The ex-president of the United States has re-entered the digital world on X, formerly known as Twitter, marking his first appearance since January 2021. He shared his mugshot, which has since become a source of memes produced by various users. Subsequently, Trump’s NFT collection has experienced a rapid price increase.
This spike follows the revelation of a photo showing the former president in connection with his trial in Georgia, where he is accused of attempting to compromise the integrity of the 2020 election and manipulate voter sentiment.
https://t.co/MlIKklPSJT pic.twitter.com/Mcbf2xozsY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2023
Data from the NFT marketplace OpenSea shows a significant increase in the minimum price of Trump’s digital trading card collection, originally launched in December 2022. The value rose more than 62%, rising from 0.138 to 0.224 Ether (ETH), which equates to $1,654 at August 24. This uptick coincided with the public release of the ex-president’s mug shot. The image, which depicts Trump’s resolute stance during his surrender at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, quickly went viral as the inaugural mugshot of a current or former US president facing criminal charges.
Donald Trump, who had primarily used his self-founded Truth Social platform following his suspension from X (then Twitter) in January 2021, broke his two-year silence on the platform and posted his mugshot.
The criminal case in Georgia alleges Trump and 18 associates engaged in racketeering, aimed at manipulating voters’ preferences, in order to secure his re-election as US president in 2020 despite his loss to Joe Biden. The charges were unveiled on August 14, with all parties involved ordered to surrender to Georgian authorities before August 25.
Trump appeared on August 24 and was released on $200,000 bail. Nevertheless, he continues to face federal charges in the District of Columbia for his alleged role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election by manipulating false voters. In addition, he faces charges in a classified documents case initiated by the Justice Department and a New York criminal case related to the falsification of company records in connection with a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
While expressing skepticism about cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and others, claiming they were “air-based,” Trump was found to own more than $2.8 million in an Ethereum wallet, as revealed by the non-profit organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. .
During his tenure, President Biden initiated action to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets through an executive order. However, his approach drew criticism from several legislators and industry participants. In the wake of the public release of Trump’s mugshot, users on X quickly took advantage of the opportunity by creating memes by adding laser eyes to the image and making other changes.
Despite emerging as the leading contender for the Republican Party nomination in the 2024 presidential election by a significant margin, Trump did not join other candidates in the first party debate on Aug. 23. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was considered the leading Republican nominee after Trump, based on Trump. Numerous polls have pledged to ban central bank digital currencies if elected. Vivek Ramaswamy, who gained a lot of online attention thanks to his debate appearance, previously addressed the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami and characterized the 2024 election as a “fiat currency referendum.”
