The Trump NFT series “Trump Digital TradingCards” went online on the Bitcoin network in the form of Ordinals. It is understood that there are only 160 of these Ordinals in the series. However, Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr criticized Trump’s issuance of Ordinals, stating that Trump is essentially launching a national attack on Bitcoin.
Summary: After benefiting from NFT and DeFi, what is Trump’s next move with his entrepreneurial spirit?
Background: Trump started selling the fourth-generation NFT “America First” and empowered it with limited-edition sneakers and golf dinners.
After Trump was elected as the President of the United States, the market’s expectations for his pre-election encryption policy increased significantly, further bringing back the bull market atmosphere for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. During the campaign period before the election, Trump’s support for the cryptocurrency field went beyond verbal promises. He personally participated in DeFi and NFT projects and endorsed them.
In addition to the well-known Trump family DeFi project World Liberty Financial, he had already jumped on the NFT trend in 2022 and released four NFTs. The first NFT, “Trump Digital TradingCards,” was especially sought after in the market because the holders of this NFT series could attend a private dinner hosted by Trump at his “Mar-a-Lago” estate.
Further reading: What did Trump say at the NFT dinner? Revealing that he is not a cryptocurrency expert.
The Trump NFT series went online in the form of Ordinals on the Bitcoin network.
According to CrytpoSlate, Trump’s NFT series, “Trump Digital TradingCards,” has been released on the Bitcoin network in the form of Ordinals as “Trump Bitcoin Digital Trading Cards.”
According to official information, there are only 160 in the Ordinals series. If users want to hold them, they need to purchase 100 “Mugshot Edition cards” and submit their Bitcoin wallet address. After passing the review, they can be minted on Magic Eden. As of now, out of the 119 mintable Ordinals in the series, 19 Ordinals have been minted. In addition, the minting period only lasts until January 31.
Bitcoin core developer: This is a national-level attack on Bitcoin.
However, Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr criticized the practice of Trump endorsing NFTs distributed as Ordinals on the Bitcoin network. On the 9th, Dashjr posted a scathing article, accusing Trump of launching a national-level attack on Bitcoin:
The newly elected President Trump announced that the United States will launch a national-level attack on Bitcoin. This is not a drill. Bitcoin is not ready to withstand the threats from national-level attackers.
Regarding Luke Dashjr’s extreme remarks, netizens in the comment section immediately asked, “I don’t quite understand why Trump is attacking Bitcoin.” In response, Luke Dashjr stated:
The “Ordinals” mentioned here is not just a protocol on Bitcoin but also a means of attack specifically targeting Bitcoin. And Trump is apparently funding this attack.
To understand the true intentions behind these euphemistic expressions, we need to see through their surface.
We know that Luke Dashjr strongly opposed the “Ordinals and BRC20 trend” in 2023 because many Ordinals transactions at that time caused severe congestion on the Bitcoin network, with transaction fees reaching a new high in recent years, sparking discussions and divisions among Bitcoin developers, miners, and communities.
As a Bitcoin Maxi, Luke Dashjr criticized that the Ordinals inscription is actually sending spam messages to the Bitcoin network and proposed fixing this issue through updates at that time.
Signs of revival in the Ordinals ecosystem?
On the other hand, according to data from Dune Analytics, after the rise of the Ordinals ecosystem in April 2023, its popularity remained until April 2024, when it showed clear signs of decline. After the Ordinals ecosystem cooled down in May 2024, it experienced a 7-month period of decline until November, when it began to warm up again and joined the NFT revival trend in December, making the ecosystem active once again.
This time, Trump chose to issue Ordinals on Bitcoin. Whether this can bring the Ordinals ecosystem back to the “Ordinals trend” of 2023 is worth our continued attention.