Dear Lord, Not Another Surf NFT

If there is a silver lining to the current near-recession, it’s that crypto cowboys have gone real quiet. I can’t say I miss being stuck in that shorebreak – where 18-40 year old males with an impressive moralizing topspin delivered news at every conceivable social engagement that financial freedom was just over the hill, only a click away. 

“I mAdE LIkE TwO GrAND iN a dAY oN DoGe CoIN. tO The mOoN,” could be heard in echoes around the globe in 2019 shortly before arses were done in the bubble burst of late-2021 and long-suffering dads were forced to re-accommodate idiot sons.

With crypto now a very uncool trend to nail your flag to, it seems decentralised currencies aren’t as revolutionary as those coked up white boys kept telling us in 2019. The real disrupter is A.I – this is gonna be so big man. The skinny jeans have been replaced by pastel chinos, the cocaine by mushie caps. 

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With BIT currently rebounding and everything else going to shit there’s no better moment than the present to say, ‘I FucKeN ToLd YoU sO” and direct those within ear-shot onto a similarly volatile set of blockchain assets – NFT’s. 

That’s what a group of Brazilian surfers are betting on with the recently launched Surf Junkie Club – “a digital community with real-life benefits” as one of its founders, Felipe Baracchini, puts it. The SJC is a club that offers its members a number of exclusive surf products and experiences, known as Drops: a surf trip to the Mentawai Islands; a jet ski ride at Nazaré in massive conditions; an “air clinic” with a pro at a wave-pool; exclusive Billabong products; Pyzel´s exclusive “Junkie Model” surfboard and so on. 

Every Drop comes as a digital voucher and is offered exclusively to members – who can purchase them and redeem the experience, or simply sell them online to non-members at marketplaces such as OpenSea. You become a member by purchasing a digital collective (or NFT) designed by surfer, North Shore resident and artist Marcello Serpa. That’s your membership card – and it too, can be re-sold online. “We are a community of surf addicts on a mission,” explains Baracchini. “First, we’ll use digital collectibles to create the dopest surf club in the world. Then, we’ll turn the Surf Junkies into a legit global brand. How? Community power. We got surf junkies in São Paulo, in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street. We got surf junkies who are engineers, designers, lifeguards, business owners, and rockstars. We are everywhere.” 

The project has received an impressive show of support from surfing communities all over the globe, especially Brazil. Surfers such as Caio Ibelli, Donavon Frankenheiter, Bruno Santos, Carlos Burle, Willian Cardoso, Marco Giorgi, Chris Coté, Bella Nalu and even Stab´s former editor Steven Allain, to name a few, are onboard. “The experiences offered to members are what interest me the most,” says Allain. “Imagine spending a week at the Mentawais getting barrel-riding tips from one of your favorite pros? For everyday surfers, that’s the kind of experience they´ll carry for the rest of their lives.” Mint Day (when membership sales are opened to the public) is Tuesday, March 21^st. 

You can’t lose!

Find out more here or follow them on Instagram @surfjunkieclub .