Published on: 19/12/2022

Donald Trump NFT cards sold out, raise by 390% in value

According to OpenSea, all 45,000 of Donald Trump’s trading cards NFT sold out in around 12 hours. Each one currently sits at 0.41 ETH, equal to approximately $485, having increased in value by 390 percent from its initial $99 price.

Since their introduction, the values of these trading cards have been consistently increasing by almost $2.8 million. They have raised about $4.45 million from each of these $99 NFTs. Their creators reportedly receive 10 percent from each sale on secondary markets and an additional $520,000 from $5.2 million worth of trades on OpenSea or 4,442 Ether.

The price for the NFTs started at 0.282 Ethereum early on Saturday morning. After conversion, the initial price was around $330 each but changed to $99 after their introduction.

Reports showed that its price on the secondary market had virtually skyrocketed due to the quick sales. Currently, the lowest price for one Trump NFT card sits at about $650, more than six times its original price.

According to NFT INT, the money raised from the sales will not be funneled into the former president’s 2024 presidential campaign.

NFT INT is the company that has the right to use Trump’s image in the cards. According to the description on the site, Trump and his organizations do not own the company. He was also not the one who came up with the collection but only licensed his name, image and likeness (NIL) for the NFTs.

However, while the money from the NFTs will not go to Trump’s 2024 campaign, the money earned from Trump’s NIL might fund his presidential race.

Controversies surrounding Trump NFTs

Trump’s NFT trading card collection has drawn public attention and is still the subject of mockery.

The NFTs were “roasted” on James Austin Johnson’s Saturday Night Live show. In the episode, he imitated Trump’s announcement when he first revealed the NFTs. Johnson said the NFTs felt like a scam.

The show also made fun of Trump’s claims that the cards depict “scenes pertaining to [his] life.” There are cards showing the former president in a spacesuit and a cowboy duster, among other things. Comedians Colin Jost and Michael Che took part in making fun of the project. Jost particularly said that the time of launching these NFTs was unusual, considering the NFT market was not currently in a good state.

“It’s such a funny move to get into NFTs after the whole market just crashed,” Jost said. “It’s like getting into Kanye now, which Trump also kind of did.”

Trump’s NFT project has also attracted several skeptics on Reddit. They warned anyone interested in these NFTs to “stay away.” A user said that 1,000 or about two percent of these NFTs are held by one wallet, which appears to receive royalties. It suggests that the NFT creators still have a significant number of items, and theoretically, they may drop the cards’ value if they are sold at once.

Some people on Twitter have also reportedly inspected visual elements used on the NFTs and discovered watermarks from stock images. Others claimed one has a watermark for stock photos from Adobe.