World’s Most Expensive ‘Pokémon’ Card Is Being Turned Into An NFT

It’s no secret Pokémon collectors are serious about their cards. After all, in February, a rare first-edition uncut sheet of cards from 1999 was listed at US$40,000 at an auction. 

Now, in a recent video, YouTuber Logan Paul has revealed he now owns the world’s most expensive Pokémon card, an extremely valuable Pikachu Illustrator that cost a jaw-dropping US$5,275,000. 

As per the Guinness World Records, which certified the sale as the “most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private event,” only 39 of such cards “were given out to Illustration contest winners in 1998, and this was a purchase for the only one in the world that has been graded a perfect ‘10.’” 

Previously, the most expensive trading card from the franchise sold at retail was a gold reissue of the first Pikachu card, which was bought at £1,699 (US$2,015); while the most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at auction was another PSA Grade 7 Pikachu Illustrator card that fetched US$900,000 earlier this year. 

According to Kotaku, the professional wrestler said he took months to acquire the priced collectible—which has been reported to be the only known mint condition card of its kind—by finally purchasing it with US$4,000,000 in cash and another Pikachu card worth US$1,250,000.

Of course, because it’s 2022, Paul is set on turning the one-of-a-kind Pikachu into a non-fungible token (NFT). 

The card will be listed on a blockchain platform, Liquid Marketplace, which was co-founded by the social media star, split into 50 million tokens listed at US$0.10 each, making it slightly less expensive than what it was originally purchased for.

However, as per NME, even if you cough up US$5,000,000, 49% of the rights to the collector’s item will still belong to Paul, who said the card will be kept securely in a vault he doesn’t have access to. 

Though, after the sale, the community can decide if he’ll be allowed to wear a blinged-out version of the card to professional fights or “put it in a museum one day.” 

[via Kotaku and NME, images via Guinness World Records]