"ICO of the day: Synthetic rhino horn erection pills, on the Blockchain"

From David (Attack of the 50-foot Blockchain) Gerard:

To write an ICO white paper, you must: 1. State a problem. 2. Assert that ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain will solve it. I don’t think there are any other steps.

Synthorn is selling “Synthetic Rhino Horn Aphrodisiac, Tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain.” (The site is also available in Chinese and Vietnamese.) Here’s the abstract from the Synthorn white paper (archive), which they actually did the barely five pages of in LaTeX:

The plan is to make synthetic rhino horn (which would just be rhino keratin), impregnated with Viagra. Or not. In any case, it should sell itself!

Rest assured they’ve accounted for the risks, i.e., that they have no idea how to make or buy synthetic rhino horn:

Procurement
Although most of the inputs needed for Synthorn are easily sourced, there are few producers of biofabricated rhino horn.
Pembient, Inc. [1] is currently issuing an ICO, Pembicoin [2]. One Pembicoin token will eventually be redeemable for one gram of biofabricated rhino horn. We plan to purchase Pembicoin commensurate with the amount needed to manufacture Synthorn.
However, since our ability to produce Synthorn is predicated on success of Pembicoin, any and all risks inherent to the Pembicoin ICO also apply to the Synthorn ICO. Please see the Pembicoin ICO[2] for details.
Market risk
We expect Synthorn will sell itself. Market risk, although possible, is minimal.

Synthorn’s front page notes that you should “consider this a donation, as the product may not proceed to production.”

Pembient is a biotech startup that’s been trying for a while to drum up interest in synthetic rhino horn. Like many innovative entrepreneurs with a dream, they’ve noticed the ICO bubble, and Pembicoin (archive) is their contribution. “A PembiCoin is a blockchain-based token that allows its holder to take delivery of one gram of biofabricated horn in the year 2022. A PembiCoin does not represent or constitute an ownership interest or share in Pembient.”

What are the uses of rhino horn? Apparently, “Artisans, carvers, and designers want to turn biofabricated horn into durable goods.” And certainly not erection pills, no, no....MORE

Read on for a bit o' Jevons Paradox, sweet, sweet rhino-love style.
(no idea why I am now channeling Chef from South Park)