Donald Trump’s digital trading card collection sells out in less than a day

Despite being widely mocked online, former US president Donald Trump's collection of digital trading cards have sold out in less than a day, netting US$4.5m in sales.

On Wednesday, Trump alerted fans to a "major announcement" on his Truth social media platform. A day later, the 45th president of the United States revealed he was offering "limited edition cards featur[ing] amazing ART of my Life & Career", which he promised would prove "very much like a baseball card but hopefully much more exciting".

The cards include the 76-year-old former commander-in-chief in a boxing ring, preparing to wrestle, as a race-car driver, an astronaut, and on a football field. Each card has his presidential number, 45, stamped on it.

The non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were on sale on the Opensea marketplace, which people could reach via a dedicated site set up for the sale. The site said on Friday that the cards were sold out.

The cost for the NFTs was US$99 each and 45,000 were put on sale. As with other NFTs, the purchaser holds ownership of the specific digital Trump card, but the image itself can be widely copied and shared by anyone online.

While the nature of digital imagery means there is a limitless supply as long as the user knows how to click and save, there was a limited supply of NFTs on offer as part of the launch.

Some images had only one NFT associated with them, while others had 20 on sale.

People who bought the cards also went into a competition to win prizes including dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trump, golf with the former president, or a Zoom call.

It comes at a time when Trump is facing increased legal pressure as court cases advance over his businesses, and the House January 6 select committee is considering a criminal referral against him for obstruction of Congress.

Trump has also faced pressure inside the Republican party after announcing plans to run for the GOP nomination in 2024 amid a poor result for Republicans in the midterm elections in November, that has been in part blamed on Trump.