Former First Lady Melania Trump is joining the NFT craze. On Thursday, she released her first non-fungible token, which can be purchased using cryptocurrency.
Trump plans on releasing new NFTs exclusively on MelaniaTrump.com. The first one is called “Melania’s Vision,” and it’s a digital image of a watercolor painting that depicts her eyes.
In case you don't know, NFTs are digital collectibles stored on the blockchain—like art or baseball cards you can only experience in digital form. Each NFT is supposed to be unique, but obviously, you can copy and save any digital image, so the technology may seem rather pointless. Nevertheless, NFT technology has been all the rage lately because people have been buying and selling non-fungible tokens for thousands, and even millions of dollars, making it a lucrative industry anyone can join.
The jury’s still out on whether NFTs are a passing fad. But in the meantime, Melania Trump plans on selling her own NFTs using the Solana blockchain, rather than Ethereum. Melania’s Vision is currently up for sale for 1 Solana cryptocurrency, or $188. The image also includes a sound clip.
"My vision is look forward with inspiration, strength, and with courage," she says in the recording.
Although NFTs may sound like a quick cash grab, Trump says at least some of the sales will go to her Be Best initiative, which focuses on helping children. "A portion of the proceeds from the Melania Trump NFT collection will assist children aging out of the foster care system by way of economic empowerment and with expanded access to resources needed to excel in the fields of computer science and technology,” she announced in a press release.
The value of Solana has gone up 15% in one day, according to Coinbase.