Tokenized Pokémon cards are poised to replicate the success of Polymarket, according to Bitwise analyst Danny Wilson.
Pokémon and other TCGs are about to have their “Polymarket moment.” Here’s why you should be paying attention:
Most of crypto’s teal world asset (RWA) plays cater to well-established TradFi markets, like treasuries, real estate, gold and stocks. Sure, tokenization brings these…
— Danny Nelson (@realDannyNelson) September 3, 2025
He noted that most RWA projects are aimed at established traditional financial markets: treasuries, real estate, gold, and stocks. Tokenization offers advantages but does not fundamentally change them.
With Pokémon cards, the situation is different. There is already a multi-billion dollar market that operates almost entirely offline.
“Sellers literally mail their Charizards, Pikachus, and Gardevoirs to buyers—sometimes with expert appraisal, but often without. It’s inefficient, but it works: last year alone, $3 billion worth of goods were sold through the social auction app Whatnot (just one market segment), mostly thanks to Pokémon,” Wilson noted.
What Sparked the Frenzy?
As an example, the expert cited the recently launched Collector Crypt project on Solana. It offers digital “packs” with NFTs that can be exchanged for original physical cards.
The platform also launched its own token, CARDS. Its market cap surged from $23 million to $83 million in a few days. FDV reached $386 million.
“The CARDS token increased tenfold in less than a week after release. Traders are rushing to price in its income-generating potential. Current data suggests the project is on track for $38 million in annual revenue,” Wilson added.
CoinGecko specialists, citing Rugcheck.xyz, warned that Collector Crypt creators can change the token supply indefinitely and even disable sales. Nevertheless, the token’s value continues to rise.
The Collector Crypt team announced that in the coming days, they will reveal how the asset will be integrated into the platform’s products and services.
Developers also added that 100% of the funds raised during the presale will go towards purchasing physical Pokémon cards for the ecosystem. A significant part of the excitement is linked to this, noted the Bitwise analyst.
The most popular product from Collector Crypt has been the digital gacha, reminiscent of loot boxes in video games. Users receive a random NFT, which may be linked to a “legendary” Pokémon card.
According to the team, vending machines have generated $70 million in revenue for the project. The Collector Crypt website features over 18,000 tokenized Pokémon cards.
The Future of “Tokenized Pokémon”
In August, trading turnover of these assets on four major marketplaces exceeded $124 million. Since January, the figure has quadrupled.
Tokenized Pokémon TCG volumes are going parabolic.
Last month, the four main marketplaces facilitated $124.5 million in volume, a 5.5x increase from January. Broken down by individual marketplaces:@Courtyard_io is the top dog, with $78.4 million in volume in August (+49%… pic.twitter.com/fBE7xXKNmQ
— AJC (@AvgJoesCrypto) September 3, 2025
“I expect the Pokémon boom to be sustainable—this is one of those moments when an innovation that exists ‘only in the crypto industry’ breaks into the mainstream. Much like Polymarket did for prediction markets. It creates a global demand for a service that people hadn’t seriously considered before,” Wilson concluded.
Many users were surprised by the new trend.
The duality of crypto:
Woke up to dive into GLXY investor filing for tokenized public shares before realizing there’s also Tokenized Pokemon TCG which is pumping harder pic.twitter.com/Cmdkqwsd3G
— Chrizhuu 🦔🍩 (@Chrizhuu) September 4, 2025
“The duality of the crypto market: woke up intending to study tokenized Galaxy shares, only to find out there are also tokenized Pokémon cards, which are currently much more popular,” wrote a developer under the nickname Chirzhuu.
Back in July, experts identified assets that would benefit from tokenization.