- Two Coinbase employees, Rebecca Rose and Peter Kacherginsky, got married last month.
- But instead of just traditional rings, the couple exchanged non-fungible tokens.
- “The #blockchain, unlike physical objects, is forever,” Rose tweeted.
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Sure, diamonds may last forever, but you know what else does? Non-fungible tokens.
Last month, Coinbase employees Rebecca Rose and Peter Kacherginsky got married in a traditional Jewish ceremony. Except, when it came time to swap rings, they whipped out their phones and swapped non-fungible tokens, or NFTs in addition to exchanging traditional rings.
“Most people get married in a place of religious worship, on a beach, or in the mountains. Peter and I are NOT most people,” Rose tweeted. “We got married on the #blockchain.”
—Rebecca Rose (@rgoldilox) April 2, 2021
It’s the latest chapter in a packed few months for NFTs, which have become the latest hot thing in the crypto world. NFTs are digital assets stored on a blockchain, the same technology used to create Bitcoin. This means they cannot be duplicated, destroyed, or edited. While NFTs can be a variety of things, much of the attention has been on NFTs as digital art, with some pieces selling for millions.
Rose and Kacherginsky created their own digital NFT tokens named “Tabaat,” Hebrew for “ring.” Inside the tokens, they stored an animation by artist Carl Johan Hasselrot.
The animation shows two circles rotating around each other, eventually coming together and forming a single, larger circle.
“It’s a loop, and while we’ll only marry each other once, marriage will require us to unite again and again,” Rose told Insider.
Now, whenever the pair opens their cryptowallets, they’ll will see their wedding NFTs, two circles colliding forever.
While their ceremony might seem unconventional, it makes perfect sense given their place of employment.
Rose is the design leader at Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, and Kacherginsky is Coinbase’s principal blockchain security engineer. It’s rumored that some Coinbase employees refer to themselves as “Coinbaes,” which is both adorable and incredibly applicable to this situation.
Rose said that, as their wedding approached, they thought carefully about how to document their marriage. Everything traditional seemed ephemeral: a civil marriage license is subject to the laws of state government, a ketubah (the marriage contract required by Jewish law) could burn in a fire, and social media posts could be taken down by the platform they’re hosted on.
“The #blockchain, unlike physical objects, is forever. It is unstoppable, impossible to censor, and does not require anyone’s permission. Just as love should be,” Rose tweeted.
Julie Mikos
Rose said the blockchain’s decentralized nature — meaning no single person can edit or change it — is freeing.
“Blockchain marriage gives individuals the power to declare a loving commitment without the need for state, religious or any other authority,” she said.
It’s also more creative. Why limit yourself to stones and metal, when you can pick anything to represent your love?
“Digital rings are far more customizable, expressive, and lasting than their physical counterparts ever could be,” Rose said.
Their wedding is just the beginning: Rose hinted they may create a decentralized app to let people to create their own NFT tokens for special events.
She also said they plan to send each other NFTs every anniversary. Together, they’ll add to the blockchain as they build their lives together, documenting their love in the most permanent way they can.
As Rose tweeted, “What could possibly be more romantic than that?”
Editor’s note: This story originally did not report that they exchanged rings in addition to the NFTs.