Pokémon card market reaches $10–15 billion, blockchain project attempts tokenized trading

Odaily News: The Pokémon trading card market is currently valued at approximately $10 billion to $15 billion, driving queue-up purchasing at retailers such as Costco. A Logan Paul-owned Pikachu Illustrator card once sold for $16.5 million.

Sales at major retail chains like Target and Walmart, along with eBay's $26.2 billion in card sales for 2025, show that trading cards have become a significant alternative asset class, recently outperforming the S&P 500 index and Bitcoin.

Deadstock, a blockchain startup launched by ATH Labs, is attempting to tokenize high-grade cards and store them in vaults to address the market's fragmented trading and slower transaction speeds. The project still faces liquidity challenges, as well as the network effect advantages formed by existing platforms like eBay. (CoinDesk)