In our evolving digital age, the world’s first private NFT ‘golf and adventure resort’ is coming to Sisters
(Update: Adding video)
Purchase of Aspen Lakes Golf Course n progress, with a deadline of December 31
SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ)– A development touted as the world’s first private NFT “golf and adventure resort” is coming to Sisters.
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated. NFTs can represent real-world objects, such as artwork and real estate, according to Investopedia.
Currently, South Dakota-based Rhue Resorts is in the process of purchasing Aspen Lakes from its current owners, the Cyrus family.
Rhue Resorts CEO Cindy Wyant lives in the Willamette Valley and visits Central Oregon frequently.
She said the resort will be owned by her six-generation Oregonian family by Dec. 31.
According to a recent announcement from Rhue Resorts, Aspen Lakes is about to become the world’s first private golf and destination club where a membership can be purchased as an NFT.
The resort starts by releasing 10,000 Founding Family memberships for purchase costing the Ethereum equivalent of $15,000. These lifetime memberships do not include annual dues or fees. And unlike timeshares and country clubs, they say, membership is owned in perpetuity and can be passed on to friends or future generations. Another advantage of NFTs is that they are easy to transfer.
Wyant said she and her family have known the Cyrus family for a number of years. Back in 2009, Wyant said there had been discussions with the Cyrus family about buying Aspen Lakes, but she and her family had decided against it.
Wyant’s daughter and the founder of Rhue Resorts revised the idea of purchase, which they are confident they can finance in part by selling memberships along with other financing resources. Efforts will be made to turn Aspen Lakes into a resort, which will include a large convention center, an indoor water park and a five-star hotel.
Wyant said, “We realized that we have the opportunity to buy or let an outsider come in, like Disneyland and turn it into a big concrete jungle, and we decided on that idea and that we wanted to develop it.”
But you may be wondering why the use of non-fungible tokens?
“We really believe that with our current US dollar in the economy that more and more, we’re going to see people move into the digital age, and digital power has become very popular,” Wyant said. “With NFTs, there’s actually utility attached to it, there’s value.”
Wyant said NFTs can be thought of as a baseball trading card, something unique that cannot be exchanged for an equivalent of its kind. Another valuable card, perhaps, but not exactly the same.
Most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain, a blockchain that means a way to store data without having to hand over security to a company.