Totality Corp’s CEO explains why India remains largely untapped for NFTs
Despite ranking as one of the highest adopters of cryptocurrency among emerging markets, the majority of the Indian market has yet to accept non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Totality Corp founder and CEO Anshul Rutaggi explained that social and cultural barriers, as well as anti-crypto regulations, are holding back NFTs from mass adoption — especially in some of the lower tiers of the country.
India has a population of 1.38 billion people and is the second most populous country in the world, just behind China. Last month, the UN predicted that the country would overtake its competitor sometime in 2023.
However, Rustaggi explained that crypto trading and NFT collection are seen as speculative investments – a concept that is frowned upon in Indian culture and sits in a similar boat to gambling.
“India has a very love-hate relationship with speculation. So all of Asia including India loves speculation. But morally, we always like to say bad things about it,” he said.
Rutaggi explained that even his time as a hedge fund manager in London was seen by his own mother at the time as “basically gambling with other people’s money”.
“With NFTs, the only way to make money was speculation […] As a society, we have not yet accepted digital goods.”
While studies have found that most NFTs are purchased due to their speculative nature, some collections can be seen as a “signal” of wealth and status, such as in the case of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection which boasts a long list of celebrities and heavy hitters in crypto as hodlers.
However, Rutaggi says this concept has not taken off in India despite the strong emphasis on “social status” in Indian society.
“In India social status matters a lot, the biggest expense we have in India is marriage. On average, 34% of the living expenses of the marriage are with the children. And the thing is, it’s such a social event that you want to show off your best to the world. So social status is important.”
Rutaggi says the speculative nature of NFTs has prevented it from reaching the same level of social “signaling” compared to a luxury car or a Rolex watch, but noted:
“So I think the time for NFTs to be a good signal will come in India. I don’t think it has come yet, but it will.”
In late 2021, Totality Corp launched its first ‘Lakshmi NFT’ – inspired by the goddess of wealth and fortune. Rutaggi said this was “by far” the biggest NFT drop in India, raising $561,000 from a collection of 5,555 NFTs.
Rutaggi said the decline was successful as it designated stake rewards in USD Coin (USDC) as an incentive to hold NFT, making it a “guaranteed return” rather than “speculation.”
Related: The Indian government’s “blockchain not crypto” stance highlights a lack of understanding
Overall, however, Rutaggi believes crypto adoption will remain challenged in India as long as there is regulatory uncertainty.
The Indian government has maintained a strong anti-crypto stance since 2013. Earlier this year, the government proposed and implemented two crypto tax laws that have since seen trading volumes plunge and many crypto unicorns leave the country.
“The government of India definitely does not want crypto anymore […] The government directly says we don’t like blockchain and we don’t like cryptocurrency. But it’s kind of ridiculous.”
