August 23, 2017: the counteroffer
On August 21, John Hume's online rhino horn auction went live. On August 23, Pembient founder Matthew Markus sent an email to subscribers announcing PembiCoin, an initial coin offering for tokens backed by future delivery of biofabricated horn.
The framing is direct. The newsletter opens with the headline "Should we farm and auction horn? Or biofabricate and tokenize it?" and positions the ICO as a deliberate alternative to Hume's approach. Where Hume argues that farmed horn from live rhinos can fund protection and compete with black‑market supply, Pembient argues that lab‑made horn removes rhinos from the equation entirely.
"To many, the farming of rhinos for their horns is a step backward. We agree. That is why we are offering an alternative, biofabricated horn that is ownable now but deliverable in the future."
How PembiCoin was structured
PembiCoins are digital tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. Each token represents one physical gram of biofabricated rhino horn, deliverable in September 2022, five years out. Markus offers them "at cost," with the ICO ending September 22, 2017, one month after launch.
The mechanics echo cryptocurrency fundraising models popular in 2017. Buyers purchase tokens now, hold them as speculative or ideological assets, and redeem them later for a tangible product. Unlike most ICOs, which promise software services or network access, PembiCoin promises a physical biomaterial that mimics a banned wildlife product.
The token structure does two things at once: it raises capital for Pembient's production development and turns future synthetic horn into a tradable financial instrument before the material even exists at scale.
The strategic contrast with Hume
Both Hume and Pembient share an underlying claim: legal supply will undercut poaching incentives and save wild rhinos. The split is about what kind of supply there is.
Hume's model requires keeping live rhinos, dehorning them every 20 months, building stockpiles, and selling real horn into a reopened domestic market. He argues this turns protection into a self‑funding business and shifts economic risk from parks to private ranches.
Pembient's model requires no live animals, no ranches, and no ongoing security costs. It promises chemically identical horn produced in controlled conditions, sold openly and clearly labeled as synthetic. Markus argues this "abol,ishes the absurd notion that, in the 21st century, the only way to get a solid mass of horn is by taking it from a rhino."
"Join us in abolishing the absurd notion that, in the 21st century, the only way to get a solid mass of horn is by taking it from a rhino."
Why this moment matters
This newsletter is the sharpest intersection in the archive between the pro‑trade and substitution camps. Both strategies were launched within 48 hours of each other in August 2017. Both framed their approach as the solution. Both claimed they would save the rhino.
The timing makes clear that Pembient saw Hume's auction as a competitor for attention, funding and the political legitimacy of "legal supply." Where Hume had court victories and government permits, Pembient had venture capital, blockchain hype and the appeal of a tech fix that does not require managing animals or navigating African land politics.
Neither side directly debates the other in public forums. Instead, they speak past each other to different audiences: Hume to private breeders, pro‑trade economists, and sympathetic South African officials; Pembient to Silicon Valley, conservation futurists, and people uncomfortable with the idea of farming rhinos for horn.
The two campaigns ran in parallel, each treating the other as either irrelevant or quietly dangerous, but never engaging on the same terms about demand elasticity, market segmentation, or enforcement.
What happened next
PembiCoin did not become a major fundraising success or a widely traded token. Pembient has continued to develop biofabricated horn in small batches and has shifted its messaging toward keratin‑based cosmetics and materials science rather than direct horn substitution.
Hume's auction proceeded, though final sales figures and buyer identities were not made public. He later faced bankruptcy and, in 2023, sold his entire herd and operation to African Parks, which committed to rewilding the animals rather than continuing the ranching model.
The newsletter stands as a historical marker: the moment when synthetic biology and legal trade, both claiming to save rhinos, briefly occupied the same news cycle and chose not to acknowledge each other's existence except as foils.
