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Trump boasts about making $4.6m from NFT cards that actually plummeted in value

The second series of Trump’s digital trading cards feature him in the likeness of George Washington

Ariana Baio
Wednesday 19 April 2023 12:49 EDT
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Donald Trump released a second iteration of his NFT trading cards on Tuesday and despite bragging about making $4.6m the actual value of the cards dropped significantly.

The former president announced on 18 April that he was selling another series of the NFT trading cards, similar to the ones he released this past December.

“I am pleased to inform you that, due to the great success of my previously launched DIGITAL TRADING CARDS, we are doing it again, SERIES 2, AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW,” Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Approximately six hours later, Mr Trump said all of his 47,000 digital trading cards sold out, totalling $4.6m.

But the actual value of the trading cards told a different story as the floor price dropped from 0.42945 ETH to 0.18 ETH within 24 hours according to OpenSea.

The average price of a trading card on 17 April was 0.3943 ETH after a total of 38 sales. But on 18 April the average price was 0.1569 ETH after a total of 1,035 sales.

Despite the figures, Mr Trump bragged about the success of his trading cards.

“A great honor, and I hope everyone is Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy,” Mr Trump wrote.

Mr Trump also announced the new trading cards on Instagram, marking his first post since 6 January 2021 – the day of the Capitol riot – and since his account was reinstated this past February.

“Trump has since posted a second picture to Instagram for the first time since January 6th. A second NFT of him in a superhero costume wearing a championship belt. Kind of incredible juxtaposition here,” NBC reporter Ben Collins tweeted.

On Twitter, people mocked the new illustrations.

One of the NFTs features Mr Trump in the likeness of George Washington.

Another depicts Mr Trump grilling hamburgers and hot dogs while standing next to a Labrador Retriever.

Others feature Mr Trump as the king of hearts, sitting on a motorcycle while playing the guitar, and an army man.

According to the website, each card has a “pre-assigned rarity” with some being one of a kind. The website claims that no digital card will have “more than 10 copies in existence.”

The website also said if a person buys 47 digital cards they can get a ticket to a gala dinner with the former president at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

The dinner includes “entertainment and fine dining.”

Buyers who purchase 100 digital cards using cryptocurrency will get a “one-of-one” digital trading card and a ticket to the gala dinner.

“Nightmare fuel,” journalist Molly Jong-Fast wrote.

“I find the Trump NFTs absolutely fascinating in their ugliness,” writer Luke Savage wrote. “They’re a pastiche drawn from the blandest stock images, stripped of all specificity. Just a kitsch and empty iconography of money, Americana, and machismo — all for images that only exist in the digital ether.”

The new cards are all priced at $99- the same as the previous trading cards, which Mr Trump pointed out was a “nice guy” gesture of himself.

“I hope everyone notices, & I’m sure the Fake News won’t, that I’m leaving the price of the Trading Cards the same as last time, even though they are selling for MANY TIMES MORE,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The last time the former president sold NFT cards, he claimed they sold out in less than a day. Mr Trump’s recent financial disclosure shows he made between $100,001 and $1m from his NFTs.

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