Photo by Gage Skidmore on Flickr.com
Donald Trump’s big announcement: NFT trading cards are out. While many made fun of these cards, all 45,000 were sold out in about 12 hours.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump announced that he would make a “big announcement” on Truth Social, the platform he founded after being banned from Twitter last year. Some predicted that Trump would reveal his running mate for the 2024 presidential election or another key detail for his campaign, but the announcement disappointed even some of Trump’s supporters: a Trump-themed NFT collection.
The former president issued an announcement saying, “My Official Donald Trump Digital Card Collection is here.” Trump never used the acronym “NFT” in the post, but for “digital collectible cards,” that definition is perfectly valid: 45,000 NFTs at $99 each on the Polygon blockchain.
While NFTs have been widely ridiculed by Trump supporters and opponents alike, all 45,000 cards were sold out in about 12 hours, according to OpenSea data. This means that the cards, priced at $99 each, have collected a total of $4.45 million. The creators of the collection also receive 10% of the revenue from every other sale on marketplaces such as OpenSea. So far, $406,000 (320 ether) has been spent buying and selling NFTs on OpenSea. It is unknown where this money went and how it was used.
NFT INT, the company behind the collection, says on its site that the money raised will not go towards Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. A promotional post on the site states that NFT INT LLC is not owned by Trump or any of his affiliates and that Trump is not actually behind the collection. Instead, Trump licensed his name, image, and depiction for the project.
Even if the money raised by NFT INT does not fund Trump’s 2024 campaign, the revenue it generates by licensing Trump’s name and image can be used for this purpose.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are on a blockchain that proves ownership of a digital asset. Digital products are what title deeds are to a house. The first NFT collections date back to 2017, but the market experienced a burst of growth last year when a strong wave of speculation drove prices to astronomical heights. The most famous collection, The Bored Ape Yacht Club, retails for around $250 and peaked at $400,000 earlier this year.
However, economic uncertainty and rising interest rates greatly dampened the excitement. Trade volume on OpenSea, the largest market for such products, reached $250 million last month, compared to $2.5 billion in May. Trump’s foray into the NFT space comes after his wife, Melania, but his timing could be said to have been much more unlucky (or worse).
Trump described these artifacts as “very similar to a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting.” Buying a Trump NFT entitles you to enter sweepstakes to win a number of prizes, including a one-on-one with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Those who purchase more than 45 cards will automatically meet the former president at a gala dinner in Florida. According to Dune data, 202 people have more than 45 NFTs in their digital wallets so far…
