Perhaps one of the most ridiculous turns of this bear market, Donald Trump’s latest announcement unveiled a 45,000 Trump NFT collection, urging followers to spend $99 on a poorly photoshopped version of trump.
Beyond just the ridicule and the atrocity of it selling out within minutes, what are the actual implications of such an unprecedented play?
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Understanding The Donald Trump Collection
The 45,000 collection of NFTs, with a mint price of $99, were promoted as a “great” Christmas gift for buyers – allowing them access into a raffle to win a plethora of prizes, including dinner with Trump, a Zoom call with Trump and “so much more”.
I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
This is the first time Trump has decided to launch his own NFT collectibles, after previously criticizing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
Even for crypto Twitter, the news was a bit too much to comprehend.
Donald Trump is launching his NFT collection
— yzy.eth (@LilMoonLambo) December 15, 2022
Sell everything
The bear market won pic.twitter.com/VVIH63Y1AB
I have so many questions and comments but really just in disbelief and confused and hope it all goes to zero post haste so we can start again. pic.twitter.com/sOVCTfUQRs
— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) December 15, 2022
Even from other political governments and his friends there was extreme backlash received. Even Robby Starbuck, a former Republican congressional candidate, highlighted his skepticism regarding the unorthodox collection.
Hard truth time: This is not good. We’re facing a threat to civilization from far left Marxist extremists. Teasing NFT cards as a major announcement is not the kind of fight people want to see now. These are dark times. Love the guy but this turns many off. Agree or disagree? pic.twitter.com/tJ4CcPDF0F
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 15, 2022
The Shady Front
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about the NFT collection was its association with a possible crypto shell company called NFT INT LLC, that paid Trump for the branding and was at the center of many shell companies.
The poorly photoshopped NFTs appear to be based of photos scrapped from the internet, highlighting the strange and intangible aspects of this latest NFT collection.
Interestingly, the checkout experience was horrible, with some NFTs being minted out to the wrong wallet addresses. A scrappy and poor attempt at booth UI/UX alongside the design being a tad overboard brought back memories of influencer-centric DAOs.
The Social Side of Web3.0 & NFTs
Influencer-centric DAOs and NFT collections are actually quite interesting, highlighting the influence and psychology influencers in today’s society can do to get things. This concept has worked so well even in Web 2.0 aspects, with several influencers becoming millionaires from subscription-based services.
Up until now, creators have had limited aspects to create a personal brand and had to do it within centralized entities such as Instagram or Facebook.
But that’s where crypto comes in.
Crypto again focuses on providing fair and equal opportunities, but perhaps this may have backfired. In essence, any person can form a DAO and get devoted members of the community to run everyone, do everything, and even plan a roadmap or business strategy from start to end.
The same could be said for the latest Trump NFT collection. In essence, there is nearly 0 utility , suggesting that the age of speculation has yet to wane, given how quickly this NFT collection sold out.
Closing Thoughts
Perhaps one of the most ridiculous things to come into crypto yet, the timing could not have been any better, with the recent FTX saga. One of the saddest aspects of this is the increasingly worse reputation brought about to crypto, harming the actual developments ongoing within the space.
I sincerely hope no other politician uses this as an aspect of unethical marketing.
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[Editor’s Note: This article does not represent financial advice. Please do your research before investing.]
Featured Image Credit:Â Chaindebrief