India’s First Blockchain Wedding: Couple takes vows with NFT, cryptocurrency and digital priest

In what appears to be India’s first, a Pune-based couple hosted a blockchain wedding. In a royal fashion, the wedding was consecrated with NFT (Non Fungible Token) that was exchanged using Ethereum, a cryptocurrency, in the presence of a digital priest. The couple, Anil Narasipuram and Shruti Nair, used an image of Shruti’s engagement ring along with the couple’s vows as NFT. This innovative wedding highlights the growing popularity of both blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in India. Check out the details of one of the most unique wedding affairs in India.

Blockchain technology is breaking new grounds every day. The technology works on a digital ledger system and keeps record of transactions taking place in the digital ecosystem and specifically for decentralized tokens such as cryptocurrency and NFT. While it has a variety of use cases from keeping track of transactions, proof checking for any errors in financial bookkeeping and securing digital assets, using blockchain to solemnize a marriage is probably not something many had thought about. But now, India has broken new ground with this digital wedding. With the metaverse planning to take life as we know it to digital space, this news definitely adds some confidence to the technologists.

A match made in Blockchain - how it happened

Shruti and Anil had a registered marriage or a courthouse wedding on November 15, 2021 due the Covid-19 pandemic. The couple also wanted to do something special to remember their wedding by. “We also decided to immortalize our union using blockchain technology,” wrote Anil in his LinkedIn post. And thus began the preparations for the blockchain wedding. And of course, since a marriage cannot be officiated without a priest, the couple invited Anoop Pakki to be their digital priest. Now, it was the turn for exchanging the vows through an NFT, cryptocurrency and a smart contract.

“In an online ceremony…Shruti and I made our marriage 'blockchain official' with an Ethereum smart contract that consecrated our commitment to each other in the form of an NFT minted on OpenSea,” the groom wrote.

The NFT was decided to be a picture of Shruti’s engagement ring. The couple’s vows were also embedded in the image. The NFT was sent to the groom who transferred it to his wife’s metamask wallet. The transaction took a few minutes and about “$35 in ETH gas fees”, and so, the blockchain wedding fueled by the Ethereum cryptocurrency was commenced. But wait, receiving the blessing from the priest was still remaining.

The digital priest blessed the couple in a note that read, “By the power vested in me by Ethereum, it is my honour and delight to declare you married”. And that’s it. The blockchain wedding was officially done as the couple were pronounced husband and wife. The wedding was attended by close family and friends via Google Meet.

“Cryptocurrency and blockchain represent a significant change in the way we transact and the way we trust. This is just the beginning," wrote Anil.