Donald Trump’s latest foray into the digital collectibles market has begun with the launch of the ‘Trump Bitcoin Digital Trading Cards’. The first 160 collectibles were launched on the Bitcoin blockchain using the Ordinals protocol, a method of writing individual assets on satoshis, Bitcoin’s smallest unit.
Collectors who purchased 100 “Mugshot Edition” NFT cards and shared their Bitcoin addresses will be eligible to get their Ordinals on Magic Eden, one of the leading NFT marketplaces. At the time this piece was written, only 19 of the 119 potential ordinal numbers had been created. The claim period runs until January 31, 2025.
These NFTs use ‘Alpha sats’, the first satoshis of a Bitcoin block, to give them the desired rarity and uniqueness. There are already six Trump-themed Ordinals on Magic Eden, with prices ranging from 0.25 BTC to 9.8 BTC.
Despite the plateau in mid-2024, interest in the Ordinals market had grown by the end of the year. Average monthly enrollments in December were 54,000 to 92,000, compared to 13,000 to 35,000 in other months, according to Dune Analytics. The increasing demand shows that Bitcoin-based NFTs are regaining popularity.
Trump’s NFT legacy
This is Trump’s first NFT collection on Bitcoin’s Ordinals protocol, but he has dabbled in other NFT projects in the past. His previous series includes “Trump Digital Trading Cards,” which saw several editions released, such as the “America First” set released in August 2024. This edition had incentives such as gold-colored sneakers and meals with Trump.
Despite the hype, pieces from the ‘America First’ collection have not yet been traded, according to the NFT Price Floor aggregator. However, previous Trump-themed products have seen rather unstable sales in recent months.
The first collection of Trump NFTs recorded 2,180 sales in the past 90 days, up 71.1%, while trading volume fell slightly by 2.35% to $330,774. On the other hand, the second edition witnessed a 151% growth in revenue with 4,579 transactions, while trading volume increased by 30% to $147,605 during the same period. CryptoSlam’s analytics portal shows that despite the recent upswing in the crypto market, NFT sales are still 98% lower than at the beginning of 2022.
In related news, Telegram has also joined the fray in the NFT market. In its first update of 2025, the messaging platform added a new option that allows users to convert gifts into NFTs on the TON blockchain. First introduced in October 2024, Gifts are animated digital goods consisting of customized messages that can be posted to the user’s profile.
The update will allow them to convert more than 20 current gifts, such as Jelly Bunny or Santa Hat, into NFTs for Telegram Stars, the app’s in-app currency equivalent to Toncoin (TON). This feature aims to expand the adoption of blockchain technologies to the millions of Telegram users.