Tokenized Pokémon cards are seeing renewed interest lately, partly due to the recent debut of a token for a Solana-based project called Collector Crypt.
Like several other projects, Collector Crypt offers customers “packs” that contain NFTs, which can be redeemed for physical trading cards that are graded and stored by third-parties. The project also operates a marketplace for connecting buyers and sellers.
The project conducted a presale for its CARDS token on Solana using the protocol Metaplex, and its market cap jumped to a peak of $85 million on Wednesday from $23 million a day before, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. CARDS’ market cap recently stood at $74 million.
Although the token’s price has increased 210% over the past day to $0.19, a warning provided by CoinGecko on behalf of Rugcheck.xyz stated that the token’s creator can make unrestricted changes to its supply, and among other things, disable selling.
On an FAQ page, Collector Crypt said it will provide details on how CARDS will be integrated into its products and services in the weeks following the token’s debut. On X, the firm said “100% of net funds” will go toward purchasing actual Pokémon cards for its ecosystem.
Decrypt reached out to Collector Crypt for clarification and comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Collector Crypt says its most popular product is a digital gacha machine. Resembling loot boxes in video games, the service provides a user with a random NFT that could be tied to a “legendary” Pokémon card, but is more likely to be “uncommon.”
The upshot is that Collector Crypt provides each gacha customer with a buyback offer that lets them exchange the NFT for 90% of the card’s resale value, as determined via eBay and other platforms. The project said on X in late August that its gacha app has generated $70 million in sales.
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There are currently more than 18,000 Pokémon cards listed on Collector Crypt’s website, but it is far from the only place that people can find digital representations of Pokémon cards.
