South African non-fungible tokens (NFT) marketplace Momint says it will tokenise R18 million in original Krugerrand coins, as part of its collaboration with the South African Gold Coin Exchange and The Scoin Shop.
Momint became the first independent South African NFT platform when it launched last May, with a website and app. The platform sells all manner of NFTs via a social media-like approach, to allow users to buy and curate their own collections.
Artists are also able to auction, sell, trade and display their art as NFTs on the platform.
The new partnerships allow Momint to tokenise a complete denomination coin proof set (special early samples) of the old Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) coinage for the digital era.
Collectively known as the original Krugerrands, the coins occupy a unique place in South African history and have grown in value, says Momint. Now, a new generation of collectors can get their hands on a piece of this collectable set, which will be offered as NFTs on the Momint platform, it adds.
“This pioneering partnership once again demonstrates how the blockchain is revolutionising asset ownership,” says Adam Romyn, CTO at Momint.
“Once only the domain of the wealthiest numismatists, this tokenisation will enable fractionalised ownership of this priceless collection, lowering the entry point for enthusiastic collectors to a price as low as $200.”
The Krugerrand is a South African coin first minted in 1967 to help market South African gold, and produced by Rand Refinery and the South African Mint. The name is a compound of Paul Kruger, the former president of the South African Republic, and rand – the South African unit of currency.
The holders of the tokens will gain part ownership in the actual physical collection, notes Romyn.
NFTs have in recent months made headlines the world over, as artists, businesses and other content creators use them to sell digital works.
The digital file validates ownership, and is stored on the blockchain system, where each NFT can represent a unique digital item, and thus is not interchangeable.
NFTs can represent digital files such as art, audio, videos, items in video games and other forms of assets in the physical world. While the item itself can be copied, the NFT that includes certification of ownership cannot be duplicated.
To ensure the accessibility of the collection, the Momint marketplace says it supports the purchase of NFTs using a credit card and generates a crypto wallet on behalf of each user.
This means no prior crypto or blockchain experience is required to purchase a Scoin token.
Since the ZAR-era coins were first minted in 1874, beginning with the Burgersponde, they have proven to be an outstanding store of value over their nearly 150-year history, according to Momint.
“Worth a face value of 1 ZAR in 1893, the ‘Een Pond’ coin alone is worth more than R240 000 today,” says Romyn.
“The complete set being tokenised includes the 10 denominations of ZAR coins that were minted before the South African War (Second Anglo-Boer War) of 1899 and is worth an estimated R18 million.”
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