The former President acknowledged that he once called cryptocurrency a “fraud.”
After the mixed performance of three NFT collections, former U.S. President Donald Trump is gearing up to release a fourth.
In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek on Tuesday, Trump said he plans to launch another NFT collection in response to popular demand.
“I did things like NFTs… and I noticed that 80% of the money was paid in crypto. It was incredible. We had one year to sell it out, and it sold out in one day. The whole thing sold out: 45,000 of the cards,” he said. “I did it three times, and I’m going to do another one because the people want me to do another one. It’s unbelievable spirit. Beautiful.”
Trump also acknowledged that he once called cryptocurrency a “fraud” and a “disaster waiting to happen,” but now believes that if the U.S. doesn’t embrace it, China or another country will dominate the industry.
“If we don’t do it, China is going to pick it up, and China’s going to have it — or somebody else, but most likely China,” he said. “So we have a good foundation. It’s a baby. It’s an infant right now. But I don’t want to be responsible for allowing another country to take over this sphere.”
Trump NFTs Rally
After the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Sunday, Trump’s digital trading cards surged in value.
According to Magic Eden, Trump’s first NFT collection has doubled to $452 from $225 on the secondary market in the last seven days but remains well below its all-time high of $769 from February 2023.
Trading activity on OpenSea has also been bustling. In the past week, total sales of Trump’s digital cards reached 272, with a trading volume of 32.27 ETH, equivalent to about $111,000.
The Series 2 set also recorded substantial growth on OpenSea. The NFTs generated trading volume of 13.52 ETH, reflecting a 632% increase from the previous week, and sales climbed to 552, a 667% jump. However, the floor price of the second collection stands at $66, roughly 30% below its peak of $93.
In December 2023, Trump dropped a third collection, “Mugshot Edition,” featuring 100,000 unique pieces. Launched following his legal troubles in Georgia, the NFT collection showcased his mugshots taken at the Fulton County Jail.
Despite the buzz, the collection didn’t sell out. Data from Cryptoslam shows no sales between March and May, with the average floor price hovering around $100.
Trump Trading Cards are digital collectibles featuring heroic images of Donald Trump. When first launched, they offered perks like meeting Trump in person.
In May, Trump’s campaign began accepting crypto donations. According to the Wall Street Journal, new data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) showed that about $3 million of the $331 million raised by Trump’s campaign last quarter came from crypto donations.
Ripple Donates $1 Million To Republican PAC
Meanwhile, the industry is throwing its support behind Republicans after the party updated its platform to include pro-crypto language.
Ripple donated $1 million to the Commonwealth Unity Fund to support John Deaton, who is running against Senator Elizabeth Warren, known for her anti-crypto stance. The Republican primary determining who will challenge Warren is slated for September 3.
Ripple’s $1 million donation, made on May 15, was revealed in a Monday filing by James Murphy, who established the Commonwealth Unity Fund.
Deaton, a staunch supporter of Ripple Labs, also led the XRP Army, a group of volunteers who backed Ripple in its legal battles with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Ripple has been engaged in a long-running legal battle with the SEC, which claims that XRP is an unregistered security. In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that some of Ripple’s secondary sales did not violate securities laws. However, she also determined that direct sales to institutional investors did constitute securities investment contracts.
Meanwhile, Trump has named Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his vice-presidential nominee. Vance’s 2022 financial disclosure revealed his Bitcoin holdings on Coinbase, valued between $100,001 and $250,000.
An old tweet from Vance explaining why cryptocurrency was gaining traction is going viral this week. “This is why crypto is taking off. The regime will cut off your access to banking if you have the wrong politics,” he tweeted in February 2022.
Crypto users are also sharing a resurfaced old video in which Vance criticizes SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s approach to crypto regulation.
Known for his strong pro-crypto stance, Vance has voted to repeal SAB 121, criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the Debt Box incident, and introduced a 2023 bill to protect crypto firms and gun manufacturers from discrimination.