You can now buy a nothing from a vending machine in New York City.
If you thought there was no more room for ridiculousness in the NFT space, a startup from New York has handed you their beer. Neon has opened an NFT vending machine.
They’re calling it a world first, but we’re all hoping it holds the title of the world’s only NFT vending machine.
Neon calls itself an ‘NFT and digital collecting platform for everyone’.
The vending machine is located in New York City’s Financial District, just off Wall Street.
The machine accepts USD credit and debit cards then dispenses a box with a code inside it for the chosen NFT. Those parting with cash for a nothing can then redeem that code on the Neon platform.
(I obviously went to redeem this QR code but it said I needed to be logged in, and I will do a lot for content, but not sign up to an NFT platform).
“With no cryptocurrency, crypto wallet or specialised knowledge required, Neon has built the simplest, most accessible way to buy, sell and trade NFTs in the real world,” Neon says in a press release.
“Giving people the choice to use vending machines and an easy online platform that decouples cryptocurrency from NFT participation means we can engage the widest possible audience,” Neon’s co-founder and CMO Jordan Birnholtz adds.
The only thing here I can get behind is the ‘promise’ of carbon neutrality by using the Solana blockchain.
“The Neon founders and engineers chose the Solana blockchain featuring smart contract capabilities because it’s the most energy-efficient, leveraging proof-of-stake, and boasts a theoretical throughput of 65,000 transactions a second with near zero fees,” Birnholtz continues.
“All of Neon’s transactions are carbon neutral thanks to offsets purchased by the Solana Foundation.
“We wanted to embrace a blockchain that’s fast, green and meets demand at global scale.”
Here’s another pic:
Wild.