Benzinga - Former President Donald Trump was among the celebrities and well-known figures who launched non-fungible token collections.
A collection from Trump was widely mocked and drew criticism for using copyrighted images, but also captured strong interest from fans and collectors.
Here’s a look at how much an investment in the Trump NFTs would be worth today.
What Happened: Trump announced the launch of an NFT collection called Trump Digital Trading Cards in December 2022. The NFTs came at a price point of $99 each and could be purchased with Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) or a credit card.
The collection, which was minted on the Polygon (CRYPTO: MATIC) network, became a top trending collection on NFT marketplace OpenSea and sold out in less than a day.
As sales volume and interest soared, President Joe Biden poked fun at the collection, as did late-night talk show hosts.
An episode of “Saturday Night Live” mocked the collection during an opening skit referencing them as seeming like a scam.
While the floor price of the collection has come down, the NFTs remain above their mint cost. Since the launch of the collection, major events around Trump’s life, including indictments and arrests, impacted the price of the NFTs and sent prices higher.
In April 2023, Trump shared on social media that a second series of Trump Digital Trading Cards was launching with a price point of $99.
The second series featured 47,000 NFTs, making reference to Trump vying to become the 47th president of the U.S. in the 2024 election. The first collection had 45,000 NFTs, a reference to Trump being the 45th president of the U.S.
It was previously reported Trump earned between $100,0001 and $1 million from CIC Digital, the company he partnered with on the first series.
In the recent week, a civil fraud suit against Trump and his businesses has led to increased interest in the NFTs once again. A look at data on OpenSea shows volume up 18% and sales up 33% over the past seven days for the initial Trump Digital Trading Cards collection. Volume and sales for the second collection have been down over the last seven days.
Related Link: If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When Donald Trump Said BTC Value Was Based On Thin Air, Here's How Much You'd Have Now
Investing $1,000 in Trump NFTs: With a price point of $99, a person could have purchased 10 Trump Digital Trading Cards at the time of mint with $1,000.
Based on a current price of 0.145 ETH, or around $235.01, the investment would be worth $2,350.10 today. This represents a return of 135.0% in around 10 months’ time.
While the NFTs have fallen from a peak of around 0.84 ETH, the investment is still up. Investors who cashed out early saw gains of around 1,000%.
Time will tell if the NFTs hold their value, but 10 months after being minted the collection has held above the mint price and has seen continued demand from fans, collectors and investors.
For comparison, the same $1,000 invested in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 Index, would be worth $1,089.07 today. This represents a hypothetical return of 8.9% over the same time period, significantly trailing the return from the Trump NFTs.
The Trump Digital Trading Cards Series 2 has not held up as well since launching in April. The floor price on the second series is currently 0.0345 ETH, or around $55.92 each. Investors who minted the second series would be down around 44.1% on their investment.
An investment of $1,000 in each of the two Trump Digital Trading Cards collections would be worth $2,909.30 today. This represents a return of 45.5% on the original hypothetical investment of $2,00
With Trump running for president in the 2024 election, the NFTs could continue to be talked about during the campaign trail.
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Photo: Trump NFT cards via OpenSea
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