anyone and everyone to create a monetizable audience through social media, positioning itself as a springboard for influencers. In that respect, the app is more than just a social media platform, with eCommerce integration, educational courses, and even an in-app cinema. It offers a full ecosystem that users can take advantage of to monetize their audience. This is where its GARI cryptocurrency is expected to play a pivotal role.
The company created the Solana-based GARI token last year. In June, it finally launched its long-awaited GARI Mining program, giving users a way to earn rewards by creating content, sharing it, liking videos, and so on. With the debut of GARI, Chingari immediately bought its 40 million strong user base on the chain to empower a new generation of crypto enthusiasts. Besides being dished out to users as rewards every day, GARI tokens can be used to purchase user-created NFTs or pay for one-on-one chats with famous influencers on the platform. Users can also pay with GARI to access in-app movies through its built-in cinema.
Chingari stands out from dozens of similar apps because of its emphasis on building a user-driven community. Rather than taking a large slice of the advertising revenue generated by its influencers, as the likes of TikTok and YouTube do, Chingari only takes a small percentage, sharing the rest with the content creators responsible for generating it.
The incredible functionality of Chinagari’s GARI-based economy is designed to provide influencers with a way to earn a comprehensive living on the platform without relying on third-party sponsorships. Not surprising then, Chingari has recorded a string of solid achievements in recent months. Not long ago, GARI became the third most popular Solana token in active wallets and grew to more than 800,000 at the last count. Since launching its GARI Mining program, Chingari has distributed over $1 million in rewards to its community.
Chingari’s move to embrace crypto was inspired, no doubt, driven by the huge interest in the industry among Indians. According to a report from market researcher Finder last year, India was ranked the third-highest nation in Asia regarding cryptocurrency ownership. More than 30% of individuals surveyed stated that they owned digital assets. Moreover, Indian blockchain startups attracted more than $638 million in funding in 2021.
Given the incredible appetite for crypto among Indians, Chingari looks to be capitalizing on this trend at just the right time. With its diverse range of features, a millions-strong user base, and GARI infrastructure now in place, Chingari looks well set to play a central role in the emerging creator economy, regardless of the minor hiccups it might experience along the way.
