Donald Trump is not leaving the spotlight. The former US president recently announced that he would launch his own NFTs. However, this bold initiative comes in a difficult context for this sector. Between growing public skepticism and serial bankruptcies, NFTs are struggling to confirm their announced disruptive power. Trump’s bet is therefore risky.
Donald Trump’s controversial project
Concretely, Donald Trump will offer for sale digital collector cards bearing his image. These NFTs will be available in limited quantities on the Bitcoin Ordinals platform. The price of the famous Trump Cards has already exploded in a few days to reach almost 300 dollars each.
The businessman clearly wants to ride on the persistent craze of some of his most loyal fans for any object stamped “Donald Trump”. He also undoubtedly hopes to transform his political image into a real commercial brand thanks to these NFTs.
But this project is already controversial. Many voices are being raised to criticize the former real estate mogul’s desire to profit from his controversial presidency. His detractors see it as a populist strategy to maintain Trumpism, or even finance his future political projects.
A global context unfavorable to NFTs
This launch of NFT by Donald Trump is being done in a generally unfavorable climate. Because, after the peak in 2021, the non-fungible token market literally collapsed in 2022, with $15 billion less in transaction volumes.
The evolution of the prices of cryptocurrencies, on which NFTs depend, has also weighed on the sector. With the cryptocrash of 2022, Ethereum and Bitcoin have lost tremendous value, turning off many NFT buyers.
Finally, serial scams and bankruptcies in the crypto world have undermined confidence. The collapse of the FTX platform exposed the lack of supervision. And, costly mistakes like the accidental destruction of a $300,000 NFT have increased distrust in the blockchain.
Furthermore, the metaverse so promised by Mark Zuckerberg also seems to be moving away. The boss of Meta now admits that more than a decade will be necessary to fully develop these virtual worlds. However, NFTs were supposed to play a central role.
The thunderous arrival of Donald Trump on the NFT market should therefore not be enough to reverse the overall downward trend. The long-term success of its digital tokens will depend on structural factors. Among other things, real adoption of the blockchain, realization of an immersive metaverse, etc. So many very uncertain bets at the moment.
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