Blockchain Wedding, A Couple In India Use NFT To Digitize Their Love

JAKARTA - A young couple from India is using nonfungible tokens (NFT) to digitize their love for each other via the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain.

A newly married couple from Pune, India, Shruti Nair, and Anil Narasipuram decided to take their wedding to the next level by hosting a blockchain wedding.

“I read some articles about how people in other countries do blockchain marriages and that motivates me,” said Anil, the husband, as quoted by Cointelegraph.

Other prominent crypto entrepreneurs, who are also following this trend include Rebecca Kacherginsky, the Coinbase product designer.

As part of the Indian blockchain wedding, the couple was accompanied online by Anoop Pakki, who was responsible for printing the NFT — aka digital priest.

"We read the oath and after receiving the blessing of our digital pastor, I confirmed the transaction to transfer the NFT to my wife's digital wallet," Anil said as quoted by Cointelegraph. "The transaction took a few minutes (and about $35 in ETH gas costs) after which we were declared husband and wife by our digital pastor!"

The couple unanimously recited their vows. "We're not going to make big promises, but we're going to do everything we can to make this work. Through all our disagreements and conflicts, we hope to grow our understanding of each other and ourselves. We don't expect to be a whole village for each other, but we will be by each other's side, hand in hand, walking through this adventure, together," the two said as they vowed to marry.

The wedding vows in the form of digital images were then printed as NFT by digital priests on the OpenSea platform. The description of the NFT reads:

“This contract is between Shruti Sathian Nair, born March 17, 1988, and Anil Mohan Narasipuram, born October 11, 1986. The parties to this agreement are hereby declared husband and wife, on November 15, 2021, and are subject to detention, in sickness. and in health, now and forever.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, has also announced the launch of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) along with a 30% crypto tax by 2022–23 during the 2022 Union Budget.

As Cointelegraph reports, Sitharaman said that the launch of the CBDC would provide a “huge boost” to the digital economy along with the possibility of a more efficient and cheaper currency management system. His proposal suggests:

“Any income from the transfer of any virtual digital asset will be taxed at 30%. No deductions with respect to any expenses or allowances are permitted when calculating the income, except for the cost of acquisition,” he said.