NFT: Melania Trump suspected of buying her own NFTs as her auction failed

Melania Trump held an auction for her second NFT drop last month, but the event failed to draw bidders. The result was not what the former First Lady of the United States and her team were expecting, but the auction still proceeded.

The EconoTimes previously reported that the Melania Trump NFT auction did not hit the target minimum bid price of $250,000. The final bid was short of $80,000 since only $170,000 was placed. What’s more, it was reported that the bidding only attracted five people or groups, thus the low bids.

Some industry observers said that the disappointing result was due to the crashing cryptocurrency market at that time. This was the period when the value of digital currencies went down rapidly.

In any case, in a new report, it was alleged that Melania Trump purchased her own “The Head of State” NFT collection for $185,000. Various media outlets published articles stating that the winning bid was placed by the auction creator itself, which means the former FLOTUS is being suspected as the buyer of her own non-fungible token offerings.

According to Bloomberg News, blockchain transactions showed the digital currency that was used to buy Trump’s NFT came from a digital wallet owned by an entity that also listed “The Head of State” collection for auction.

Shortly after the auction ended, Melania Trump posted the auction winner on her website. She also included the bid history that shows the non-fungible token was sold for 1,800 SOL which is equivalent to $185,000 three weeks ago.

Moreover, Bloomberg also reviewed the transactions for the bid and noted that on Jan. 23, the digital wallet that belongs to Trump’s NFT creator transferred 372,657 USDC to another wallet. Later, the digital currency was sent again to a third address but this time it was already converted to 1,800 SOL.

The last wallet was then listed by Melania Trump as the winner of her “The Head of State” NFT collection. This data implies that the owners of all three digital wallets have cooperated in arranging the purchase.

Meanwhile, the office of the ex-FLOTUS issued a statement following the reports. They stated, “The nature of Blockchain protocol is entirely transparent. Accordingly, the public can view each transaction on the Blockchain. The transaction was facilitated on behalf of a third-party buyer.