Once a crypto sceptic, former president and leading Republican candidate for the 2024 election Donald Trump is now an NFT innovator and Ethereum whale.
A key component of crypto and blockchain technology is the transparency in play, as unless you’re operating on scam-haven blockchains such as Monero, it’s possible to track crypto wallet transactions down to the penny (or should I say satoshi or gwei).
On the flip side however, crypto’s focus on anonymity has also meant that it’s tough to put a face to each address in question…i.e. addresses are attached to transaction histories, but names aren’t attached to addresses.
However, through the rigorous efforts of on-chain sleuths, there are moments in which both are revealed… that is, we can put a face to an address. Intuitively, this is always an interesting prospect for onlookers, as it allows us to analyse a wallet’s transaction history whilst also knowing exactly who’s in ownership of it.
Thanks to the effort of sleuths working on Etherscan, this has been the case for the US’s 45th president Donald Trump, who after launching two headline-hitting NFT collections, left the door open for his DeFi identity to be revealed.
Donald Trump’s Crypto Holdings
Per reports from the US Office of Government Ethics, as well as an unveiling by blockchain intelligence platform Arkham on X, Trump held upwards of $2.8 million worth of crypto in the second week of August 2023 (with such figure being coherent with Trump’s financial statement published on August 14th, as well as the balance of the largest royalty wallet associated to with the Collect Trump NFT project).
At the time on unveiling, Trump’s crypto portfolio was comprised of 1,500+ ETH, as well as holdings in Wrapped Ether (WETH), Polygon’s MATIC, and an array of other meme tokens built on the Ethereum blockchain (from Pepe to MOG, you name it…).
As of the time of writing- and due to a subsequent crypto crash, the portfolio’s value has slumped to a still-hefty $2,550,000.
https://etherscan.io/tokenholdings?a=0x94845333028B1204Fbe14E1278Fd4Adde46B22ce
If you’re wanting a peek yourself, this address is the wallet of Mr. Trump.
Trump Digital Trading Card NFTs- Series 1 & 2
As the history books will show, the double instalment of Trump Digital Trading Card NFTs turned out to be two of the hottest NFT meme collections to come out of the ongoing crypto winter…where, like their founder, they both possessed their fair share of controversy and quirkiness.
The 45,000 unique Trump Digital Trading Cards of Series 1 dropped on Polygon in December of last year, with each depicting Donald wearing different outfits across his favourite environments (the DC runway, golf courses, and the US Capitol building for example).
For $99 apiece, the collection sold out in rapid time, which of course meant a big-money offering for Mr. Trump and his surrounding developers.
Come April 2023, Series 2 then dropped via another sell-out mint. Said to feature ‘even more incredible art inspired by some of the most iconic moments from Trump's time as a public figure,’ the collection featured 47,000 unique assets, which perhaps paid homage to Donald’s goal to become the 47th president. Like its predecessor, the collection included limited one-of-one cards, autographed editions, and even the chance to meet the man himself.
In addition to the mammoth revenue raked-in across the two mints, Trump has earned upwards of $4.87 million in licensing fees from his non-fungible endeavours. Such figure saw a bump after the former White House occupant leveraged his IP to produce a range of satirical Trump Digital Trading Card merchandise.
As all NFT collections do, both Series have felt their fair share of price fluctuations throughout their time on the blockchain, with much of Series 1’s price volatility coming amid Trump’s possible indictment back in the early months of 2023. In fact - and in true degen fashion - Trump’s ‘hush money’ run-in with adult star Stormy Daniels helped the collection’s floor price pump over 30%.
Crypto & Web3 Seeping Into Congress?
Those who recall Trump’s time in office may be surprised by his current pro-crypto stance, as in the summer of 2019 he held a ’Social Media Summit’ to express his concerns over the new ‘trend’ of money. Here he stated that he’s ‘not a fan’ of bitcoin due to its relative price volatility, ties to illegal activity, and general inadequacies for being ‘real money’.
However, as is evident, Trump’s stance on things has been altered in the years following his presidency (quite possibly due to the many generation-shaping events that’ve happened), which, of course bodes well for the crypto space if he were to be elected in 2024.
Nonetheless, even if Donald wasn’t to step foot in the White House for the second time, there are other potential candidates flying the decentralised flag for us. One of which is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Democratic Party candidate), who has not only confirmed that he owns bitcoin, but also stated that he will back the US dollar with grandfather of crypto if elected, as well as make it exempt from capital gains taxes.
In addition, Trump’s current opposition Robert DeSantis (Florida governor who is trailing Trump in the Republican candidate polls) has been a Web3 advocate for a number of years now, and insists that he will ban CBDCs if elected as president.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-r/2024/national/
Although this is undoubtedly bullish, the crypto space should perhaps feel a duty to push its message before it’s too late, as per a survey by Fortune, only 13% of likely voters hold cryptocurrencies.
However in conclusion - and with Trump being one of them - it appears that voters who put crypto and Web3 adoption at the forefront of their voting decisions may have several candidates to choose from when standing over the ballot box, meaning a more crypto-friendly, Gensler-free financial landscape in the USA may be closer than you think.
