Logan Paul's $16.5 Million Record Pokémon Card Auction Ignites ‘Slop Tokenization’ NFT Debate

Logan Paul sold a rare Pikachu Pokemon card for $16.5 million, setting a record for the collectible.

• The Pokémon card had previously been tied to a fractionalized NFT offering on the now-defunct Liquid Marketplace.
• Paul said only 5.4% of the intended 51% stake was sold, raising about $270,000, which he later repurchased.
• Critics, including Delphi Labs’ Gabriel Shapiro, described the NFT structure as “slop tokenization.”

While Bitcoin (BTC) attempted to climb back above $70,000 and Ethereum (ETH) slipped below $2,000 again, cryptocurrency news was buzzing about WWE wrestler Logan Paul’s sale of a Pokémon collectible card for a record $16.5 million, which was once listed as a non-fungible token (NFT). 

One-half of the sibling celebrity duo, Logan Paul, once offered to sell fractionalized ownership of the rare Pikachu Pokémon card on the now-defunct Liquid Marketplace in 2022, prior to the website getting shut down. This drew ire from users online, calling out the YouTuber for running a scam – and it is not the first time.

Paul Addresses NFT Controversy

Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro said on X, the Logan Paul Pikachu NFT fractionalization fiasco is a classic case of "slop tokenization", the token is basically just 'juxtaposed' with property but has no rights to it

In a post on X, Paul explained that he had originally sought to sell a 51% stake in the card on the NFT platform, but only 5.4% of the card was bought. The sales added up to around $270,000, he wrote. He then bought the card back in May 2024 for the same price.

Shortly thereafter, Liquid Marketplace went offline, and users could no longer withdraw their funds. Paul said he personally paid to get the site back up and that users can withdraw their funds at any time.

He has not been as patient when it comes to his other NFTs. X news aggregator WatcherGuru was reportedly blocked by the WWE wrestler after the channel pointed out that Paul purchased an Azuki NFT for $623,000 in 2021, and now its value is down to just $155.

Overall, the NFT market capitalization has fallen by more than 26% over the past year and remains more than $210 billion below its 2021 peak.

Crypto Market Struggles

Bitcoin’s price was trying to hold above $68,000 on Tuesday morning, down 1.4% in the last 23 hours. On Stockwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency trended in ‘bearish’ territory amid ‘low’ levels of chatter.

Ethereum’s price slid to $1.971, down 0.9% in the last 24 hours, with retail sentiment also trending in the ‘bearish’ zone, accompanied by ‘low’ levels of chatter. The overall cryptocurrency market cap was down 1% to $2.4 trillion, with liquidations totaling around $220 million, according to CoinGlass data.

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