Topline
Former first lady Melania Trump is releasing digital artwork of former President Donald Trump’s time in office as a non-fungible token collection, her office said in a statement Thursday, which comes one day after a Bloomberg report that questioned her first NFT digital art auction.
Key Facts
A statement posted to Melania Trump’s Twitter account Thursday morning announced the “POTUS NFT Collection,” which will consist of 10 pieces of digital artwork, with 500 to 1,750 editions available for each item.
Altogether there will be 10,000 NFTs, priced at $50 each, “highlighting iconic moments” from the former president’s administration, such as the Fourth of July visit to Mount Rushmore and Christmas at the White House, the statement said.
Melania Trump gave “creative direction” for the collection, the statement said.
The collection will use the Solana blockchain protocol, with right-wing social network Parler “powering the platform,” the statement said.
But the announcement came just one day after Bloomberg published a report casting doubt on the auction around her debut NFT collection, noting that the winner of the auction used a digital wallet owned by the entity that created the auction—in other words, that Trump’s NFT team may have bought the items themselves.
The new collection is slated for release on February 21, Presidents Day.
Key Background
The former first lady launched the “Melania Trump NFT” platform in December, jumping on the NFT bandwagon. NFTs exploded in popularity last year, with its sales volume coming in at $24.9 billion from $94.9 million the previous year, according to DappRadar, a platform that collects data from more than ten different blockchains. Even before the Bloomberg report, Trump’s first NFT auction became a subject of media reports after failing to attract bidders willing to pay the starting price of $250,000 by the January 25 deadline. Raising questions about the auction, a digital wallet listed as the creator of Trump’s NFT auction transferred around 372,000 USD Coin, a digital stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, to a second wallet that went on to send 1,800 SOL to the winning bidder’s wallet, Bloomberg reported. The winning bidder paid 1,800 SOL, equivalent to around $185,000, for the “Head of State” collection, which includes a digital art of Melania Trump’s first official state visit in 2018. Trump’s office did not immediately respond to a Forbes request for comment. Her office denied the report to Bloomberg, saying, “The transaction was facilitated on behalf of a third-party buyer.”
Tangent
Some celebrities, including Paris Hilton, have had success selling their NFT collections. That hasn’t been the case for everyone. Speaking at an event in September, John Cena, pro wrestler and actor, called his attempt to sell 500 NFTs a “catastrophic failure,” as he was only able to sell 37.
Further Reading
Money That Won Melania Trump NFT Came From Melania Trump Wallet (Bloomberg)
Melania Trump Said She Partnered With MoonPay For New NFT Line—But Company Denies Involvement (Forbes)
