Melania Trump surprises by spruiking bitcoin after launching her own NFT

Melania Trump is now spruiking bitcoin, in a move that has left many surprised, especially given her husband’s view on the tokens.

Melania Trump is now apparently spruiking bitcoin weeks after launching her own non-fungible token (NFT) venture – in a move that has left many surprised.

Tweeting overnight from her official account, the former US first lady wrote: “It is widely reported that bitcoin’s market cap exceeds $US1 trillion [$A1.38 trillion]. Today marks the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin Genesis Block. Happy anniversary. #SatoshiNakamoto #MelaniaNFT.”

It is widely reported that Bitcoin's market cap exceeds USD$1 Trillion.  Today marks the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin Genesis Block.  Happy Anniversary, #SatoshiNakamoto#MelaniaNFTpic.twitter.com/aZqNJFcZmd

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 3, 2022

The tweet came as a surprise to many, who didn’t see Mrs Trump’s dive into the world of cryptocurrency coming.

Others pointed out her new hobby is at odds with her husband’s strong opposition to the tokens in previous interviews.

Melanie, do explain all you know about Bitcoin. I am truly interested

— Anamarija Wagner (@AnamarijaWagner) January 3, 2022

WTF

— Aleksandra Huk (@HukAleksandra) January 3, 2022

pic.twitter.com/uOVGjTcZhk

— Dan Held (@danheld) January 3, 2022

Divorce incoming…

— Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) January 3, 2022

Please educate your husband on the matter.

— JCS 🇨🇴⚡ (@JCastroS) January 3, 2022

100% chance you don’t know what any of this means

— Mikra_Venus (@mikra_venus) January 3, 2022

NFTs are unique digital assets such as images or audio recordings. Their ownership is stored on the blockchain, and they can be quite lucrative. Melania’s first offering is a painting of herself.

“I am proud to announce my new NFT endeavour, which embodies my passion for the arts and will support my ongoing commitment to children through my Be Best initiative,” Ms Trump said in a statement.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale will go to educating children in computer science skills who are ageing out of foster care.

Her first NFT offering, titled Melania’s Vision (2021), is a watercolour of the former model’s eyes by French artist Marc-Antoine Coulon.

In an Instagram post, the artist said, “I am very glad and honoured to collaborate in this operation with Mrs Melania Trump.

Former US First Lady Melania Trump. Picture: Alex Edelman / AFP

“This collaboration has taken place under the best possible auspices with full artistic confidence and with great efficiency and understanding on both sides of the common expectations for such a charitable operation.”

Her husband however slammed cryptocurrencies in a recent interview.

He said: “Look, I want a currency called the dollar, I don’t want to have all these others – and that can be an explosion some day like the likes of which we’ve never seen. It’ll make the big tech explosion look like baby stuff. I think it’s a very dangerous thing.”

In June 2021, he also said bitcoin “seems like a scam”.

He added: “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar … I want the dollar to be the currency of the world.”