Donald Trump’s Cringe NFT collection sells out, raising $4.45 million

Earlier this week, Donald Trump teased a “big announcement” on Truth Social, the platform he adopted gets banned from Twitter last year. Some speculated that Trump would announce his 2024 presidential candidate, or some other key detail of his campaign. The news turned out to be a disappointment even to some of Trump’s supporters: A Trump-themed NFT collection.

“My Official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card Collection Is Here!” he posted on Thursday. Trump never used the acronym “NFT” in the post, but that’s actually what the “digital trading cards” are: 45,000 NFTs on the Polygon blockchain, priced at $99 each.

Although the NFTs were widely mocked by Trump supporters and critics alike, all 45,000 sold out in about 12 hours, according to OpenSea data. At $99 each, that means $4.45 million raised. The collection’s creators also receive 10% of each sale on secondary markets such as OpenSea. So far, traders have spent $406,000 (320 Ether) buying and selling the NFTs on OpenSea. Who the money goes to and how it is used is still a mystery.

For its part, NFT INT, the company behind the collection, says the money raised will not be funneled into Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. A blurb on its website says NFT INT LLC is not owned by Trump or any of his organizations, and that Trump himself actually not behind the collection. Instead, Trump licensed his name, image and likeness for the project.

Although the money raised by NFT INT does not fund Trump’s 2024 campaign, the money Trump makes by licensing his name and likeness can.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are tokens on a blockchain that prove ownership of a digital asset. They are to digital goods what a deed is to a house. The first NFT collections date back to 2017, but the market exploded last year when a powerful wave of speculation drove prices to fantastic levels. The most famous collection, The Bored Ape Yacht Clublaunched at around $250 and peaked in price earlier this year at $400,000 a pop.

Nevertheless, economic uncertainty and rising interest rates have greatly dampened the tension. Trading volume on OpenSea, the largest market for such goods, reached $250 million last month – compared to $2.5 billion in May. Trump’s foray into NFTs follows his wife Melania’s, but comes at a much less favorable time.

Trump described the art as “very similar to a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting.” By purchasing a Trump NFT, you enter a raffle to win a variety of prizes, including a one-on-one meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Those who buy more than 45 of the cards automatically get to meet the former president at a gala dinner in Florida. So far, 202 people have more than 45 of the NFTs in their digital wallet, according to Dune data.