A Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card, owned by YouTuber Logan Paul, sold for $16.492 million at auction Sunday night, including buyer’s fees, setting a new record for the most expensive trading card ever sold. The buyer is venture capitalist AJ Scaramucci, son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
Paul initially purchased the card in 2022 for $5.3 million in a private sale, a price that already marked a high for Pokémon collectibles. He subsequently showcased the card by wearing it around his neck, encased in a diamond-encrusted chain, at public events, including a WWE wrestling match, effectively transforming the collectible into a personal branding exercise.
The sale represents a substantial return on investment for Paul, yielding a nearly 212% profit. According to reports, Paul had anticipated the card would sell for between $7 million and $12 million, significantly less than the final auction price. He described the sale as a matter of “vindication,” telling Fortune last month, “We’re in an intriguing time where everyone wants to critique, but no one wants to build… They all are just armchair quarterbacks yelling from the sidelines even as there are doers out there who are creating, making, building, establishing, and I am that person.”
Paul, along with his brother Jake, has been actively working to reshape their public image from that of online pranksters to entrepreneurs, and investors. The brothers are now involved in venture capital, and both have amassed nine-figure net worths.
The surge in value of Pokémon cards has outpaced many traditional investment vehicles. Card Ladder data indicates that Pokémon cards have increased in value by over 3,200% in the last two decades. More recently, values have risen nearly 25% in the past three months, exceeding the performance of stocks like Nvidia.
Gary Vaynerchuk, a prominent investor and entrepreneur, has long advocated for the potential of collectibles as undervalued assets. In 2020, he likened the opportunity presented by trading cards to his early investments in social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, acknowledging the inherent risks while expressing confidence in the market’s potential.
Paul emphasized that his success stems from leveraging passion into profit, stating, “If you’re into something, and you’re passionate about it, there’s a market for it… And you can build around it as long as you lean into it.” He believes this approach is particularly relevant for Gen Z, who are entering a rapidly evolving economy shaped by artificial intelligence and technological innovation, adding, “If you don’t adapt, you die.”
