Donald Trump’s ‘Major Announcement’ turns out to be an NFT collection
Earlier this week, Donald Trump teased a “big announcement” on Truth Social, the platform he adopted gets banned from Twitter last year. On Thursday, the former president revealed the news, which turned out to be a disappointment even to many of Trump’s supporters.
The big reveal is a new NFT collection. “My Official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card Collection Is Here!” he posted. Trump never used the acronym “NFT” in the post, but that’s actually what the “digital trading cards” are — 45,000 NFTs on the Polygon blockchain, priced at $99 each.
More than 12,000 have been sold since Trump made the announcement, according to OpenSea data, generating more than $1.2 million. If the entire collection sells out — 45,000 is an unusually large size for an NFT set, which typically consists of 10,000 pieces — it will raise $4.45 million. The creators also get a 10% cut of some of the NFTs sold on secondary markets like OpenSea.
The Trump NFT infomercial is beyond parody. Jesus Christ on a Popsicle stick levels of beyond parody. (I know you’re going to think this is a deep fake parody. It’s not. Just saw it on his website.) pic.twitter.com/2hEHzcUxAk
— Dan Murphy (@bungdan) 15 December 2022
Donald Trump’s in 2021: Crypto is dangerous. It could be an explosion the likes of which we have never seen before.
Donald Trump in 2022: I’m doing my first official NFT collection. pic.twitter.com/lHRxWUYNqw
— Altcoin Daily (@AltcoinDailyio) 15 December 2022
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are tokens on a blockchain that prove ownership of a digital asset. They are to digital goods what a deed is to a house. The first NFT collections date back to 2017, but the market exploded last year when a powerful wave of speculation drove prices to fantastic levels. The most famous collection, The Bored Ape Yacht Clublaunched at around $250 and peaked in price earlier this year at $400,000 a pop.
Nevertheless, economic uncertainty and rising interest rates have greatly dampened the tension. Trading volume on OpenSea, the largest market for such goods, reached $250 million last month – compared to $2.5 billion in May. Trump’s foray into NFTs follows his wife Melania’s, but comes at a much less favorable time.
Trump, who almost certainly doesn’t know what an NFT is, described the art as “very much like a baseball card, but hopefully a lot more exciting.” By purchasing a Trump NFT, you enter a raffle to win a variety of prizes, including a one-on-one meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Those who buy more than 45 of the cards automatically get to meet the former president. So far, 69 people have more than 45 of the NFTs in their digital wallet, according to Dune data.
For its part, NFT INT LLC, the company behind the collection, claims that the money raised will not be distributed to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. It appears that Trump himself is not behind the project, and instead licensed his likeness.
“NFT INT LLC is owned, operated or controlled by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates. NFT INT LLC uses Donald J. Trump’s name, likeness and likeness under paid license from CIC Digital LLC, which license may be terminated or revoked in accordance with the terms,” reads a blurb on the collection’s website.
