Benzinga - In early 2024, over several weeks, former president Donald Trump sold more than 1,000 Ethereum (ETH) tokens, according to Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics company. Arkham Intelligence has been tracking Trump's ETH wallet, which they first obtained through financial filings and disclosures from the former president.
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Trump received his large share of ETH from a non-fungible token (NFT) project that used his name, image and likeness. In December 2022, NFT International, the company behind the numerous NFT projects, released a set of 45,000 NFTs, each priced at $99. Over the past couple of years, the project has amassed more than 15,500 ETH in trading volume.
The project is a set of digital trading cards featuring the former president in different poses, in different scenes and with different accessories. At the time of writing, the cheapest NFT was priced at over $650, and the most expensive sale was for 37 ETH.
In late 2023, Trump also announced another trading card NFT project based on his mugshot. The NFTs, also priced at $99, offer some exclusive rewards. For example, users who purchase more than 47 cards get a piece of the suit Trump was wearing in the mugshot.
From his NFT projects, Trump amassed a large amount of ETH in the form of royalties. In late 2023, Trump sent 1,075 ETH to Coinbase, presumably to sell. At the time, the ETH was worth around $2.4 million. However, the price of ETH has risen substantially since Trump sold some of his position.
ETH has had a strong start to 2024, up over 10%. If Trump had held his position until now, the 1,075 ETH would be worth around $2.9 million, meaning that he missed out on an additional $500,000 in gains.
Though Trump missed out on some additional profits, his position had appreciated quite a bit in the months leading up to the sale. In the month before he sold, ETH was up 17%, as well as gains of 60% in the year leading up to the sale.
Ethereum has performed well along with many other cryptocurrencies in 2023 and early 2024. However, there are some Ethereum-specific catalysts potentially coming in 2024. Most notable are the planned upgrades to the chain, as well as a chance for spot Ethereum ETFs to receive approval.
It will be interesting to see how the price of ETH changes throughout 2024 and whether these price changes could cause Trump to sell more ETH before the 2024 presidential election in November.
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