Web3 IRL: A Cow & A Treasure Chest
I want to share two fun NFT projects that CabinDAO took on earlier this year. These stories won’t make it to the final deep dive essay I’m writing on Cabin. But I wanted to share them to help you understand how digital projects like NFTs can have real-world manifestations.
My mom once brought up the idea of purchasing an entire cow from a local ranch along with other families, as our beef supply for the year. It was a great idea for a few reasons:
We got the best quality of meat we could buy
Her constantly ravenous family of 6 got fed.
We purchased from and supported a family business, instead of our Costco overlords.
She eventually abandoned the plan because we didn’t have the space for another freezer. But maybe her initial idea of buying a cow with others wasn’t so nutsos.
In July 2021, Cabin sold 4 stakes to a longhorn named DH-Esteereum as an NFT to turn into… Steaks. The people who bought the 4 NFTs at 0.18 ETH each purchased “~35-38 pounds of lean grass-fed, free range longhorn beef.” Courtesy of Double Helix Ranch — Cabin cofounder Jon Hillis’s parents ranch in the Texas Hill Country — DH-Esteereum is possibly the first ever living creator minted on-chain.
Imagine a future where local farmers and ranchers can sell produce or cuts of their cattle directly to consumers, without middlemen like Butcher’s Box or big box grocery stores.
Here’s another fun project the Cabin launched this year: in August 2021, Jon buried this treasure chest somewhere in the Texas Hill Country.
While the chest doesn’t have “Stanley Yelnats” stamped on it, it does contain a stamped metal sheet with the private key to buriedtreasure.eth, an ETH wallet with — among other things — a cool 1/1 NFT created by Dug and Mel from the DAO. Aspiring treasure hunters can collect the first NFT clue for 0.20 ETH and kick off their hunt (or wild goose chase).
Ok, sure. It’s not as fun to open up a treasure chest that contains words on a sheet instead of jewels and gold. But apart from that detail, it’s fascinating to learn about all the creative ways we can use blockchain technology, both for commerce and for fun.
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