Melania Trump’s NFT Auction Sells Below Starting Price As Cryptocurrency Dips
In December last year, former first lady Melania Trump launched her first non-fungible token (NFT) auction, selling a watercolor art piece of her “cobalt blue eyes” by French artist Marc-Antoine Coulon alongside an audio recording.
Earlier this month, she announced another auction, featuring White House memorabilia—including a Hervé Pierre hat, a separate watercolor work, and another NFT in celebration of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the US in 2018.
Bids for The Head of State Collection were to start from the equivalent of US$250,000 in Solana cryptocurrency. At the time, as per the New York Times, the digital currency had been trading at nearly US$170 per token.
However, in light of the major cryptocurrency crash in recent weeks, the token is now worth only US$95 each. This meant that the bids for the auction, which were made with Solana tokens, sharply decreased in value as well.
The auction, which was carried out from January 11 to January 25, amassed a total of five bids, all of which averaged around the minimum required bid of 1,800 Solana tokens.
Instead of the US$250,000 initially expected, when the sale closed, the final bid was only worth about US$170,000.
When the auction was first listed, as per The Washington Post, Trump had said that a portion of the proceeds from the sale would go towards providing foster care children with access to computer science and technology education, although it did not disclose exactly how much will be donated.
Now, with the cryptocurrency crash and less-than-expected bid, there’s speculation as to if the former First Lady will cash out the lower amount, or hold onto the Solana cryptocurrency in hopes of it increasing in value in the future.
ENDS TONIGHT: The "Head of State Collection" exclusive auction #MelaniaNFT pic.twitter.com/pbUCpz5uk6
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 25, 2022
[via New York Times and The Washington Post, cover image via Gints Ivuskans | Dreamstime.com]
