Parler Is Trying to Attract Crypto Users to Its New Marketplace—With Trump NFTs

Social media platform Parler announced today the launch of its new Solana NFT marketplace, DeepRedSky. The first collection, called "Official CryptoTrump Club," is dedicated to the 45th president.

According to DeepRedSky, each CryptoTRUMP is unique, with images of former President Donald Trump in various settings. Within the 10,000 NFT collection, 250 are categorized as extremely rare NFTs.

DeepRedSky Chief Marketing Officer Christina Cravens tells Decrypt Parler sees some synergies between the decentralized space, free speech, and the idea of less big tech: "So whether you're conservative or you're liberal, we want a broader conversation. And this helps us to do that." (Although, it should be noted that the platform isn't called "DeepBlueSky," which is perhaps too close to Twitter's decentralized social media platform project, "bluesky.")

Parler CTO Sam Lipoff explained that the platform would feature a wide range of NFTs in the coming months, and while Parler is happy to host political discourse, the team behind the platform wants to move past politics.

"I would say to be quite honest, the Parler site today is very heavily political. And you know, if that's the way it is, that's fine," Lipoff said. "But I think, beginning in the next few months, you'll see a variety of NFTs that we would call both partisan and non-partisan, and we hope that diversifies the audience a little bit."

But starting with a polarizing figure such as Donald Trump is a high-risk method of doing so, especially with crypto audiences. Trump said in a 2021 interview that he held a negative view of cryptocurrencies, saying, "Bitcoin just seems like a scam. I don't like it because it's another currency competing against the dollar." In the final days of his term, the administration tried to ram through Treasury restrictions on crypto wallets—reportedly at the behest of the president. That said, Trump's Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Brian Brooks—a former Coinbase executive—implemented crypto-friendly banking regulations during his short stint in office.

Some online platforms, such as Twitter and subscription-site OnlyFans have integrated non-fungible tokens into the user experience by allowing verified NFT profiles. But Parler CTO Sam Lipoff tells Decrypt DeepRedSky is not a case of following the leader.

"Let me be clear that we are not trying to copy Twitter, in any way," Lipoff says. For one thing, the marketplace isn't yet enmeshed with Parler—just "powered" by it.

"Part of our pitch to creators is that we're a free speech platform that is not going to demonetize you or kick you off if you say something that violates orthodoxy," Lipoff says. "We also want to provide additional creative features for creators to be able to not only reach different audiences but be able to monetize."

DeepRedSky is the latest Solana NFT project Parler has been involved with, the previous featuring former First Lady of the United States Melania Trump.