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According to a filing submitted by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, former President Donald Trump has generated between $100,001 to $1 million in revenue through the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) bearing his Trump brand. The disclosure was initially reported by the ethics monitoring group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

In December, a collection of 45,000 digital collectibles featuring the likeness of the 45th president was released and sold out within a day. Recently, the collection's value has surged due to news of the former president's arraignment in New York.

As per the submission made on Friday, the filing reveals that Donald Trump holds the roles of "manager, president, secretary, and treasurer" at CIC Digital LLC and CIC Ventures LLC. The Trump Trading Cards website confirms that CIC Digital LLC provided NFT INT LLC, the company responsible for the NFT project, with a paid licensing agreement to utilize Trump's name, likeness, and image for the initiative.

The submitted filing lists the revenue earned from CIC Digital LLC as "NFTs," which generated anywhere between $100,001 to $1 million. Additionally, it discloses that CIC Ventures LLC received more than $5 million from speaking engagements.

Based on on-chain data provided by NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam, the Trump NFT project has generated over $19 million in sales since its inception. However, in the last week, the number of active wallets holding Trump NFTs has decreased by 13% to 208.

OpenSea's data reveals that 65% of collectors possess just one NFT, while another 23% own between two and three. On the other hand, some wallets have over 100 NFTs in their possession. Notably, 1,000 NFTs were not publicly released and are currently held in a Gnosis Safe Wallet, which is a multi-signature smart contract wallet that requires approval from multiple users for any asset movement.

Following the paper trail

It remains somewhat unclear how Donald Trump managed to amass up to $1 million from the sale of his NFT collection. Even though the official website claims that none of the profits generated from the project are going directly towards Trump's reelection campaign, the filings suggest that Trump has still been able to take home a considerable share of the revenue for himself.

OpenSea has disclosed that there is a 10% royalty fee for creators on secondary sales of the Trump NFTs. Presently, the highest bid on a Trump NFT is 10 ETH, which amounts to approximately $20,000. The majority of offers seem to fall within the range of 0.3 ETH, which is equivalent to roughly $630.

Ever since the launch of the project, Twitter users and crypto enthusiasts have been eager to piece together the financial details, uncovering signs of art theft and questionable wallet addresses. Furthermore, NFT INT LLC is listed with a registered address at a UPS Store located in Park City, Utah, despite the fact that the LLC is officially incorporated in Wyoming.

Upon investigation, journalist Kurt Eichenwald discovered that the LLC's address is situated in a building in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which has allegedly been connected to shell companies and international controversies in the past.

The New York Times has reported that Bill Zanker, a serial entrepreneur who co-authored a book with Trump, is connected to the NFT project and has committed to sharing "a significant portion of any revenues from sales" with the former president.

Source Coindesk