The Ordinals in the NFT market: Trump’s earnings and the controversial debate

Donald Trump has recently made several profits in the NFT market, a factor that has fueled the discussion about Ordinals and more. 

The former President of the United States has indeed integrated his iconic mugshot photo into his NFT collection in August and has gradually earned profits in the Ordinals market in December. Let’s see all the details below. 

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class="wp-block-heading">The debate on Ordinals heats up: latest developments in the NFT market context

As anticipated, recent news has emerged that former United States President, Donald Trump, is converting a considerable amount of Ether (ETH) obtained from the sale of his NFTs.

His affiliate portfolio has indeed transferred 1,075 Ether (ETH) to Coinbase starting from December 8th.

The revenue from ETH comes from its NFT collections, recently enriched by its famous mugshot photo taken during its delivery to the Georgia authorities last August.

According to data provided by the blockchain intelligence platform Arkham, the wallet associated with Trump has moved 1,075 ETH, equivalent to about 2.4 million dollars.

These have been deposited on Coinbase through thirteen different transactions since December 8th. Most of these withdrawals have been made in blocks of 100, 125, and 200 ETH.

Trump’s ETH balance has been steadily increasing since October, reaching a peak of $4 million before the start of the recent selling wave.

Despite his past statements in 2021, when Trump criticized cryptocurrencies as “fake” and “a disaster waiting to happen,” defending the US dollar as the key to the country’s economic success, he now appears to be actively involved in the cryptocurrency market.

We also remind you that Trump will take part in the 2024 presidential elections. However, his campaign has recently suffered a setback due to his exclusion from the ballot in the state of Colorado decreed by the local Supreme Court.

Heated controversy over Bitcoin Ordinals: the details

Since its launch in January, Bitcoin Ordinals has generated a heated debate among supporters and critics regarding its impact on the Bitcoin network. This time, however, the debate seems to be even more intense.

Tomer Strolight, editor-in-chief of Bitcoin Swan, used an analogy to describe the conflict: comparing the situation to someone defecating on the street, encouraging others to follow suit, leading to road congestion with “fecal matter”. 

The idea is that, despite the positive claims, this practice has increased overall costs.

Another commentator, “GregZaj1”, has compared the artists of Ordinals to people who pay to “start defecating in the pool”. 

This comment seems to be a criticism of Taproot Wizards, a collection of digital art affiliated with Bitcoin Ordinals, accused of negatively impacting the ecosystem.

Still, Eric Wall, Bitcoin developer and co-founder of Taproot Wizards, responded to the criticism, stating that it is amusing to see legitimate bitcoiners feeling powerless to stop what they perceive as a deterioration in the quality of Bitcoin.

In essence, the interest and obsession for Bitcoin Ordinals continue to provoke heated debate in the cryptocurrency community. 

Critics, like Luke Dashjr from OCEAN Mining, argue that Ordinals registrations are “spam” and represent a threat to the security of Bitcoin Core, while supporters claim that they contribute to economic traffic and incentivize miners to stay for higher rewards.

Jana Bertram’s perspective on NFTs from the RARI Foundation

Recently, Jana Bertram, strategy manager at the RARI Foundation, shared her perspective during The Agenda podcast, emphasizing that the application of NFTs goes far beyond the scope of digital art.

Despite its rapid rise since 2021, the market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has experienced a decline in 2022, with decreasing minimum prices especially for projects focused on digital art. 

During that period, several experts had even declared the end of NFTs. Despite a recovery in sales in 2023, volumes have not yet reached the peaks of previous enthusiasm.

However, as highlighted by Jana Bertram, the technology behind non-fungible tokens remains robust, with many innovators seizing the opportunity of the cryptocurrency downturn to develop products, platforms, and use cases without the media pressure of a bull market.

An example of an NFT ecosystem that has thrived during this period is Rarible, which includes the Rarible protocol, the Rarible marketplace, the RARI token, Rarible DAO, and the RARI Foundation, with the imminent arrival of a new “layer 3” mainnet, RARI Chain.

In the twenty-sixth episode of The Agenda podcast, hosts Jonathan DeYoung and Ray Salmond discuss with Jana Bertram from the RARI Foundation, exploring what makes Rarible unique, 

Not only that, they also talk about how the NFT market can become sustainable, the future prospects of non-fungible tokens, exciting use cases, and much more.