Donald Trump’s superhero trading cards mistimed the market
The Angels
CNN
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Donald Trump’s entry into the world of NFTs came at the worst possible time.
The former president’s hyped “important announcement” turned out to be a set of digital trading cards for $99 each, drawing widespread derision from late-night hosts and even some Trump loyalists like michael flynn Y steve banon.
But the worst news for Trump is that, by almost any measure, the NFT bubble has burst.
Non-fungible tokens are digital art and collectibles that are typically purchased with cryptocurrency. NFT art collections and collectibles exploded in popularity and value beginning in 2020. Digital cartoon apes and other NFT image players became ubiquitous as celebrities. he proclaimed them on the air Y on social networks.
But the heyday seems to be over.
Total NFT volume last month was down 89% from its peak in January, according to CryptoSlam. Trading volume on the OpenSea NFT market is at its lowest level since June 2021, according to Dune Analytics. A collector can now purchase a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT, the most famous collection in space, for a measly $80,466, a drop of 81% from its maximum value.
NFTs have lost value during the so-called crypto winter caused by declining interest and general chaos in the crypto markets. the Dramatic crash of major crypto exchange FTX (and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried) has been the peak of a tumultuous year in the space, with the total market value of cryptocurrencies falling by more than 63%, according to Coinmarketcap.
Crypto winter shows little sign of thawing as prices plunge to new lows, and regulators and Congress now have crypto in their sights.
However, it is worth noting that despite the bad timing, Trump’s NFT collection has rocketed to the top of the OpenSea NFT marketplace rankings and has raked in more than $1.4 million since its launch. On the Trump Digital Trading Cards website, the Trump collection claims to be “out of stock” and the minimum price for a single card has risen to $177.99, according to analytics site CoinGecko.
It’s unclear how much Trump himself will make of those earnings. The Trump Card Collection site includes a disclosure that the Trump Card Collection is “not owned, managed or controlled” by Trump or his companies, and instead, his likeness was licensed to “NFT INT LLC “. The LLC has no website and lists its Address in a strip mall in Park City, Utah, next to an Asian restaurant and a vape shop.
Celebrity cryptocurrency backers are under particular scrutiny right now.
Earlier this month a class action lawsuit was filed against celebrities such as Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber and Serena Williams, accusing them of improperly promoting The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s NFT collection. “Cryptocurrency celebrity promotions are fraught with problems,” the complaint read, citing a 2017 SEC Statement warning against such endorsements.
Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, and Steph Curry were also recently sued for promoting FTX, and in October, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for “illegally promoting” EthereumMax tokens.
Trump’s last-minute NFT entry reflects another belated attempt to jump on a market trend: special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which allow companies to go public without the regulatory burden that comes with an initial public offering. traditional. SPACs experienced a boom in 2020 with the accumulation of celebrities and investors, but rising interest rates and a troubled stock market have led to a dramatic drop in the value of SPACs.
A SPAC called Digital World Acquisition Corporation launched in October 2021, months after the SPAC boom, and has been trying to merge with Trump’s social media company that owns Truth Social. Trump’s entry into thThe SPAC world came after the boom.
“When The Donald launched its SPAC in October 2021, the SPAC bubble was already written in blood on the wall,” said hedge funder Benn Eifert of QVR Advisors. “He bought a clear collapse.”