The North-Korean dissident group Cheollima Civil Defense (CCD) has so far issued 111 “post-liberation blockchain visas” that are being sold on the Ethereum blockchain. Named G-Visas (Genesis Visa), the documents are sold over the blockchain as non-fungible tokens and based on the ERC-721 Ethereum network standard.
The group started selling the Visas on Monday morning (after delaying the launch by 12 hours due to “high demand”) at the price of 1 ETH for the first 1,000 visas. At the current exchange rate for 1 ETH which is ~$140, the group has already raised $15,500 in a few days. The Group is planning to sell 200,000 of these visas to the public.
According to the Free Joseon website, the Visas will be used to gain access to the post-liberated North Korea following a successful ousting of the current Kim Jong Un-led government. The Free Joseon name has been chosen to replace the current country name “North Korea” and is a homage to the Joseon Kingdom that existed before the Korean empire.
The funds raised from the sale of the G-Visas are expected to fund the ouster and the holders of the visas will gain a 45-day stay in the country per visa. The visas are not limited to a single individual as one can buy as many as they want and they can use the visas to stay in the country longer than a single visa could afford them.
So far it seems that there is enough interest from the public in the visas that they are already being sold in the dark market as well. More than 100 of the already sold G-Visas are listed for auction in the dark market at significant premiums above the original selling price. So far visa #9 has been resold in the dark market for double the price. Visas #3 and #8 are listed as well going for 300 ETH and 8 ETH respectively.
