On December 19, Former US president Donald Trump launched his first NFT collection of “trading cards” featuring digital renderings of Trump in various scenarios. There is one of him playing golf and others of him in his signature navy blue suit and red tie ensemble.
A controversial public figure, Trump has his fair share of haters, but he also has supporters who quickly snapped up the collectibles. Priced at US$99 a piece, the collection of 45,000 Trump Cards sold out in one day, bringing the creators of the project $4.5 million in revenue.
Love him or hate him, it’s undeniable that the project was a success. After selling out, the cards were then traded on the secondary market, causing their value to rise. By December 17, the average value of the cards was over US$500.
More than being just a collector’s item, the Trump Cards come with utilities, meaning that buyers can access perks with their purchase of the cards. These perks include a gala dinner, golf game or a Zoom call with Trump, as well as autographed merchandise. Buyers of the Trump Cards are also entered into sweepstakes with 2,533 prizes to be won. The prizes that will be given out allow Trumps to connect deeper with his community as he spends time with them.
Trump’s digital trading cards’ website states that the company has nothing to do with his presidential campaign and that the proceeds will not be going towards funding the campaign.
All of the Trump cards are minted to wallets on OpenSea. According to OpenSea, there are more than 15,000 owners of the Trump Cards. However, not every owner can access utilities as there are only 2,533 to go around.
The project has also drawn criticism. While the collection reached US$1.7 million in trading volume in the first 24 hours of the launch, buyers complained that the cards were minted to the wrong wallet addresses while others found watermarks from stolen stock images on the trading card artwork.
By the last week of December, the value of the cards has plummeted by more than 80% as people lost interest in it. In an interview with One America News, Trump said that he gave the green light on launching the cards because they were “sort of cute.” He added that he “didn’t view it as an investment” even though secondary trading and the volatile value of the cards made it look like a speculative investment for buyers.
Unlike Trump’s trading card utility model that runs on sweepstakes, which only allows randomly selected buyers to access perks, Metabay’s digital passes are for all fans, not speculative investors who purchase the passes solely to turn a profit.
Metabay embraces true utility and value creation by making the perks accessible to all digital pass holders. We also co-create the perks with the creators to ensure that they are relevant to the creators’ universe as well as the fans.
Perks include a dedicated group chat with the creator and other members of the community, a monthly video call, invites to physical events, merchandise, and more. These interactions keep fans loyal and interested in the creator’s universe, ultimately restoring true proximity between creators and fans.
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