Trump Promotes NFT Sales, Pudgy Penguins' Record High, and the Long Road to Zuckerberg's Metaverse
Summary:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is hoping to boost sales of his "Mugshot Edition" NFTs, offering a unique trading card in exchange for purchases of 100 or more. Pudgy Penguins' NFT collection has hit a new all-time high, thanks to owner Luca Netz’s innovative marketing strategies. NFT trading volumes have decreased significantly in 2023, with a $15 billion drop compared to the previous year, according to CoinGecko. Meanwhile, Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s head of global business, reveals that the realization of Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse is projected to take a decade. Other news includes Nathaniel Chastain's appeal against his conviction for wire fraud and Elon Musk's controversial withdrawal of the NFT profile picture support on Twitter.
Trump is leveraging Bitcoin Ordinals to increase sales of his contentious "Mugshot Edition" nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The team spearheading the NFT collection of the former U.S. president has announced that customers who purchase 100 or more of the Trump Mugshot Editions will now be awarded a unique "One-of-One" trading card as a Bitcoin Ordinal. The announcement on Jan. 18 by CollectTrumpCards noted that only 200 unique Ordinals NFTs will be created and distributed only to those who buy at least 100 of his latest Mugshot NFTs at $99 each — translating to a total expenditure of $9,900.
Launched in December on the Polygon (MATIC) network, Trump's "Mugshot" collection can be bought using a credit card or Wrapped Ether (WETH). The Mugshot NFTs and the Ordinals can't be traded until December 2024 to discourage their use as investment assets. According to the official project account, these NFTs are intended exclusively for individual enjoyment.
Meanwhile, the Pudgy Penguins NFT collection achieved a significant new all-time-high on Jan. 17, reaching a peak floor price of 19.05 ETH, or approximately $47,000. It registered a massive upsurge from 10.78 ETH to 17.8 ETH within a week— a notable feat hardly matched by other NFT collections in the market. Despite facing obstacles throughout the past year, the continuous growth of the project has been attributed to the collection’s owner, Luca Netz, who purchased it in April 2022. Netz's innovative strategies like cultivating external revenue streams from plushie toy sales and running a mental health awareness-centric Instagram page have helped her achieve this.
NFT trading volumes registered a record decrease of nearly $15 billion in 2023: CoinGecko reports that NFTs on the top ten blockchain networks generated a total of $11.3 billion in trading volume, marking a massive decline of $14.5 billion from 2022. Despite observing a sizeable uptick in February, activity hit a yearly low in September. However, a swift recovery was seen in the final quarter, mainly propelled by heightened interest in Bitcoin Ordinals. While Ethereum remained the top choice network for NFT traders, Bitcoin surpassed Ethereum in December with $808.0 million in trading volume.
Mark Zuckerberg’s much-hyped 'metaverse' concept is still up to a decade away. According to Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s head of global business, the company will continue its investment in building the metaverse despite the timeline. The fully realized version of Zuckerberg's metaverse is still expected to take a full decade to reach fruition.
In other news, ex-OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain is contesting his conviction for wire fraud and money laundering related to insider trading. Chastain’s defense team argued the government could not prove that information related to NFTs on OpenSea constituted property.
Moreover, Elon Musk stirred the NFT community when he withdrew the NFT profile picture feature on Twitter. Initially introduced in 2022, the platform had let paid subscribers link their NFTs to their Twitter profile pictures, indicating it with a hexagonal frame. NFT Creator Nate Alex expressed remorse for selling 70 CryptoPunks too early.
Published At
1/19/2024 6:00:54 AM
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