According to OpenSea data, sales of Donald Trump’s NFTs surged following Tuesday’s court appearance in New York City. Trump Digital Trading Cards holders sold 47 tokens in over six hours, representing a 462 percent increase.
Even though the surge in sales was significant, it is still considered a relatively small amount of activity for NFTs. For instance, during the same six-hour period, Nakamigos — one of the most popular collections — had 1,286 sales.
Trump’s NFTs
Trump launched a set of digital collectibles featuring himself in December. Buyers could buy these NFTs for $99 and participate in a contest to win exclusive experiences. The collection was quickly sold out on the secondary market before seeing a price increase of over 100 percent.
The minimum price for the Trump Digital Cards has remained consistent at approximately 0.5 ETH, equivalent to roughly $930. During the past six hours, there were no transactions of the NFTs that represent the contest prizes for the Trump Digital Cards.
Rather than traditionally promoting his NFTs, the billionaire — known for licensing his name even before becoming president — shared a promotional video for the cards on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The video showcased an animated portrayal of him in front of Trump Tower in New York. In the video, he tears open his shirt to reveal a superhero costume with the letter T on it while lasers shoot from his eyes.
Bill Zanker, a serial entrepreneur known for selling various products — such as back rubs, gym equipment and self-help courses — is the mastermind behind Trump’s digital trading cards.
Before Trump became president, he and Zanker worked together on a book and a crowdfunding business. Zanker also organized real estate roadshows where Trump was the main attraction and paid him $25,000 per minute to speak.
Crypto community’s reaction
The cryptocurrency community initially reacted with skepticism toward the project. However, it gained more credibility when it briefly ranked high on sales charts, suggesting that people were buying the tokens either as a form of admiration for Trump or in a satirical manner.
Trump’s attitude towards the project appeared calm, as he commented that he only agreed to it because he found the artwork somewhat “cute.”
A few weeks ago, DonAlt, a pseudonymous crypto YouTuber, revealed on Twitter that he had acquired multiple Trump NFTs as a bet on their potential value, calling them “oddly iconic” despite their “hideous” nature.
Since its launch, Trump’s NFT sales have been volatile — reaching almost $10 million in December, dropping to $2.6 million in January, rising to $4 million in February and declining to $2 million as of March. The total trading volume of Trump NFTs has surpassed $18.6 million, according to CryptoSlam.
Trump’s arraignment
On Tuesday, Trump was apprehended after turning himself in for paying porn actress Stormy Daniels and other individuals $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair before the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Trump’s arraignment took place in a Manhattan court under tight security and significant media attention, with large crowds gathering outside. While the arraignment was open to the public, news cameras couldn’t broadcast the proceedings inside the courtroom.
