Former President Donald Trump reportedly made between $100,001 and $1 million from sales of Trump-branded non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
According to a filing from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. The 45,000 digital collectibles featuring the likeness of the 45th president were released in December and sold out within a day. With the collection’s value rising in response to news of Trump’s arraignment in New York. The filings reveal that Trump holds executive positions at CIC Digital LLC and CIC Ventures LLC.
The former allowing NFT INT LLC to use Trump’s image, name and likeness under a paid licensing agreement.
It remains unclear how Trump was able to earn such a significant sum from the NFT collection. As the official website states that none of the money earned goes directly to his reelection campaign. Nonetheless, OpenSea shows that there is a 10% creator royalty fee on secondary sales of the NFTs, with the highest offer currently being 10 ETH, or roughly $20,000. Most offers are reportedly in the range of 0.3 ETH (around $630).
Despite the NFT collection’s initial success, the number of active wallets holding Trump NFTs has declined by 13% to 208 in the past week, while data from OpenSea indicates that 65% of collectors hold only one NFT. Additionally, 1,000 NFTs were not made publicly available and are being held in a multi-signature smart contract wallet.
The project has also faced scrutiny, with allegations of stolen art and links to shell companies and global scandals. Nonetheless, the filings demonstrate the potential of NFTs to generate significant revenue for individuals and businesses, and underscore the need for greater transparency and accountability in the space.
