According to CoinDesk, the Pokemon trading card market is now valued at roughly $10 billion to $15 billion, with demand strong enough to trigger lines at retailers including Costco. The report pointed to a $16.5 million sale of Logan Paul’s Pikachu Illustrator card as one of the clearest signs of how far the category has moved beyond hobby collecting. Sales at major chains such as Target and Walmart, along with eBay’s $26.2 billion in card sales in 2025, were cited as evidence that trading cards have developed into a major alternative asset class. CoinDesk also said the category has recently outperformed both the S&P 500 and Bitcoin. Against that backdrop, ATH Labs has launched Deadstock, a blockchain startup that aims to tokenize high-grade cards and store them in vaults. The project is trying to address a fragmented market structure and slow transaction speeds, though it still faces liquidity constraints and the network-effect advantage held by incumbent platforms such as eBay.