South African Cannabis Newb buys 20 rare cannabis seeds for $ 16,000 in an NFT auction

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We’ve all heard of NFTs being used to capture digital images of marine characters with brains bared and tweets from corporate executives, but – really cannabis? Is that a first for you too?

Weed got involved in the game of non-fungible tokens, and you can thank a South African businessman for showing how lucrative it can be for sellers. Matt Benas paid 224,000 rand (nearly $ 16,500) in a transaction billed as “World’s First NFT Authenticated Cannabis Strain”.

But what did he achieve? Two packs of Gage Green Group (GGG) seeds that no one else in the world is allowed to grow and some mediocre artwork from the founder of GGG.

The “Rise” and “Burn” strains sold are the first time GGG has restricted sales to a single buyer. The award-winning company, which has developed over 200 strains, often selling around $ 1,000 per pack, describes Rise’s flavor profile of the strain on its website as “a juicy plum and berry terpenoid profile, aided by soothing eucalyptus and camphor essences. “With lots of gas notes.

“Soaring above the clouds and flying past the competition,” explains the same page, “the Gage Green Group is dropping the climb at a time when the rest of the gene and seed industries are chasing numbers and volume.”

Even so, the company released media reports of the astronomical amount the seeds were selling for – not to mention a minimum bid of $ 8,000 for the 10-pack of seeds.

Rise was sold to Benas for 5.5 Ethereum (the cryptocurrency of choice for many NFT transactions) and Burn for 1.852 Ethereum.

The high price probably wasn’t because of the artwork associated with the semen sales, which frankly looks like something your stoner uncle did in his spare time (and which your aunt left hanging in the garage). It was for the coveted seeds. Obviously. However, the two works of art were created by the founder of the Gage Green Group himself, Jeff Selsor (aka Keyplay7).

Benas, a serial entrepreneur who has launched web development, home renovation, frozen food, and high-performance vehicle customization projects, says this purchase was about putting his country on the cannabis map.

“I really want South Africa to have something unique and special around the world … and now South Africa is going to produce an absolutely unique strain of cannabis that only we can produce,” he said. There will only be one unique event, one in the whole world. “

South Africa has adopted measures to legalize cannabis cultivation, criticized for favoring businesses and ignoring the rights of the country’s smallholders.

The story of how Benas rated these exotic cannabis seeds is sure to put them in the spotlight and increase their visibility.

“NFT is a great technology to bring the rights of [cannabis] Breeder, ”he says.

But the purchase has met some ridicule online from individuals who fail to understand why Benas is dropping so much money on cannabis seeds. He says they just don’t get it.

“Most people react” [negatively] because they don’t know and don’t understand, ”concluded Benas.

Hopefully these seeds will grow into a bloom that lives up to the hype.