Earlier this week, a Donald Trump wholly-owned company released three sets of Bitcoin sneakers, and one has already sold out and made waves on the secondary market. The limited edition, bright orange high-tops with the Bitcoin logo and the words “Trump Crypto President” sold out in minutes. Now, pairs are appearing on eBay with listed prices between $700 and $69,999. The original price tag was $499.
According to the website where Web3 enthusiasts and normie opportunists could buy the sneakers, there were just 1,000 up for sale, with five pairs to be autographed by the Donald himself. Two other sets of Bitcoin sneakers are still available: a black high-top (15 to be autographed) and an orange low-top (four to be autographed). Both are selling for $299 a pair.
The company selling the sneakers is CIC Ventures LLC, which Trump revealed he wholly owned in a 2023 financial disclosure document. The website has other merchandise available for purchase, including “Fight Fight Fight” sneakers, a reference to the words Trump yelled after the attempt on his life about three weeks ago.
The release of the Bitcoin sneakers comes days after the Former President and this year’s Republican presidential candidate spoke at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, TN. If elected, he said he would fire the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler on Day 1 and create a strategic bitcoin reserve.
His 2024 position is a marked change from past comments, when he referred to crypto as a disaster waiting to happen and that bitcoin is a scam against the U.S. dollar. Many industry leaders have supported Trump as he shifted his perspective, including Kraken’s Jesse Powell, the Winklevoss twins, and the founders of investment firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Trump Turns Bullish on Web3
While Trump’s shift on crypto may seem sudden, the Former President and his wife, Melania, have been involved in Web3 for some time. In fact, according to financial disclosure documents, Donald Trump has earned between $100,001 and $1 million in NFT sales, so it may not be surprising that the business mogul has changed his tune about crypto. Here are three such stories supporting that.
First, seven days ago, we wrote a preview about Trump delivering the keynote address at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville. At the time, rumors were spreading that he would announce a strategic bitcoin reserve, and the price of BTC was jumping accordingly. The Former President did not disappoint in his speech, making promises to the 3,000-plus crowd.
Next, two weeks ago, Trump announced that he was going to release a fourth NFT collection, with the theme and number of tokens to be revealed at a later date. The admission came during a Bloomberg interview, which the publication conducted just two weeks before the assassination attempt on Trump’s life.
Lastly, three months ago, Trump hosted dinner for holders of his third NFT collection, the ‘Mugshot Edition.’ There, supporters of Trump received their promised physical rewards, including pieces of the suit and tie worn during the infamous mugshot. In a speech that night, Trump claimed that he and the NFT ‘Mugshot Edition’ buyers made “NFTs hot again.”
As these stories show, Trump was participating in Web3 even before his stance changed publicly. Now that it has, it has forced the opposition party to reevaluate their position on crypto. And that is music to everyone’s ears.