The Trump family is back in Web3 news with another NFT collection. But this time it’s from the former First Lady, Melania Trump.
News of the new Solana-based NFT collection called “The 1776 Collection” was announced via Melania’s Twitter account earlier in the week. The collection consists of 3,500 NFTs that costs $50 a piece, and can be purchased via crypto or credit card.
The NFTs are themed around the U.S. Independence Day, July 4th, and feature iconic American imagery like photos of the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, and Mount Rushmore. The NFTs are currently available on a website called USA Memorabilia.
The move comes about two months after the launch of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s second NFT collection of trading cards, which unsurprisingly sent the value of his first collection plummeting.
According to Fox News, an undisclosed portion of sales will go to Fostering the Future, an initiative aimed at helping foster children. However, there is no detailed information on the USA Memorabilia website that confirms this.
This isn’t Melania’s first foray into Web3. In December 2021, she was the first in the family to launch her own NFT alongside executives from Solana Labs. The collection was called “Melania’s Vision,” and has generated about $15,000 in trading volume on OpenSea.
But the most popular collection from the family has been Donald Trump’s “Trump Digital Trading Cards,” which consisted of 45,000 Polygon-based NFTs priced at $99 each and linked to special benefits like dinner or a Zoom conference with the former president.
The NFTs were widely criticized for their tacky art, much of which seemed to have been lifted off the internet and still contained watermarks. Photos of the former President doing things like riding a horse in a cowboy hat or standing on the moon brought in more ridicule.
But despite the critics, the collection sold out in 24 hours and their floor price reached as high as $1,000 on secondary markets shortly after launch. To date, the NFT collection has done 14,222 ETH in total sales volume, or around $26.4 million.
In April of the same year, Trump dropped another 47,000 NFTs at the same price. NFTs from the second collection are worth about $54 in ETH a piece at the time of writing, and have generated about $2.7 million in trading volume on OpenSea.
NFT Collections Continue to Launch in Bear Market
It’s been a tough year and a half for the NFT space, and many projects have seen the value of their digital assets plummet. But that hasn’t stopped new NFT projects from being launched regularly. At Rarity Sniper, we’ve covered several new NFT projects in recent weeks. Here are some of the top stories.
Yesterday, June 29th, an exclusive 1:1 NFT from World of Women featuring the world-renowned Spanish footballer Alexia Putellas sold for over $300,000. The NFT is part of WoW’s ‘Masterpiece’ NFT collection, which advocates for female empowerment and promoting equal opportunities for women and girls in Web3.
Next, on July 3rd, Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the best footballer in the world, launched his second NFT collection called ‘The GOAT.’ The NFTs were launched via Binance’s NFT marketplace, and consists of 29,327 NFTs divided into four rarity tiers.
Finally, on June 8th, news dropped that NBA star LaMelo Ball had teamed up with PUMA and the Gutter Cat Gang NFT collection to launch a limited-edition sneaker called the “GutterMelo MB.03.” The NFT can be redeemed for a pair of physical sneakers.
Although we don’t see former First Ladies and Presidents dropping NFTs too often (besides the Trump family), NFT projects continue to be launched by all sorts of personalities and entities. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll keep an eye on ‘The 1776 Collection’ from Melania and report back with any updates.