ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds

Chit funds (ROSCAs) without one person holding the pot. Your circle's money and rules, on-chain on Base. Learn more ↓

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

1/ Our founder's family lost ₹10L+ to a chit fund. The organiser held the pot, and then he didn't. In India this isn't rare. It's how chits usually fail. So we're building ManaCircle, where no single person ever holds the pot. 🧵

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@base Shopify on Base is a big thing.

The day a small shop in Hyderabad gets paid in stablecoins as easily as UPI, things change fast.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@sandeepnailwal So true. In 70+ calls with chit members in India, nobody asked which chain.

The first question is always who holds the money. Rails win when the answer is nobody.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@saxenasaheb @ycombinator @base Hey Saumya, we're applying too.

Building on-chain savings circles on Base. Chit funds without one person holding the pot, starting with India and building for everyone.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@0xindguy @cryptoady @IBWofficial Have fun man! IBW is a good first one to start with.

Say hi if you're around for Devcon too 😉

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@TamilCrypt0 @base @buildonbase Only 6 picked out of 387 in Season 1 is a tough filter damn...

Good luck to everyone applying this time 🔥

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@RamThote_ Skipping the SMS access part is a smart call.

Curious if you'll track chits too? 1 in 3 South Indians aged 30 to 50 is in one and no app ever sees that money.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@NeelChhabra So the bet is that people will pay once UPI stops being free...

From our chit calls, people already give the organiser a ~5% cut without blinking. They don't mind paying, they mind not seeing where it goes.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

Two of our co-founders audit smart contracts for a living.

@gowtham_ponnana alone has done 80+ audits and helped secure $600M+ during live exploits. When something breaks on-chain at 3 AM, he's usually one of the people in the war room.

So when we sat down to design ManaCircle, the first rule was simple. The protocol should never hold custody of user funds. Not during a payout, not during an upgrade, not in any situation.

That's how the contracts are architected and written. There's no pot sitting with us, no admin key that can move your money, no one person to trust.

Savings circles run everywhere. Chits in India, tandas in Mexico, susus in Ghana, stokvels in South Africa. They almost always fail the same way, when one person controls the pot. We didn't want to rebuild that problem on-chain.

We're starting with India and building for everyone. Rules on-chain on @base.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@sukanto018 @base Winning a Base Builder Grant through a Reddit contest is a new one lol

Congratulations on the journey man 🔥

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@oracles @mansourtarek_ @luanalopeslara @Kalshi Everything is distribution really...

For money products the best one is still word of mouth inside a community. That's how chit funds in India got so big, one relative asking another.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@akhil_bvs @base This is really helpful Akhil.

Would love to see an RFB around group savings for India. The behaviour already exists offline at huge scale, just nobody has taken the pot out of one person's hands yet.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@LightspeedIndia @SuperLivingApp Same thing in consumer finance in India.

Chit apps can copy the UI in a week. What they can't copy is a group of 10 people who already trust each other with ₹10,000 a month. That trust is the real moat I believe.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@IamFisovee A stokvel that sends year end statements with deadlines is run better than most chits back in India 😂

Members here mostly find out the balance when the organiser decides to tell them.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@buildonbase @saxenasaheb @saxenasaheb replying "what are you building?" to everyone is honestly underrated.

For consumer finance apps in India the hard part is mostly INR on-ramps and compliance, not the contracts. Would love to see more help there.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@ORFMumbai Full backing and liquidity within days is exactly what chit members want from their organiser too...

Most of them only find out the money isn't there when the payout is due.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@nemild @ycombinator One use case I'd love to see on that list is group savings.

1 in 5 adults in emerging markets is in a savings circle, and the pot still sits with one person earning nothing. Stablecoins fix both of those really well.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@findyoursunset 0.55% is wild...

Same story with chit pools in India. Lakhs sit idle between payouts earning nothing. Savers always get the worst deal on idle money.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@Debica0 @safrochain So true. Nobody back home cared about blockchain until we talked about their monthly chit.

Show people something they already do every month, minus one person holding the money. That clicks way faster than any tech talk.

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

@AntlerIndia Savings circle apps in the US mostly died early (Tanda, Puddle, eMoneyPool)...

I believe the lesson was distribution has to come from inside the community, not ads. Curious if Embark founders see the same with diaspora products?

[ManaCircle | on-chain chit funds @manacircleapp]

We've spoken to 70+ chit members and organisers so far.

Almost nobody wants to leave their group. They just want to stop trusting one person with the money.

That's why ManaCircle is built for closed circles. Your people, rules on-chain on @base.