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- Logan Paul’s $16.49M Pokémon card sale breaks record.
- A.J. Scaramucci’s Pokémon card acquisition kicks off rare artifact quest.
- Liquid Marketplace’s legal trouble shadows Logan Paul’s card sale.
Logan Paul recently made headlines with the sale of his coveted Pokémon Illustrator card for an astonishing $16.49 million. The sale marked the highest price ever paid for a trading card, previously set at $14 million when the company sold a Dual Logoman featuring Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. A.J. Scaramucci, the buyer, is a collector who loves rare things and has greater plans than the Pokemon card. He stressed in a statement that this was only the start of his search for historically significant artifacts, such as a T. rex fossil and even the Declaration of Independence.
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A Rare and Valuable Find
The Pokémon Illustrator card, a very popular collectible, was issued in 1998 and produced only 39 copies. The value of this specific card is very high because it is graded PSA 10, indicating it is in almost perfect condition, with sharp corners, gloss, and no apparent flaws. This card was owned by Logan Paul, whose last purchase was made in July 2021, when he acquired it for $5.3 million. Paul’s very first purchase generated a lot of buzz in both the collectibles and crypto markets, notably after it later appeared on his Liquid Marketplace platform.
Nevertheless, there has been controversy in the sale. One of the platforms Paul co-founded to tokenize physical and digital collectibles, Liquid Marketplace, was called into question in 2024 when the Ontario Securities Commission accused it. The site and its founders, including Paul, were charged with violating securities laws, deceiving investors, and misusing funds. Paul subsequently responded to the matter, stating that Liquid Marketplace sold only a small portion of the card, and that he had paid the money himself so users could redeem it on the site.
Controversy Surrounds the Sale and Liquid Marketplace
Paul’s interest in the Liquid Marketplace has raised transparency issues in sales. Paul stated that the card was initially sold at 51% on the platform, but only 5.4% of the card was sold in 2022 when it was sold at around $270,000. He added that once the platform was in trouble, he used his own money to fix it, and users could withdraw their money. Paul maintained that, even with the legal problems in the marketplace, users were notified and could recover their investments.
The use of platforms such as Collector Crypt, which offer NFTs representing graded Pokémon cards, is widespread within the contemporary resurgence of interest in collectible trading cards. With almost $37 million in volume generated in one week, it is clear that the digital asset market for collectibles is growing rapidly.
Not only has this sale broken records, but it has also sparked a fresh discussion about the role of tokenized assets in high-value collectibles. The convergence of the physical and digital worlds is going to keep changing, and with collectors such as Scaramucci still getting their hands on rare treasures, it is hard to tell what this market will look like in the future, but it is already making an impact.
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