The NFT industry has been adaptive, and we’ve witnessed several celebrities getting in line to get a piece of the pie. Everybody from singers like Tory Lanez to successful actors like Tara Strong has joined the wagon to establish their dominance in this budding industry.
Interestingly, politicians are the latest entrants in the industry. Making her way in the NFT industry is Melania Trump. The wife of now ex-America’s president ventured into the NFT industry without much knowledge of the segment. To date, she has launched a few collections of her own.
However, it wasn’t until her most controversial ‘White Hat’ NFT that she came to the news. Rumors suggest that Melania bought her own NFT to keep up with its price. But is the rumor true?
Let’s find out as we uncover the secrets behind the Melania Trump hat cryptocurrency project in the following sections of the blog. But first, let’s have a look at her collection.
A Look Into Melania Trump’s NFT Collection
There will be over 10,000 digital art pieces in Melania Trump’s new NFT collection. Known as ‘The POTUS NFT,’ the collection is special as it honors the different turning points of American history.
The NFTs in this collection will feature images of the nation’s historical landmarks and icons, such as the White House, Mount Rushmore, and Air Force One, the President’s jet.
Interestingly, none of these digital art pieces will be sold individually. Investors opting. for the Solana Melania Trump NFT purchase will be surprised with a unique image as the collection has not been made public yet (it’ll only be visible once the transaction is complete). To put it another way, buying these NFTs is like purchasing a pack of sports cards.
The art collection that recently went live came with a patriotic motif and began at $50 a piece.
However, the initial release failed to churn out the results at the time of its release on February 21, President’s Day.
First, the sale was affected by the harsh crypto winter. Second, there wasn’t much demand for these NFTs, raising the price. Third, the NFT sale will start on February 21, Presidents Day.
Criticism Concerning Melenia’s NFT Collection
Since Melania’s NFT launch; her collection has been under constant criticism for being a new way of money laundering. This criticism has been ongoing since the launch of her collection ‘The Head of State’ in January.
Additionally, while the introduction of the latest Trump NFT looks commercial and somewhat patriotic, analysts and experts claim that there’s a darker side to them. Additionally, a report from Bloomberg suggests that Melania was the first to buy her NFTs. This makes it one of the most controversial NFT sales in a long time.
Let’s have a look at the matter in the following section.
The White Hat NFT: Collection On Offer
The Melania hat auction was an event like no other. This digital art piece was among the three digital assets commemorating the first official state visit of Trump’s Administration. It featured the white hat she wore to receive French President Emmanuel Macron.
Additionally, the sale included the motion art from which the NFT was developed, the real hat, and the original Marc-Antoine Coulon watercolor, all auctioned off. The Melania NFT price’s starting offer was made at $250,000.
However, since the market was already having the onset of the crypto winter, there was a bit on the collection. Among the few enthusiasts who claimed the collection, the highest bid was $180 thousand.
Interestingly, this was just the start of a controversy.
Reports suggest the token was sold back to the same wallet address that minted it. The entire incident points out Melania suspiciously purchasing her digital asset herself.
Everything We Know About Trump’s NFT Controversy
As per information on Trump’s website, the investor involved in Melania NFT buy bought the digital asset from the address 497Zu5gfWSv4VNsoQfjixWXQZmKZ2pDzkVSASDBqnFL2. Interestingly, this is where things get creative for the former first lady of America.
The address used for purchasing the digital art received 1,800 SOL on December 2020. Interestingly, it was the same address used for creating Melania’s NFT. Once the auction was completed, the original creator’s address returned 180,000 units of the token to this new self-funded and invented address, which later converted it into USDC.
This backs the theory of the creator being the buyer of the NFT collection. As per the authorities involved in the NFT sale, the buyer didn’t use cryptos and sent it to Trump’s camp to completely settle the transaction. However, this only seems impossible.
This is because this claim fails to back or satisfy the mysterious chain of transactions and the different wallets the token was transferred to.
However, if what Melania’s camp is saying is true, then the NFT project underwent the trouble of managing transactions for a buyer who isn’t into cryptos. This happened despite bidders calling their SOL bids over the auction website.
The entire scenario was staged because crypto was crashing after the news of the initial launch at $2,50,000 and eventually came down to 1,800 SOL. Or the fact that the bidder was willing to pay the $250,000 bid, making them an effective winner.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that the “3CTu” address held over $400,000 worth of money in USDC tokens. The address used a portion of the sum by converting it into SOL, using it in the auction, and liquidating the existing in USDC.
But even though this scenario is satisfying, it’s unclear why a middle wallet was needed. Adding to it, the NFT creator sent the 1,800 units of SOL back to the winner again. So, if we look at it, Melania selling NFT could be a hoax entirely. Or, maybe the camp just went beyond traditional measures to facilitate its winner.
Therefore, if you’ve also been wondering whether ‘did, Melania buys her own NFT?’ it’s a 50/50 situation with an equal probability of both events.
Now You Know
Looking at the recent turn of events, it’s evident how crypto and digital assets could be a manipulative industry. This is mostly because Donald Trump has often criticized crypto openly, calling crypto a ‘scam against the dollar.’
However, once his wife got involved, the former president seemed to support the cause. All these reasons leave us to consider whether Melania is into NFT or leveraging the industry to capitalize on the situation.
