Trump’s Latest NFT Collection Bags $1.7M In 24 Hours

The NFT trading cards from Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, continue to find an audience.

On Aug. 27, Trump released his fourth series of NFT trading cards, “Series 4: The America First Collection, offering buyers an opportunity to meet the former president in person.

Data from OpenSea, a popular NFT marketplace, indicates the Trump team has already raked in $1.7 million after users minted 17,000 cards in less than 24 hours. The mints equate to 4.7% of the collection’s maximum 360,000 token supply. The mint price is $99 per card.

The NFTs feature artwork depicting Trump in various scenarios, including one where he is “dancing and even holding some Bitcoins.”

“Back by popular demand… The America First Collection is available right now and I think you’ll love it!” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Gala dinner tickets

While the Trump team could make up to $35.64 million should the series sell out, 360,000 mints is an ambitious target compared to Trump’s previous NFT launches. Although the first two collections sold out of 45,000 and 47,000 tokens respectively, only 50,700 of a maximum 100,000 tokens were minted from the third collection.

However, Trump is looking to incentivize bulk purchases with bundles including tickets to a future dinner event attended by Trump.

Users that purchase a set of 75 cards for $7,425 will receive a gala dinner ticket, a trading card with a piece of the suit Trump wore while debating President Joe Biden, two pairs of “Never Surrender” Trump shoes and a pair of “limited-edition” sneakers.

Buyers willing to shell out $24,750 for 250 cards will receive two tickets to the gala dinner, a cocktail reception, and two physical cards.

The tokens are minted on the Ethereum scaling network, Polygon. None of the funds from these NFT sales will go towards Trump’s presidential campaign.

Previous buyers suffer heavy losses

Notably, the tokens cannot be resold on secondary markets until January 31, 2025. The stipulation is likely intended to risk igniting pre-election pushback should the price of the tokens fall.

Trump’s first NFT collection sold out within a single day in December 2022. Minters are currently sitting on a 102.5% gain, with the collection’s floor price sitting at $200.44, according to data from NFTPriceFloor. Secondary buyers aren’t doing as well, with prices down 73% since tagging an all-time high of $788 on Feb 19, 2023.

However, buyers that minted Trump’s second series of cards in April 2023 haven’t fared so well, currently sitting on a 59.5% drawdown at a floor price of $40.1. The tokens never reclaimed their $99 mint price on secondary markets, peaking at $93 in February.

Trump’s third series, dubbed the “MugShot Edition,” is similarly non-transferable until Dec. 31.

“I bought all of his previous collections, but the prices have consistently plummeted,” Mr. Shanks, a pseudonymous NFT collector, told The Defiant. “Frankly, I am not interested in buying this one. It feels like a gimmick. The allure of meeting Trump doesn’t justify the financial loss.”

For others, including Hudah Idiot, an NFT strategist at Crypto Slam, the new collection is enticing.

“I love it to be honest,” Hudah told The Defiant. “Love or hate Trump, it’s great seeing a former president going all in on crypto and NFTs. People dismiss it because of who it is, but it’s a pretty historic collection.”

Crypto embrace?

The fourth NFT launch ostensibly marks Trump’s latest effort to engage with the crypto community, marking a stark shift from 2021 when he called Bitcoin a “scam.”

Since May, Trump began accepting campaign donations in cryptocurrency, met with Bitcoin mining executives, and even delivered a keynote speech at the Bitcoin2024 conference.

Financial disclosures reveal Trump holds between $1 million and $5 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) and earned $7.15 million through his licensing deal with NFT INT — the company behind the trading cards collections. The filing suggests Trump earns a roughly 50% cut on the tokens sold, with the collections generating $14.1 million in total mint fees.

Despite Trump seeking to appeal to the web3 community with the NFT collection, Web3Auth, the wallet provider for Trump’s NFT collections, told The Defiant that more than 50% of users signed up to mint tokens via email — rather than by connecting web3 wallets.

“When Donald Trump’s first NFT collection launched, seed phrase wallets were the dominant option in the market, but they posed significant risks for users who lacked experience managing private keys,” explained Elisha Koh, COO of Web3Auth. “One key focus was ensuring that our user base could comfortably navigate the blockchain space, especially since many were unfamiliar with concepts like different chains and Layer 2 solutions,” she said.

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