First rhino horn NFT sold at auction in South AfricaRhinos in Africa are slaughtered by poachers for their horns, which are smuggled to Asia where they are highly prized for traditional and medicinal purposes. CAPE TOWN: A digital replica of a rhino horn sold at an auction in South Africa late Thursday, as conservationists tapped into the craze for NFTs to raise money to protect real rhinos. "If worst-case scenario, if rhinos go into complete disarray then I would still own a rhino horn, because the NFT is a token of the physical rhino horn," he told AFP. It's legal to trade in real rhino horns within South Africa, but in this case, the original horn is locked away for safekeeping. Poachers killed at least 249 rhinos in South Africa during the first six months of the year -- 83 more than in the first half of 2020.
