Rare, classic Pokémon cards have always been an expensive thing to collect, but recent years have seen the value of particular cards soar beyond our wildest imaginations. Now, one company is aiming to jump on this trend by allowing fans and collectors to buy shares in highly-priced cards.
The company in question is Otis, an investment app that makes it possible for buyers to invest in sought after merchandise like sports cards or collectable stickers. On the app, a potential buyer can grab a share of a Pokémon card from $10 and up, and this can be traded at any time through the app's dedicated trading platform.
Here, for example, you can choose to buy shares in a 1999 Pokemon 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Raichu card valued at $10 each, with a minimum of 25 shares needed to be bought to complete the transaction. The listing shows buyers a description of the card, data on how much the card has been worth over time, and offers reasons as to why it might be a good investment opportunity. Mewtwo and Blastoise cards are currently live on the site, too.
Here's how it all works, according to Otis:
"Investors select an Otis asset and acquire fractional interests that represents an indirect ownership interest in that asset. When you purchase shares in an Otis offering, you invest in an LLC which owns a specific asset, such as a painting. If the value of that asset rises, so does the value of your shares.
[You can] sell your shares to other Otis members on our trading platform or receive pro-rata returns if we sell one of the underlying assets you invested in."
It's bizarre to think that these little bits of cardboard can hold enough value that people are willing to buy shares in them, yet here we are.
Do you think this is an interesting idea? A sad reminder of the downsides to Pokémon card collecting? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Comments 28
Tesla? Amazon? Nintendo? Pfff. Pokemon trading cards!
I think i will take a poop and if that doesn;t go down the drain after 30 years you can sell it
Stupid cards.
The Pokémon Company international needs to hurry up and launch their own cryptocurrency.
You can mine it by competing in battle facilities, earned alongside BP!
...Why? Why would you do this?
This must be an April Fool's joke from Otis. Has to be.
@MS7000 It proposes a way for you to invest in cards that you generally wouldn’t have access to due to the high demand. The same thing is popping up for sports cards, where it essentially is a way to invest in young players. You’re rewarded for taking a risk or having good foresight. It’s like a little stock market
@Ooyah
Society has progressed to the point that we now treat Pokémon cards as a commodity on the same level as gold, thus are viable for investments.
Unlike shares where a company or product can create value.
All you'd be doing is putting money into a big pot and hoping that the value in a static, unchanging product goes up. While hoping that Otis gets a continually feed of money to pay out on your "investments" if they go up.
@RupeeClock
Can we regress a bit? 🤣
@Crockin But not why invest in something more meaningful and will actually change in value? Also, I feel most people who are interested would probably just want the card itself rather than investing in it's potential value.
Maybe I am missing something because I am not a stock holder myself.
Like buying paper gold. A worthless investment.
@MS7000 idk because it’s cheap fun? It adds an extra layer of interest in a card or player or whatever.
This is the April Fool's joke article right?
@Crockin But the article itself mentions that you must buy a minimum of 25 shares. At $10, that is already $250. I am not sure I would call that cheap.
@Samuel-Flutter Unless the Otis website/app itself was made for April Fool's then no, this is real. They do have listings for other assets outside of Pokémon cards.
I mean people put a banana on a wall, and call it art. So, at this point nothing can really surprise me.
@MS7000 if collecting trading cards is your hobby, then yeah $250 is really cheap. Otherwise you are spending potentially thousands on boxes to find valuable cards to flip to buy more cards for your personal collection.
Ffs I have to find all of my old cards, I have a ton of old Shiny's lying around somewhere in storage.
@Crockin Fair enough I suppose. Not really in a position to criticise people's spending habits anyway. =)
@MS7000 worth mentioning that stuff like this is part of a bigger movement that we’re seeing now with investing in general becoming more accessible. The post-gamestonks era is unfolding quickly
And better inbestment than Deliveroo for example which has lost hundreds of millions over the years, can't even make a profit in a years worth of lockdown but was still valued at over £6 Billion yesterday.
@Ooyah i got some digimon cards might be worth something? 🤔
I was convinced this was an April Fool’s joke until I just noticed the site you’re linking to where the shares can be bought. Now I’m not sure.
there are better ways to wast money such as drugs and women/men
This has destroyed the hobby entirely. These aren't fans. They're people treating this like another stock market. It's just about the profits and this digusts me.
The Pokemon TCG is a dumpster fire right now. Old products are at unreachable prices for normal humans and new products are being scalped and sold at huge mark ups.
Even normally priced Pokemon TCG was an expensive hobby. But now it's becoming totally untenable.
I can't believe that if I had kept my collection I'd have been sat on a goldmine. Only ever bought one pack which contained a shiny Polywrath, and from that traded up to a collection that filled an entire binder up with shinies from the first gen and then Jungle set.
Nidoking, Blastoise, Zapdos, Charizard, Chansey, Raichu, Mewtwo, the lot. Ended up with some rare shiny Japanese Team Rocket cards aswell including Dark Charizard and Umbreon.
I will never throw out anything collectible ever again!
I hope to god this is fake, since pieces of cardboard shouldn't be this valuable.
I don't think this is fake. A while back there was a report of this same investment opportunity for WATA graded games, with sealed NES titles selling for thousands of dollars in many cases. Someone smarter on youtube said that to investors all these graded pop culture items are seen as nothing but "containers of wealth". Toys, cards, comics, video games, it's all the same and it's all over valued. Buying a share of a graded card or game seems insane to me.
@iaLgan how else do you think they make a good wine? I'd save that poop if I were you 😉😂🤣😂🤣 this is world is getting crazier
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