Chingari, the thriving social media platform that offers TikTok-like features to its users, has chosen Aptos as its Layer 1 blockchain. According to The Block report, this decision followed Aptos' investment in Chingari. The partnership between the two Web3 companies was announced on February 8, while the migration to Aptos from Solana, the blockchain currently used by Chingari, is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.
Chingari, an initially Web2 project launched in 2018, has been gradually expanding to Web3. In 2021, Chingari introduced its token, GARI, built on Solana, which has been used for Chingari's in-app purchases and incentivizing content creators.
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The app's new Web3 functionality will be created on top of the Aptos blockchain. Sumit Ghosh, the CEO of Chingari, expressed excitement about the company’s decision to partner with Aptos:
“Building on Aptos blockchain will pave the way for a strong foundation & case study in the Indian ecosystem… After intense months of technical due diligence and evaluation of the Aptos blockchain, we have chosen them as the rightful partner.”
Chingari's team expects the Aptos blockchain to increase the speed, security, and interoperability of its application and allow the social network's developers to add more features for interaction between its users. One of the key features Chingari's developers plan to add is content ownership.
Despite the migration to Aptos, Chingari promised that the legacy support for Solana-based app will remain:
“Solana has played a critical role in our journey & will continue to provide a reliable platform experience for users to manage their assets.”
Aptos sees great opportunities in working with India's leading social network. This move will boost the adoption of the Aptos blockchain and Web3 itself. The team behind the Aptos Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting and developing the Aptos network, protocol and developer ecosystem, commented in the blog post:
“There are over 4.5 billion social media users who congregate on digital platforms for connection and creation. When Web2 social makes its way to Web3, mass adoption will be undeniable.
On-chain social media platforms like Chingari are set to pioneer the Web3 paradigm shift. Aptos and Chingari are committed to holding the torch for all those who want to join us!”
The number of daily users of Chingari is constantly growing, exceeding 5 million according to November 2022 statistics. Although this number is not as impressive as the statistics of TikTok, which has around 55 million daily users, Chingari has great potential for growth and its switch to the Aptos blockchain can increase the app's popularity.
The company's token has already strengthened its position, reaching its recent peak of $0.079 on February 8. At press time, GARI is trading at around $0.075.
Chingari's success is attracting many other investors. Kraken, Republic Crypto, Galaxy Digital, JPIN Venture, Protocol Labs and The Venture Collective are some of the VC firms that have backed the emerging social media platform, according to Crunchbase.
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Chingari is not the only social media app that aims to become a Web3 alternative to TikTok. Another one is Xone, an augmented reality social network developed by Auras Studios. The team describes the project on its official website as follows:
“Xone empowers anyone with a smartphone to easily build, explore, and share virtual environments. Our mission is to bring the next 100 million users into web 3.0 by blending traditional social media interfaces with mixed reality and blockchain technology.”
