Sales of Donald Trump’s digital collectibles skyrocketed after news of his indictment in New York on Thursday. At the same time, a report revealed that the non-fungible token (NFT) sector had its best quarter since early last year, reaching a trading volume of $4.7 billion, despite a weaker March.
Trump NFTs Soar as Ex-President Gets Charged
The Official Trump Digital Trading Cards have seen an immense jump in sales, according to data from the NFT market Opensea, after the 45th United States President became the first head of state, either former or incumbent, to face criminal accusations.
The indictment by a Manhattan grand jury comprises over 30 counts related to business fraud, various media outlets have reported. It follows an investigation into an alleged hush money payment scheme involving adult film star Stormy Daniels which dates back to the 2016 presidential election.
The NFT collection was launched by Trump on social media in December when the first badge was sold within hours of the announcement. The thousands of tokenized cards depict him as many masculine characters, up to a Superman motif.
After the indictment, the sales rose sharply over 400% in just one day, reaching a volume of more than 90 ETH on Thursday (around $166,000 at the time of writing) and breaching the 0.59 ETH floor price on Friday, March 31, the Opensea stats show. The number of owners now nears 14,000 but prices have since gone back to more standard levels.
Q1 2023 Sees NFT Trading Volume of $4.7 Billion
According to a report by the global decentralized apps store Dappradar, NFTs experienced an overall strong first quarter this year, in spite of a significant drop in sales in March. In Q1 of 2023, the trading volume has grown by more than 137%, to $4.7 billion, the highest increase since the second quarter of 2022.
Dappradar also noted that Q1 was the first quarter where Opensea did not monopolize the NFT market. “The NFT sector is evolving quickly, with the emergence of new players and shifting dynamics,” the authors stated.
“We haven’t observed such a percentage since February 2021,” the platform pointed out in a blog post titled “NFT Marketplace War Doubles Trading Volume in First Quarter,” a reference to the battle between Opensea and Blur. The latter had more than 57% of the market in the first three months of the year, over 70% in March.
Do you think the NFT market will experience sustained growth in the coming months? Share your thoughts on the subjects and your predictions in the comments section below.
