South African conservationists have jumped on the rising NFT wave. For the first time, they have sold a rhino horn NFT to raise money to protect rhinos.
Charl Jacobs, a businessman from Cape Town, paid R105,000 ($6,850, €6,000) for the Rhino Horn NFT. He said that he hopes to put in a trust for his children.
Proceeds from the sale will go to the private Black Rock Rhino Conservation. The conservation is home to 200 rhinos that can breed in safety and are protected from the activities of poachers.
Rhino horns are regarded as a high-value gift item and some people believe them to have therapeutic benefits.
However, this has led to widespread overhunting in recent years. The result has been a drastic decline in the number of rhinos in the wild due to poaching and habitat loss.
Jacobs said, “If worst-case scenario, if rhinos go into complete disarray, then I would still own a rhino horn because the rhino NFT is a token of the physical rhino horn.”
What you should know about NFTs
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have made a huge splash among art collectors. Many of them have spent millions of dollars on digital drawings.
Blockchain technology verifies the legitimacy of an NFT and makes it immutable. Therefore, all NFTs are unique digital assets that cannot be copied or duplicated.
The blockchain technology used to create NFTs also ensure that it has a significant degree of trust and certainty. These are important traits that are missing in traditional transaction methods.
Also, unlike traditional art, NFTs are structured to allow artists to make money on sales in the secondary market.
