Donald Trump's digital trading cards have been pulled from sale until the end of the year.
A source from NFT trading platform OpenSea confirmed to Newsweek that the cards had been removed from their platform but did not elaborate as to why. Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.
The NFT trading cards were first released in December 2022 and sold out within a matter of hours, raising nearly $4.5 million in the process. Each card showed Trump as one of a number of heroic characters, including a superhero, astronaut, sheriff and NASCAR driver.
Since then, the price of the digital artworks has fluctuated, and Trump has released different versions of the cards.
In April 2023, Trump released a second batch of Trump NFTs featuring images of the former president in an array of costumes.
"My New Trump Digital Trading Cards Series 2 is the Number One Collection in the World. It must be that people love the art. A great honor!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday, April 19.
In the 24 hours after Trump announced the second batch of NFTs, the price floor for Trump Digital Trading Cards fell from around 0.42 Ethereum ($822.55) to just 0.1, according to NFT trading platform OpenSea.
In December 2023, the Republican released a range of "MugShot" edition cards referencing his arrest in Georgia earlier that year on 13 charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. He said those purchasing it would receive a physical card too for the first time.
Regarding the cards being pulled, the OpenSea source told Newsweek: "This collection, Trump Digital Trading Cards, is non-transferable until December 31, 2024. This means the collection is disabled for secondary market buying and selling until that date. Because this is enforced by the creator, we're unable to override this."
Trump spoke on the conservative One America News Network in December 2022 about his decision to create the artworks. He stated the digital trading card collection was about "art" and not money.
"You know, it's sort of comic book art when you think of it, but they showed me the art and I said: 'Gee, I always wanted to have a 30-inch waist,'" the former president said at the time.
"I'm looking at this stuff and I'm saying 'Wow, that's sort of cute, that might sell, that might sell.' They thought it would sell in six months, it sold in six hours."
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Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
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