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Melania Trump Pitches NFT Plans; ‘Cobalt Blue Eyes’ Captivate Crypto Twitter
The former first lady is donating some of the proceeds from her first sale to help children in the foster care system.
By Eli Tan
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:02 p.m. Published Dec 16, 2021, 3:55 p.m.
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Former First Lady Melania Trump bemused the Twittersphere on Thursday with the announcement that she’s launching her own NFT platform.
Her debut non-fungible tokenhttps://melaniatrump.com/nft (NFT) release is titled “Melania’s Vision,” and features watercolor style artwork of her own cobalt blue eyes, “providing the collector with an amulet to inspire,” according to a press release.
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Excited for this new venture, which combines my passion for art and commitment to helping our Nation’s children fulfill their own unique American Dream. #MelaniaNFT https://t.co/XJN18tMllg pic.twitter.com/wMpmDDsQdp
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) December 16, 2021
While former President Donald Trump famously said that he’s “not a fan” of bitcoin, his wife is not shying away from crypto collectibles. The NFTs will live on the Solana blockchain, though a representative of Solana Labs said it wasn’t involved in landing the deal and learned of the project Thursday.
Mrs. Trump said a portion of proceeds from the initial sales will go towards helping children aging out of the foster care system.
The initial drop is the first of many, according to the press release. Trump said more NFTs will be released in intervals on her website and plans to preview an “NFT and private collection auction” on Jan. 4 to be sold on Jan. 11.
The platform taps the Solana blockchain, known in the NFT space for lower fees than its Ethereum counterpart, and is “powered” by free speech social network Parler, though the press release didn’t say how.
“The Trumps are all super cheap, so it makes sense they picked Solana for the transaction fees lol,” a prominent ecosystem participant told CoinDesk.
Danny Nelson contributed reporting.
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