Melania Trump NFT auction failed to reach target bid price

Melania Trump emerged again after stepping down as the First Lady of the United States early last year. She became visible again after jumping into the world of non-fungible token or NFT.

Melania Trump’s NFTs made so much noise when it was first announced, and after a successful foray into this business in December 2021, she released another set of NFTs earlier this month.

This time, the former FLOTUS is auctioning the white hat she wore when France’s President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House in 2018.

The wide-brimmed white hat was the main item being sold at the NFT auction that was dubbed “The Head of State Collection.” It was said to be a customized hat crafted by Hervé Pierre and was paired with her Michael Kors Collection all-white suit worth which is reportedly priced at $2,105.

Trump is selling this item as NFT, and its value is higher as she also signed it. The NFT package being auctioned includes three items - the hat, an exclusive digital NFT artwork, and the original Marc-Antoine Coulon watercolor painting featuring Melania. In the press release, Melania Trump said the digital assets also commemorate the very first official State visit during Trump Administration.

In any case, the NFT package had a minimum bid of $250,000, and only the Solana (SOL) cryptocurrency is accepted for the bids. The price was imposed at a time when the trading was around $170 per token.

However, The Guardian reported that Melania Trump’s NFT auction did not go as planned as it failed to reach the target minimum bid price. Instead, the final bid was only $170,000, which is $80,000 short of the original goal. Plus, it was revealed that there were only five bids for Melania’s NFTs.

With the result, it was pointed out that the former FLOTUS just ended up as one of the victims of the recent crash in the cryptocurrency market that saw the digital currencies’ values plummeting.

Then again, despite the disappointing result, part of the proceeds from Melania Trump’s NFT auction will still be donated to charities to help people who have been in foster care. The funds are intended to help them with computer science and technology education.