The NFT craze may be over, but that isn’t stopping former President Donald Trump from selling his own non-fungible tokens to supporters.
Trump took to his Truth Social app this week to tease a "major announcement," but in an odd surprise, today's big reveal was the launch of an NFT collection built on the Polygon blockchain.
The former commander in chief is calling the NFTs the “official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection,” probably in an attempt to appeal to supporters unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens. However, all the cards can be stored in a cryptocurrency wallet from MetaMask or Coinbase.
“These are just like baseball cards, but you collect them digitally, on your computer or phone. All you need is an email address and a credit card to start collecting 1, 10, 20 or 100,” the website for Trump’s NFTs says.
Each NFT costs $99 and features drawn art of Trump in various poses and situations. Empty your bank account for a digital rendition of the 45th US president wearing a space suit, hitting a golf ball, or posing in front of Trump Tower in a Trump-branded superhero suit while blasting a deadly heat ray from his eyes.
“Here’s one of the best parts,” Trump says in a video promoting the NFT collection. “Each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes like dinner with me.” However, the actual award is to attend a 2,000-person gala dinner with Trump. Other prizes include a “30-minute meet and greet with President Trump as part of a 200-person group,” and an “individual 20-minute meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago,” or attending a Zoom call with Trump.
A maximum of 45,000 NFTs will be minted during the contest period. But some of the NFTs will be one of a kind. “Others will be limited to 2, 5, 7, or 10 copies. No Trump Digital Trading Card will have more than 20 copies in existence!” Trump’s website says.
How Trump intends on using the revenue from the sale remains unclear. But his website notes none of the proceeds will go to his recently announced 2024 campaign. “These Digital Trading Cards are not political and have nothing to do with any political campaign,” the site adds.
Former First Lady Melania Trump also released her own NFT collection a year ago. She sold them using the Solana cryptocurrency, which has since plunged in value from $180 to $13. Donald Trump is accepting credit card payments and Ethereum for his own NFTs.