Is Trump Making NFTs Great Again?
In the waning weeks of 2022, investments into NFTs have dropped substantially from their peak in January 2022. Many in crypto and outside of crypto have claimed that the tokenized assets are worthless, and offer little to no real (or tangible) value. Further, their nearly instant depreciation has caused most traders to lose confidence in a market that moves too quickly for any real profits.
However, all that might be changing with the recent announcement of Donald Trump’s own NFT collection which has seemingly revitalized the market and caused a wave of derivative collections similar to the NFT frenzy that occurred after the Goblintown mint.
Donald Trump’s NFTs
Besides the obvious, what makes the Trump NFT collection truly stand out is its unique list of utilities and prizes that go far beyond what other collections are capable of due to Trump’s network of businesses and persona.
The primary appeal of the NFTs are their ability to enter sweepstakes to meet Donald Trump in a variety of different situations including a large Gala dinner, a golf game, and an individual meeting with Trump.
Politics aside, these offerings are substantial and not to be ignored. While there is some concern about Trump’s willingness to follow through with theses offerings (based on the number of false promises we’ve all grown use to in the NFT market), it is still a substantial utility because holders are being given the chance to privately meet with a former president of the United States which could create a number of interesting opportunities for the winner.
The only issue with these prizes however, is that owning an NFT isn’t the only way to enter these sweepstakes. People who are not interested in buying one of Trump’s NFTs are still eligible to enter the sweepstakes which reduces the true value of the tokens. Although, it is still necessary to have a crypto wallet in order to confirm winning the prize. Moreover, mail-in eligibility is limited to one person, whereas owning multiple NFTs from the collection allows greater chances of winning a prize.
Market response
Not surprisingly, the market response to Trump’s NFT collection has been incredible. Within a week, the price of the NFT rose from about .1 Eth to over .5 Eth and slowly dropped since then (as most tokens do).
More than just a high floor price though, the trading volume for the collection has also been massive with over 6,000 Eth being exchanged which is a stronger indicator of a collection success because it shows how active interest from the crypto community is.
Hosted on Polygon
Also notable, is that the collection is hosted on the Polygon network instead of Ethereum, marking it as one of the most successful collections on Polygon alongside the Reddit NFTs which have captured many people’s attention despite the general negativity surrounding NFTs in general.
While still purchased with Eth, holding them on the Polygon network shows that interest in MATIC is still growing and remains one of the most resilient blockchains available during a year where most networks, such as Solana, have dropped significantly in value.
Crypto and politics
Regardless of one’s opinion of Donald Trump, it is hard to ignore the impact this is having on the NFT market. While it is not the most groundbreaking collection of all time it is still significant; but it’s also not the first time that crypto and politics have been acquainted.
Earlier in the summer, California announced new laws allowing the donation of cryptocurrency to politicians running for office under a set of rules including how quickly assets needed to be turned into fiat.
With more calls for crypto regulations also growing, it'll be interesting to see which sides both political parties in the United states begin to take and who is bold enough to cater to the crypto community that is eligible to vote in the United States.
