The first virtual rhino horn sold for 6,000 euros at auction in South Africa

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This is a world first. An NFT rhino horn was sold for 6,000 euros late Thursday evening at an auction in South Africa. Cape Town businessman Charl Jacobs paid 105,000 South African rand (6,000 euros) for the digital horn, which he said he wanted to place in a trust for his children.

“In the worst-case scenario, if the rhino situation ever gets really bad, I will still own a rhino horn because the NFT is a pledge of the physical rhino horn,” he said. The original horn has been placed in a safe place to be preserved.

NFTs are all the rage with art collectors

Proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Black Rock Rhino Private Reserve, home to 200 rhinos that can reproduce while being protected from poachers. “We are doubling our population every four years. It is therefore an important conservation project (…) but which costs a fortune ”, particularly in protection against poaching, underlined the defender of the environment Derek Lewitton.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), certificates of authenticity associated with a virtual object, in theory unique and non-piratable, are all the rage among art collectors. NFT technology also allows the recipient to receive commissions on future sales. Thus, if Charl Jacobs resells his NFT horn, the Black Rock Rhino reserve will receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale.

249 rhinos killed in South Africa in the first quarter of 2021

Trade in rhino horns is legal in South Africa, which is home to nearly 80% of the world’s population. Poachers killed at least 249 rhinos in South Africa in the first six months of the year, 83 more than in the first half of 2020.

The horns are illegally exported to Asia, where they are prized for their alleged therapeutic or aphrodisiac properties.


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