Melania Trump includes NFT as she auctions off memorabilia

Former First Lady Melania Trump has announced an historic auction event entitled ‘The Head of State Collection’.

The collection commemorates the Trump Administration’s first official state visit and features three important one-of-a-kind signed items:

• White millinery masterpiece worn by Melania Trump.
• Original watercolour on paper by Marc-Antoine Coulon.
• Exclusive digital artwork NFT with motion.

According to the official report, her second NFT is a digital artwork – a “one-of-a-kind NFT of Marc-Antoine Coulon’s watercolour with movement, designed to commemorate the important historical moment and highlight the iconic hat”.

The NFT is an edition of one, signed by Melania Trump and Marc-Antoine Coulon, and will be minted on the Solana Blockchain.

The three lots are being auctioned together, with the starting bid set at $250,000 – or 1415.86 Solana (SOL).

Melania Trump has also recently expressed her interest in Bitcoin on the 13th anniversary of its launch, weeks after she launched her first non-fungible token (NFT) endeavour.

In a tweet, she noted that Bitcoin had surpassed $1tn in market value and congratulated Satoshi Nakamoto while casually adding her NFT hashtag.

Her tweet came as Bitcoin’s mining hash rate rocketed to an all-time high over the weekend ahead of the anniversary.

Her first NFT sold was a digital watercolour painting of her blue eyes, which came complete with an audio message.

Entitled ‘Melania’s Vision’, the digital artwork – signed by Melania and Coulon – was initially valued at around $185, but the former First Lady has not yet disclosed how much it was eventually auctioned off for.

Scepticism from former White House insider

The decision to sell her first NFT was, however, met with scepticism from a former Trump White House official who claims to have interacted with her on a day-to-day basis.

“The approximately $150 piece of digital artwork – a watercolour of Melania Trump’s eyes – reeks of a cash grab by someone who is just trying to look busy,” the anonymous insider told the media.

“This is not exactly using her platform for larger global or domestic impact,” said the former East Wing official adding it’s “a classic Trump move, using their brand and their supporters to cash in”.

“I’m confused by it. It’s very random as a project and seems tone-deaf to release online artwork of yourself for $150,” he noted.

“The timing seems odd too – Covid and natural disasters are impacting the country, and many people are struggling financially.”

Melania’s husband – the former President of the US – had said in June that cryptocurrency was a “scam against the dollar”.

Also, only a few months later, he predicted that it was “potentially a disaster waiting to happen”.

However, once Melania unveiled her ‘Vision’ he commented it “epitomises our American Spirit of ingenuity, creativity, and entrepreneurship”.