Sales of Trump NFTs fell by 99% since their debut in mid-December
Trading volume for Donald Trump’s Digital Trading Cards, which feature images of the former president dressed as a superhero and as an astronaut, has fallen off a cliff, according to data from CryptoSlam.
The primary launch in mid-December saw 44,000 of the $99 NFTs sold out in 24 hours, with the project raising nearly $4.5 million.
But on Tuesday, the project, which is on the Polygon blockchain, recorded just under $22,500 in sales, a 99.4% drop since its launch date. Only 49 unique buyers had interacted with the project in the past 24 hours, compared to around 2,200 in mid-December, according to CryptoSlam. Just days after the collection launched, an NFT with Trump’s autograph next to a picture of him in a suit sold for 37 Ether (about $49,000).
Still, at 0.179 ETH (roughly $237), the collection’s price floor—the lowest price for one NFT in a given collection—on NFT marketplace OpenSea was more than double its original price tag.
The NFTs were widely ridiculed on late night talk shows, Social Media, and by Republicans after Trump’s “big announcement” last month. Even once Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon criticized the project and said the team behind it should be fired.
Others singled out the poor quality of the artwork, saying it paled in comparison to many other NFT projects.
The clothes on Trump’s trading card also appeared to have been lifted from the website of a sporting goods store, as well as from Amazon, Gizmodo reported.
Some on social media have called out the project as a scam due to the huge drop in trading activity just a month after the cards were released. But in the NFT area, it is also common for projects to spin quickly after peaking.
While the former president said in 2019 that he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies, he called out the NFTs in a video on his own social media service, Truth Social, which the “perfect gifts”.
Learn how to navigate and build trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter that examines what leaders need to succeed. Sign up here.