India's First Blockchain Marriage

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A couple from India got married through a blockchain wedding, marking the first digital wedding in India powered by the cryptocurrency's infrastructure.

Anil Narasipuram and Shruti Nair were married through a courthouse wedding on November 15, 2021. The couple then immortalized their vows using Ethereum smart contract on the same day. "We started the ceremony as soon as we got back from the Registrar's Office in Pune," Narasipuram said on a LinkedIn post. The contract consecrated the couple's "commitment to each other in the form of an NFT minted on OpenSea."

Blockchain is an emerging technology that serves as the backbone of cryptocurrency. Although blockchain and similar technologies have been used in different industries, they have become synonymous with Bitcoin.

With blockchain, all transactions in cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, can be recorded forever. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) also use blockchains to maintain a public record of ownership. The couple's NFT called Ekatvam was minted on OpenSea, currently the largest NFT marketplace. NFT's are digital assets that also use blockchain for their infrastructure.

Anoop Pakki, a "digital priest, " officiated the couple's digital wedding.

The couple created their online wallets through MetaMask, to prepare for the ceremony. Pakki minted the couple's NFT that contained an image of Nair's hands wearing her engagement and wedding ring and a text of their vows.

Along with their close family and friends, the couple joined a Google Meet session. The couple sat next to each other using separate laptops during the online ceremony.

"We read out the vows, and after receiving the blessings of our digital priest, I transferred the NFT to my wife's digital wallet," Narasipuram said, similar to the groom putting the ring on his bride.

"The transaction took a few minutes after which we were pronounced husband and wife by our digital priest," Narasipuram exclaimed.

Anoop blessed the wedding and pronounced Narasipuram and Nair as husband and wife. According to Narasipuram, the wedding's transaction is "a permanent, immutable and public record of our commitment to each other on the ETH blockchain."

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