Very rare do NFTs go hand in hand with politics, and prior to 2016, nor did celebrities.
However, one trailblazer to defy both of these cases has been the infamous Donald Trump, as in wake of his 4-year stint in the White House, the businessman-come-politician has gone on to launch one of the hottest NFT meme collections to come out of the ongoing crypto winter.
The collection- which is entitled ‘Trump Digital Trading Cards’- dropped via a sell-out mint in December of last year, however as ever with many NFT projects, its hype has slowly died down over the past couple of months.
Thankfully enough- for the NFT holders that is- bullishness for the collection has been revived in recent days, thanks to the news of Trump facing a possible indictment.
Trump Digital Trading Cards
At mint, the mass collection of 45,000 Trump Digital Trading Cards sold out in rapid time, with each asset being picked-up for a price of $99.
Dubbed ‘the first digital trading card by President Trump,’ the NFTs feature hand-drawn artworks which depict Trump sporting different traits in front of an array of different backgrounds (i.e. in some of his favourite environments such as a golf course, American flag, and the DC runway etc).
Of course, the NFTs also came in different tiers of rarity, as well there being 180 ‘One-of-One NFTs,’ 70 ‘Autographed’ NFTs, and a singular ‘Animated’ NFT. Each also grants holders with automatic entry into a sweepstake that could see them win exclusive experiences with the man himself, such as Zoom call, a dinner in Miami, or a cocktail hour at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Per stats from Dune, the mint saw 13,000 collectors pick up an average of 3.5 tokens, with 115 minting 45 (i.e. the minimum needed for guaranteeing a dinner with Trump). In addition, 17 collectors minted the maximum quantity of 100 NFTs.
A New Price Pump
No matter what side of politics you have your allegiances with, everyone can agree that Trump is most certainly an outlandish figure that never shies away from the spotlight…nor speaking his mind.
However in this case- which ultimately manifests as one of the most bizarre ‘butterfly effects’ to make its way into the NFT space- Trump’s possible indictment comes amidst allegations that he made ‘hush money’ payments to ‘adult star’ Stormy Daniels during his 2016 election win.
Although what goes on behind closed doors is (quite likely) none of our business, prosecutors are interested in the prospect of charging Trump for violating campaign-finance laws and falsifying business records. Why? – because Trump recorded such payments as lawyer fees for legal services.
With a verdict expected to be made within the next few days, either Trump will be indicted, or Stormy Daniels’ true identity as a covert lawyer specialising in politics will be revealed (we know which one is more likely). If the former is to happen, Trump could face up to four years in prison, however lawyers have since stated that it would be a tough case to prosecute.
This is also not the end of it for Trump, as he’s also facing other charges which relate to his illegally storage of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida (which he then made face statements about after), as well as possible charges relating to his involvement in the Capitol Hill riot on January 6th 2021.
Following such allegations making headlines, the NFT community has responded in typical fashion by pumping the price of the ’Trump Digital Trading Cards’ collection.
The price of the collection has recently increased over 30%, as at the time of writing, the Polygon-based assets have a floor price of 0.525 ETH (a drop from its high of 0.59 ETH (or $1,033) in the hours preceding). In contrast, Trump Digital Trading Cards were selling for a mere 0.33 ETH (or $578) last week.
Throughout such period, over 735 of the NFTs have been traded on OpenSea, which in turn, has seen over 401 ETH change hands.
Polymer Crypto Betting
NFT holders haven’t been the only ones to profit from Trump’s troubles, as with the indictment near-enough set-in stone, users of crypto betting service Polymarket have been betting on when the indictment will happen by.
Two dates are currently in question here- March 31st, and May 31st- with betters dictating that there’s a 50% chance of Trump being indicted by the former, and an 88% chance that he’ll be indicted by the latter. Of course, these odds and their corresponding prices change each day as each respective deadline gets closer and closer.
For context, Polymer is a crypto betting platform which allows users to bet on given trades such as election results. With over $108,000 worth of volume, and over $25,000 worth of liquidity, the ‘Will Donald Trump be indicted by…?’ contract currently stands as one of the most popular markets on the platform.
