Original title: (Selling 'Trump': The Trump family makes millions from 'branding authorization' for crypto projects)
Original author: Xiyou, ChainCatcher
On November 5, local time, the dust settled on the voting for the 60th presidential campaign in the U.S., with the question of whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris would occupy the White House being a focus of global attention and a new shift in the crypto world.
Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump has repeatedly expressed his 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 change, injecting new vitality into the industry's development. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference, Trump stated in a speech that if elected again, he would ensure 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 crypto 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 crypto assets held in Trump's wallet address are valued at $6.15 million. During the peak in June this year, the value reached as high as $25 million, with nearly 1,000 ETH 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 sales revenue has surpassed $22 million, and licensing fees have exceeded $8 million.
Since 2022, four series of Trump-branded NFT digital trading cards have been issued, with a cumulative total of over 200,000 NFTs issued. Based on a price of $99 per card, the income from selling NFT cards alone exceeds $22 million.
First, in December 2022, Trump released his first series of NFTs—the Trump Digital Trading Cards NFT. This series of NFTs was created on Polygon and features Trump in cosplay themes, including images of Trump as a superhero, astronaut, race car driver, Western sheriff, and other cartoon characters.
This is the first series of Trump NFTs, priced at $99 each, with an issuance of 45,000. Buyers can 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, with sales reaching $4.455 million.
Moreover, the trading of this NFT series in the secondary market is quite active. According to the latest data from Opensea, the number of addresses holding this NFT series exceeds 140,000, with a total trading volume in the secondary market of 15,859 ETH, which, at a price of $2,600 per ETH, is approximately $41.23 million.
This means that Trump's first NFT series generated $4.45 million in sales revenue from card sales alone. Additionally, the series has a 10% royalty, resulting in over $4 million in royalty income from a transaction volume of over $40 million. The total revenue generated 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 (Trump Digital Trading Cards Series 2) was officially launched. This series primarily showcases Trump's tough guy image in a suit, with a total issuance of 47,000, priced at $99 each. It sold out in less than 5 hours, achieving sales of $4.653 million, with a current floor price of 110POL ($33).
On December 23 of the same year, Trump released the third series of NFTs (Trump Digital Trading Cards MugShot Edition), 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 NFT series generated approximately $9.9 million in revenue.
In August this year, the fourth set of Trump NFT series (Trump Digital Trading Cards America First Edition) was launched. This NFT series is themed around Trump's appearance in a suit during the presidential debate with Biden, representing a political strategy of never surrendering, and includes scenes of dancing, holding Bitcoin, and standing next to a buffalo or lion, further reinforcing belief in Trump's support for crypto.
The fourth set of NFT series is also priced at $99 per card, holders can receive debate suit parts and special benefits, and can attend golf club dinners. The official website shows it has sold out. However, this NFT series is not transferable until January 31, 2025. According to the latest data from Opensea, the fourth NFT series has an issuance of 31,740, with total sales revenue of about $3.14 million, and the number of holding addresses is 1,568, with a current floor price of 529POL (approximately $161.7).
In summary, the first series of Trump 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 have an additional 10% royalty income; the third series MugShot was released in December 2023, with a total of 100,000 cards ($9.9 million); the fourth NFT series America First was launched in August this year, with an issuance of 31,740 (profit of $3.14 million).
As of now, the income generated by Trump's NFT digital trading cards has exceeded $22 million.
However, the Trump series NFTs are not directly issued by him or his company but are produced and sold by the NFT issuance company NFT International LLC (NFT INT LLC), which is authorized to create digital trading cards using Trump's name, image, and likeness under a paid licensing agreement and pays Trump licensing fees.
According to earlier disclosed financial data from Trump's campaign this year, NFT INT LLC earned $19 million by launching three series of Trump digital trading cards and paid Trump $7.15 million in licensing fees, while Trump's wife Melania Trump earned $330,000 from NFT sales.
Adding the $3.14 million generated from the newly launched NFTs in August, NFT INT LLC has now earned over $22 million solely from selling Trump's NFTs. If the NFT issuance company pays licensing fees based on a revenue-sharing ratio, the fees paid to Trump would account for approximately 37% of the income ($7.15 million / $19 million). The fourth NFT will also require an additional payment of $1.17 million in licensing fees to Trump ($3.14 million * 37%), meaning Trump has netted over $8 million just from licensing the NFTs ($7.15 million + $1.17 million).
Since Trump began his presidential campaign, the floor prices of the Trump NFT series have significantly increased. As of November 5, two cards were priced above $100, with the first series digital trading card floor price at 450POL ($135); the second series digital trading card floor price at 110POL ($33); the floor price of the third series MugShot is unknown; and the fourth NFT series (America First) is quoted at 529POL (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 work where the Trump family publicly endorsed the brand.
World Liberty Financial publicly claims to be a project promoted by members of the Trump family (sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.) and has received multiple endorsements from Trump himself on his official Twitter account. For instance, before and after the WLFI token sale, Trump's official X account continuously published promotional content for its token sales, leading the crypto community to view World Liberty Financial as a DeFi project personally 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, the World Liberty Financial token WLFI officially started public sale. The total issuance of WLFI tokens is as high as 100 billion, with plans to publicly sell 20 billion at a price of $0.015 (equivalent to $300 million).
However, the sales results after the launch of the WLFI token fell far short of expectations, with participation funds of less than $15 million. As of November 5, only 982 million WLFI tokens had been sold, generating $14.73 million.
The main reason for this result is that the white paper released by World Liberty Financial on October 18 showed that the project is merely using Trump's image for promotion and marketing through authorized cooperation with the Trump family and Trump himself, who occasionally needs to promote the WLF and World Liberty Financial agreement through tweets. The Trump family did not personally participate in the project and merely appeared in an endorsement capacity.
As a return for the 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 tweets to the images of Trump on the website and the white paper, World Liberty Financial appears to be highly tied to the Trump family. However, the reality is that Trump's family is merely renting the brand (OEM), earning profit through brand leasing while other operators exploit Trump's family's reputation to run products. More concerning is that the operators behind World Liberty Financial have been exposed to have copied their code directly from the DeFi product Dough Finance, which was just hacked this year.
The business model of 'branding, licensing, and endorsements' is not uncommon in the Trump family. Across the world, many Trump-branded hotels or buildings are collaborations with Trump through licensing and OEM arrangements. Similarly, in the crypto world, Trump issued NFTs through OEM and again applied it in the crypto DeFi project World Liberty Financial. However, from the perspective of participation in the crypto community, even with Trump's branding, users may not necessarily buy in.
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