Donald Trump, known as a businessman and media personality, added another surprisingly title under his name when he became the 45th U.S. president of the United States of America from 2017 to 2021. People either love him or hate him but you cannot seem to be rid of him. A man full of controversies, Trump is known as someone who changes his mind faster than you can snap your finger.
His relationship with cryptocurrency is complicated and mind-boggling to say the least. I say that because back in July 2019, he tweeted that he was “not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.” The tweet has of course been deleted along with the rest of his Twitter account.
That, of course, is not something out of the ordinary since we can have differing opinions about crypto. Read further to find out why I say so.
In June last year, he told Fox Business that Bitcoin is a scam and explained that “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar. I want the dollar to be the currency of the world; that’s what I’ve always said.” Then in December of the same year, he renewed his criticism of crypto in an interview on Fox Business by calling it a “very dangerous thing”.
Oddly, his comments came just a couple of days after his wife, Melania Trump, launched her first NFT collection called the “Head of State” which was available via auction on her website for 1 one Solana (SOL). Trump responded when asked about his wife’s NFT initiative, “She’s gonna do great. She’s got a great imagination.” When asked to expound more on his view on crypto, he replied, “I never loved it because I like to have the dollar. I was never a big fan, but it’s building up bigger and bigger and nobody’s doing anything about it. I want our currency called the dollar. I don’t want all of these others, and that could be an explosion someday the likes of which we’ve never seen. It’ll make the big tech explosion look like baby stuff. I think it’s a very dangerous thing.”
If you know Trump, you know what he says then, does not mean that he will echo the same sentiment now. On 15 December, he announced his entry into the crypto world with his NFT collection called “The Trump Digital Trading Cards” (TRUMP). His past distrust toward the world of crypto and NFT seemed to have magically vanished. The collection features 45,000 tokens in the style of baseball cards and Trump wears a different costume linked to rarity elements in each collectible.
In the promotional video, he can be seen saying, “Hello everyone, this is Donald Trump, hopefully your favourite president of all time, better than Lincoln, better than Washington, with an important announcement to make. I’m doing my first official Donald J. Trump NFT collection right here and right now. They’re called Trump Digital Trading Cards. These cards feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and career. It’s been very exciting. You can collect your Trump Digital Cards just like a baseball card or other collectibles. Here’s one of the best parts: each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes like dinner with me. I don’t know if that’s an amazing prize but it’s what we have. Or golf with you and a group of your friends at one of my beautiful golf courses, and they’re beautiful. I’m also doing zoom calls, a one-on-one meeting, autographing memorabilia, and so much more. We’re doing a lot. My official Trump Digital Trading Cards are $99 which doesn’t sound like very much for what you’re getting. Buy one and you will join a very exclusive community. It’s my community and I think it’s something you’re going to like and you’re going to like it a lot. They also make perfect gifts, so you can buy them with your credit card or crypto. All you need is an email address. Go to CollectTrumpCards.com and buy your Trump Digital Trading Cards right now before they are all goner and they will be gone. This is my first official Trump Trading Card NFT collection and you get to meet me. Go to CollectTrumpCards.com and remember Christmas is coming and this makes a great Christmas gift.
Obviously the backlash on Crypto Twitter was inevitable and immediate. Here are just a handful of the “reactions”.
At the time of writing, its floor price on OpenSea is 0.267ETH.
More controversies soon arise, one of which was that the project poorly relies on stock imagery.
The love-him-or-hate-him controversial figure who is going to run for president again, may or may not venture further into the world of crypto. We can sit back and wait for his next “big” thing.