Original author: Xiyou, ChainCatcher
Reprinted: Koala, Mars Finance
On November 5, local time, the dust settled on the voting for the 60th presidential campaign in the U.S., with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris being the focus of global attention regarding who will enter the White House, marking a new change in the crypto world.
Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump has repeatedly expressed support for the development of cryptocurrencies. If he successfully returns to the White House, the strict regulatory policies on the crypto market in the U.S. may undergo changes, injecting new vitality into the industry. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference, Trump stated in his speech that if re-elected, he would ensure that the government retains 100% of its Bitcoin holdings and would classify Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset for the U.S.
Trump is not only a supporter of the cryptocurrency market but also a personal participant. During his campaign, he received donations from crypto whales and institutions, and personally got involved in several crypto projects. The income from NFT and DeFi crypto projects he participated in through OEM branding has exceeded $10 million.
According to data from the Arkham platform, as of November 5, the value of cryptocurrency assets held in Trump's wallet address was $6.15 million. At its peak in June this year, it reached $25 million, with nearly 1,000 Ethereum held, valued at $2.38 million.
Trump's active participation and significant earnings in the crypto market undoubtedly bring new changes and attention to the crypto world. If Trump is elected, the impact on the crypto market would be profound.
Trump's NFT series card sales revenue surpassed $22 million, with licensing fees exceeding $8 million.
Since 2022, Trump-branded NFT digital trading cards have issued four series, with a total issuance of over 200,000 NFTs. Calculating each card at $99, the revenue from NFT card sales alone has exceeded $22 million.
Firstly, in December 2022, Trump released his first series of NFTs - Trump Digital Trading Card NFTs. This series was created on Polygon and features Trump's cosplay images, including cartoon representations of Trump as a superhero, astronaut, race car driver, western sheriff, etc.
This is the first series of Trump's NFT theme, priced at $99 each, with an issuance of 45,000 units. Buyers could participate in a lottery, meet Trump, or play golf among other benefits. The launch of this series quickly garnered a warm market response, selling out within 18 hours and achieving sales of $4.455 million.
Additionally, this series of NFTs is also quite active in the secondary market. According to the latest data from Opensea, the number of addresses holding this series of NFTs has exceeded 140,000, with total transaction volume in the secondary market reaching 15,859 ETH, which, at the price of $2,600 per ETH, is approximately $41.23 million.
This means that Trump's first NFT series alone generated $4.45 million in sales revenue, in addition to which the series also had a 10% royalty, meaning that from over $40 million in trading volume, the royalty income was over $4 million. The total income brought by this NFT series exceeds $8.5 million (including sales revenue and royalty income).
Perhaps seeing the considerable profits brought by NFTs, just four months after the first NFT, in April 2023, the second series of Trump Digital Trading Cards was officially launched. This series mainly showcases Trump's tough image in a suit, with a total issuance of 47,000 units, each priced at $99, selling out in less than five hours and achieving sales of $4.653 million. The current floor price is 110 POL ($33).
On December 23 of the same year, Trump released the third series of NFTs (Trump Digital Trading Cards MugShot Edition), still priced at $99 each. Unlike previous series, this series has a total of 100,000 cards, primarily showcasing Trump's image after his arrest. This series of NFTs generated approximately $9.9 million in revenue.
In August this year, Trump's fourth NFT series (Trump Digital Trading Cards America First Edition) went on sale. This series of NFTs is themed around Trump's appearance in a suit during the presidential debates against Biden, expressing a never-surrender political strategy. It also includes scenes such as dancing, holding Bitcoin, and standing next to a buffalo or lion, further affirming Trump's support for crypto.
The fourth NFT series is also priced at $99 each, with holders receiving debate suit parts and special benefits, and being able to participate in golf club dinners. The official website shows it has sold out. However, this series of NFTs cannot be transferred until January 31, 2025. According to the latest data from Opensea, the fourth NFT series has an issuance of 31,740 units, with total sales revenue of approximately $3.14 million and 1,568 holding addresses, with a current floor price of 529 POL (approximately $161.7).
In summary, the first series of Trump's NFTs was issued in December 2022, with a total of 45,000 cards (sales revenue of $4.45 million); the second series was released in April 2023, with a total of 47,000 cards (sales revenue of $4.65 million), and both series 1 and 2 had an additional 10% royalty income; the third series MugShot was released in December 2023, with a total of 100,000 cards (bringing in $9.9 million); the fourth NFT series America First went live in August this year, with an issuance of 31,740 units (profit of $3.14 million).
As of now, the revenue generated from Trump's NFT digital trading cards has surpassed $22 million.
However, the Trump series NFTs are not directly issued by him or his company, but are produced and sold by the NFT issuing company NFT International LLC (NFT INT LLC), which is authorized to produce digital trading cards using Trump's name, likeness, and images under a paid licensing agreement and pays licensing fees to Trump.
According to financial data disclosed earlier this year regarding Trump's campaign, NFT INT LLC has earned $19 million from launching three series of Trump digital trading cards, paying Trump $7.15 million in licensing fees, while Trump's wife Melania Trump earned $330,000 from NFT sales.
Adding the $3.14 million in income from the newly launched NFTs in August, NFT INT LLC has now earned over $22 million from issuing Trump's NFTs solely from card sales. If the NFT issuing company pays licensing fees based on the income fee ratio, the amount paid to Trump would account for about 37% of the income ($7.15 million / $19 million), and the fourth series of NFTs would also need to pay Trump an additional $1.17 million in licensing fees ($3.14 million * 37%), meaning Trump has netted over $8 million purely from the branded NFTs ($7.15 million + $1.17 million).
Since Trump began his presidential campaign, the floor price of the Trump series NFTs has seen a significant increase. As of November 5, there were two that exceeded $100, with the first series digital trading cards having a floor price of 450 POL dollars ($135); the second series digital trading cards at 110 POL ($33); the floor price of the third series MugShot is unknown; the fourth NFT series (America First) is quoted at 529 POL (approximately $161.7).
The Trump family expects to earn $337 million through the branded DeFi project World Liberty Financial.
If NFTs were Trump's first successful foray into the crypto market, then the DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is another significant achievement for the Trump family with public branding.
World Liberty Financial publicly claims to be a project promoted by members of Donald Trump's family (his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.) and has repeatedly received Trump's personal support on his official Twitter account. For instance, before and after the WLFI token sale, Trump's official X account continuously posted promotional content for its token sale, leading the crypto community to regard World Liberty Financial as a DeFi project directly supported by Trump.
World Liberty Financial is a DeFi protocol where users can borrow and lend cryptocurrencies, create liquidity pools, and trade using stablecoins.
On the evening of October 15, World Liberty Financial's token WLFI officially began public sales, with a total issuance of up to 100 billion tokens, planning to publicly sell 20 billion tokens at a price of $0.015 (equivalent to $300 million).
However, the sales results of the WLFI token after its launch fell far short of expectations, with participation funding of less than $15 million. As of November 5, 982 million WLFI tokens had been sold, raising only $14.73 million.
The main reason for this outcome is that the white paper released by World Liberty Financial on October 18 shows that the project is using Trump's image for promotion and marketing through authorized cooperation, while Trump himself occasionally needs to promote WLF and World Liberty Financial through tweets. The Trump family did not participate in the project personally; they merely appear as endorsers.
As a return for authorization, the Trump family will receive 22.5 billion WLF tokens, which, based on the issuance price of $0.015, will be worth $337.5 million. Additionally, the Trump family has the right to receive 75% of the net income from the agreement, but bears no responsibility for WLF.
From the tweets to the images of Trump on the website and white paper, World Liberty Financial appears to be highly linked to the Trump family. However, the reality is that Trump and his family's products are OEM products; the Trump family only receives income through brand licensing, while other operators use the Trump family's name to run the products. More concerning is that the operators behind World Liberty Financial have been found to have code that appears to be directly copied from the DeFi product Dough Finance, which was recently hacked.
"Branding, naming, and endorsements" are not uncommon commercial practices in the Trump family. Worldwide, many hotels or buildings named after Trump collaborate with him through licensing and OEM forms. Similarly, in the crypto world, Trump issued NFTs in OEM form and again utilized it in the crypto DeFi project World Liberty Financial. However, given the current community participation in crypto, even with Trump's branding, users may not necessarily be convinced.
