You are probably tired of hearing that the pandemic has changed the world forever, but… would you have ever dreamed of investors buying digital horses before the crazy lockdown world? Lovers of the noble equine sports have come to increasingly rely on the Internet, and this is absolutely true. You can access the best HORSE RACING BETTING SITES 2021 with a click and follow the races online. We are still talking real horses of flesh, bone, and mane, though. In comparison, digital horses are pushing things much further.
They will never accept an apple from your hand, which is somewhat sad. On the other hand (hoof), you will never suffer the heartbreak to see your favorite runner die on the racecourse, as living horses often suffer from fatal accidents during competitions. But wait, what are digital horses in the first place?
Algorithms. Digital horses are numbers in a computer. The exact definition is “nonfungible tokens” or NFTs. Now, NFTs are taking both the crypto and art collecting world by storm in these first months of 2021, and this, most definitely, IS a consequence of the “new normal”. The classic luxury auction houses have jumped on the bandwagon. In March 2021, an incredible $69.3-million
sale at Christie’s left everybody breathless when an Indian billionaire spent this astronomical sum on a digital collage by the American artist Beeple. In a few weeks, the daily volume of NFT transactions has topped $10 million daily, according to the website DappRadar.
Digital horses are something more than images or videos. According to the creators of Zed Run, a new Australian platform that offers both horses and racing, digital horses are “breathing NFTs.” Roman Tirone, the head of partnerships at Virtually Human, the Australian studio that created Zed Run, explains the concept like this: “A breathing NFT is one that has its own unique DNA. It can breed, has a bloodline, has a life of its own. It races, it has genes it passes on, and it lives on an algorithm, so no two horses are the same.” The option of creating (“breeding”) a digital horse instead of simply buying one is an additional innovation because Zed Run has a “stud farm.” Buying and selling digital horses already constitute a thriving market. More than 11,000 digital horses have been sold on Zed Run, some of them for more than living horses. One digital steed fetched a lofty $125,000 to its owner. Another one sold a stable with several digital racehorses for $252,000.
There are also options for the rest of us, like paying modest entry fees, between $2 and $15, to run our own horses (including those self-bred, see above) against others to earn prize money. The Economic Times of India quotes Alex Taub, a tech startup founder in Miami, who purchased 48 digital horses: “Most NFTs, you buy them and sell them, and that’s how you make money. With Zed, you can earn money on your NFT by racing or breeding.” There is no obligation to be in it only for the money since Taub also bred a digital horse as a toy for his 5-year-old daughter. “She comes home from school and wants to race it. She named her horse Gemstone, and Gemstone had two babies named Rainbows and Sparkles.”
Please wait...
Add Comment