decrypt.co
Hoping to repeat his past success with NFTs, former President Donald Trump has launched a second collection of digital trading cards, with tens of thousands of new collectibles now available for mint. But prices for the controversial politician’s original NFT set have quickly plummeted now that the total supply has more than doubled.
The second series of Trump Digital Trading Cards spans a total of 47,000 NFTs minted on Polygon, an Ethereum sidechain network, with 1,000 of the NFTs held back by the developer. Each sells for $99, as with the original December 2022 drop, with some cards featuring Trump’s digital signature.
Trump commented on the surprise launch via his Truth Social network, leaning into familiar themes about “fake news” and what he sees as his generosity towards fans.
“I hope everyone notices, [and] I’m sure the Fake News won’t, that I’m leaving the price of the Trading Cards the same as last time, even though they are selling for MANY TIMES MORE (It’s called the MARKET!),” he wrote, “[and] sold out almost immediately, because I want my fans [and] supporters to make money, [and] have fun doing it.
“I could have raised the price MUCH HIGHER, [and] I believe it still would have sold well, with a lot more money coming to me, but I didn’t choose to do so. I WILL BE GIVEN NO ‘NICE GUY’ CREDIT?”
This time around, Trump’s team isn’t offering up as many ancillary benefits, but anyone who purchases 47 of the NFT trading cards will apparently receive a ticket to a gala dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida. For the Series 1 launch, buyers also received potential benefits like Zoom calls with Trump or an in-person meet-and-greet.
The Series 2 set builds on the theme of the original set, which featured Trump depicted as a superhero, astronaut, cowboy, and in other larger-than-life settings. This time around, the NFT artwork includes Trump carrying a championship pro wrestling belt, as a hunter, and wearing firefighting gear.
According to data from the OpenSea marketplace, about 5,600 of the 46,000 available NFTs have been minted so far, with the secondary price starting at 0.06 ETH (about $125).
However, the launch appears to have cratered the secondary market price for the original Series 1 Trump NFTs, which started at nearly 0.4 ETH ($835) as of late Monday. Now, prices at OpenSea start at just 0.17 ETH ($355) for the Series 1 NFTs—a more than 50% drop in a matter of hours.
Trump’s original NFT launch was widely mocked as a cash grab and for problems with the artwork, but the creator—an official Trump licensee—sold through all 44,000 NFTs offered for public sale within 24 hours. Quickly, prices and demand surged, although the buzz faded after a few days amid a prominent feature on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
However, momentum around the NFTs started climbing again earlier this year as Trump’s social media bans from Twitter and Facebook were rescinded, and ahead of his recent indictment on 34 felony charges. As of the end of March, Trump NFT prices had spiked to above $1,000 apiece, nearly matching February’s all-time high of $1,079.