Trump "hooks in" on the crypto circle: Buy $4,653 in NFT to participate in the dinner, and related MEME coins soar

On the evening of May 8 local time, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the 2024 US presidential election, held his latest NFT dinner at the Mar-a-Lago Resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Buyers of at least 47 Trump "MugShot Edition" NFTs were invited to attend, and Hong Kong actor Stephen Fung, who is keen on NFTs, also appeared on the scene. At the rally, Trump announced a strong embrace of cryptocurrency and promised to end the US hostility to digital currencies. This is a significant change from his previous criticism of cryptocurrency.

Prior to the dinner held on the court recess, according to Watcher.Guru, Trump announced that he was accepting donations for the US presidential campaign in the form of cryptocurrency. Subsequently, the prices of Trump-related meme coins TRUMP and NFTs rose by more than 55% and doubled in a short period of time, respectively.

Host an NFT dinner to attract big buyers

There are currently three series of Trump Digital Trading Cards. The first series, released in December 2022, has 45,000 cards, including his image as a superhero, astronaut, western sheriff and a series of other fantasy characters. These NFTs are minted on Polygon, and the standard edition cards are sold for $99 each. Customers who purchase 45 cards can get a ticket to the NFT dinner. According to OpenSea data, all 45,000 NFTs sold out in about 12 hours at the time.

On April 19, 2023, Trump's team launched the second series of Trump digital trading cards, maintaining the price of $99 per card, and sold out 5 hours after its release, earning $4.6 million, and its money-making ability remains the same.

The most recent dinner was a benefit of the MugShot Edition of Trump’s NFT. There are a total of 100,000 NFTs in this series, of which 99,000 are available for purchase at $99 per piece, also minted on Polygon. If you buy 47 pieces in a single transaction ($4,653), you will have the opportunity to have dinner with Trump.

If the buyer is more generous and spends nearly $10,000 to purchase 100 MugShot Edition NFT cards, he or she can attend the VIP cocktail reception before the dinner, and will also receive a unique Bitcoin inscribed digital trading card (limited to 200), as well as two VIP dinner tickets for the buyer and friends to have dinner with Trump, and the buyer will sit at the VIP table.

The images on the Mugshot Edition NFT series vary, from a police detention photo of Trump to a picture of him wearing a cowboy hat, to a cartoon image of Trump with lightning in his hand and the words "America's Superhero" below. However, officials said that these digital trading cards are not political and are not related to any political campaign.

Buyers of these mugshot NFTs will also receive a physical card with the fabric of Trump's suit when he took the mugshot. Trump's mugshot was taken on August 24, 2023 at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump was previously indicted on suspicion of extortion and other charges. This is the first and so far only indictment of the US President. After the photo was released, it became an Internet meme and appeared on the front pages of many newspapers around the world.

"This card is more than just a keepsake; it's part of a history and a testament to resilience," the official website describes the physical card with the suit fragment. "It symbolizes President Trump's unwavering commitment and unrelenting fight for the American Dream."

According to The Independent, at the dinner, in response to the question of how to keep cryptocurrency businesses in the United States, Trump emphasized his commitment to keeping them in the United States. He expressed concern about the potential relocation of cryptocurrency businesses due to hostility toward the industry, saying: "If cryptocurrencies leave the United States because of hostility toward cryptocurrencies... well, we will stop it. We don't want that. If we're going to embrace it, we have to keep them here."

Trump said President Joe Biden doesn’t know what cryptocurrency is, saying “Democrats are very opposed to it” and “if you’re in favor of cryptocurrency, you better vote for Trump.”

Although Trump told a crowd in New Hampshire in January that he would never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency, calling it a “dangerous threat to liberty,” it seems that the former US president is slowly embracing the world of cryptocurrencies. As Cointelegraph reported, when asked if people could donate to him using cryptocurrencies, he responded: “If you can’t, I’ll make sure you can.”

Meme coin surges 55%, NFT floor price doubles

Following a series of actions and news, according to CoinMarketCap data, the Trump-related Meme coin MAGA (TRUMP) subsequently rose from US$4.2 in the early morning of May 9 to US$6.52 at noon of May 9, an increase of 55%. It was reported at US$5.48 in the morning of May 11.

As of the morning of May 11, another meme coin, Doland Tremp (TREMP), was quoted at $0.652, up 69.85% in 7 days. Even meme coins related to Biden were caught in the crossfire. On May 9, the joke meme coin Boden, which deliberately misspelled the name of US President Biden, soared 25% after Trump answered a reporter's question.

In one episode, American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel even slammed collectors of Donald Trump's NFT project as "fools" and "freaks." However, the secondary market prices of Trump-related NFT assets have not stopped rising recently.

According to data from NFT Floor, Trump Digital Trading Cards minted on Polygon rose from $211.56 at 10 a.m. on May 9 to $465.7 at 4 p.m. on May 9, an increase of 120%. As of about 2 p.m. on May 10, the 7-day trading volume reached $42,921, an increase of 561.33%.

Trump’s Series 2 NFT collectibles have seen even higher sales than the original series, reaching 405 sales in a 24-hour period on May 9. However, they’ve been priced much lower, with a floor price of around $82, down from the original first sale price of $99.

Historically, Trump's NFT cards have achieved mixed results. In March 2023, the price of Trump's digital trading card NFT series 1 skyrocketed, with the highest selling price close to $1,700, due to his indictment in the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation, and he was suspected of using 2016 campaign funds to pay Stormy Daniels hush money. However, shortly after the release of Trump's second series of cards on April 18, 2023, its value quickly fell.

It is worth mentioning that according to the official website, Trump cards are "not owned, managed or controlled by Trump", but owned by NFT INT LLC. Trump licensed his image to this company, which paid a portion of the profits to a company owned by Trump. According to his financial disclosure, in 2023, Trump earned between $500,000 and $1 million from the image licensing of Trump Card NFT.