Travis Rice’s elite snowboarding competition returns to the backcountry. But this year, it’s bringing the blockchain along for the ride. It could provide spectators with a more immersive experience than ever before.
Competitors and crowds gathered in Jackson Hole this week for the first stage of the viscerally rugged, extra-organic Natural Selection Tour. And while the format, objectives, and stops are the same as in 2021, this year’s circuit will showcase one major update: several commemorative works of digital art in the form of nonfungible tokens.
Natural Selection Tour’s Snowboard NFTs
The first batch of 2022 Natural Selection Tour NFTs dropped Tuesday morning, just as riders began carving up the Wyoming backcountry. Each snowboard-inspired token is a dynamic, nonreplicable work of multimedia art.
A single token from this year’s run will cost $15, and each drop will open a 96-hour buying window. With the purchase of NST Foundation tokens, buyers receive exclusive content, behind-the-scenes media, and exclusive access to future drops from the NST’s custom-built platform. (See the gallery of snowboard NFTs here.)
“This vision builds an intersection between virtual experiences and real-life events, creating real-world utility for the community and NFT holders,” the NST Foundation stated.
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To create the NST’s custom blockchain marketplace and snowboard NFTs, Rice and company teamed up with Mint Werx, a premier NFT creative and production studio, and Vivid Labs, a next-generation NFT publishing platform.
“The core reason we have decided to build an NFT road map for the Natural Selection Tour is to build community,” said Rice.
“By pioneering this model and building out this concept, the Natural Selection Tour will again be evolving the competition space through innovation and technology while also being mindful of energy consumption with the tour’s continued mission to be carbon negative.”
Learn more and grab your own NST Foundation token at naturalselectiontour.com/nft.
