WASHINGTON — It could be the perfect Christmas present for the Donald Trump fan in your life — a $99 digital trading card showing the former president in guises including a cowboy, astronaut and fighter pilot.
Trump — who is bidding to win back the White House in 2024 — had hyped for days that he would be making a “major announcement.”
But his unveiling of the collection of NFT (non-fungible token) cards — timed to tap into the lucrative festive shopping season — attracted widespread ridicule.
In a promotional video showing him in a Superman-style costume with laser-beam eyes, Trump gave the cards his classic hard sell.
“These cards feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career. It has been very exciting,” he said. “Buy one and you will join a very exclusive community — it is my community. Buy your Trump Digital Trading Cards right now before they are all gone, and they will be gone!”
“Remember Christmas is coming and this makes a great Christmas gift,” he added.
omg this is the promo video from trump's nft card project, im dying. this clown. maybe now people will believe that im not making this up!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/4Cx9u3Xe6E
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) December 15, 2022
Buyers are also entered into a sweepstake to win prizes such as dinner or a round of golf with Trump, as well as autographs and Zoom meetings.
Trump’s last “major announcement” was in November when he declared he would run again for the White House.
But he has since suffered heavy setbacks, including the defeat of many candidates he backed in midterm elections, mounting public criticism from Republican former allies, including over meetings he held with antisemites, and multiple legal cases against him.
Like cryptocurrencies, NFTs are highly speculative investment vehicles, each underpinned by a creative work or action, and represented by a unique — or non-fungible — digital token recorded in the blockchain ledger. This new kind of encrypted digital artwork has become hugely popular.
The NFTs can be used to trade representations of physical objects, like pictures or a painting, or digital creations, like audio files, videos, or any other kind of creative work. The NFT becomes something like a one-of-a-kind trading card, that can go up or down in value depending on demand and thus be traded for cash or other NFTs, or be kept as a collectible item with the bragging rights that come along with it. (Owning an NFT is not the same as owning the object, and thus a buyer cannot control reproduction or licensing, allowing the underlying work to continue to be reproduced or proliferate online.)
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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