Logan Paul sold his Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card for nearly $16.5 million, setting a Guinness World Record for the most expensive trading card ever auctioned.
The card, one of 39 created in a 1990s competition, was purchased by AJ Scaramucci, son of financier Anthony Scaramucci, after competitive bidding in the seven- and eight-figure range.
Paul is estimated to have made an $8 million profit after fees, having acquired the card for $5.3 million in July 2021.
The sale reignited criticism over Paul’s 2022 decision to fractionalise the card’s ownership on Liquid Marketplace, which later went offline and led to investor lawsuits in Canada.
Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro described the episode as a “classic case of ‘slop tokenisation,’” arguing that such tokens may lack enforceable rights to the underlying asset.
Paul responded that the platform’s shutdown was beyond his control and said he funded its restoration to allow users to withdraw funds, noting he is not named in proceedings brought by the Ontario Securities Commission.
The record-breaking physical card sale contrasts with continued weakness in the NFT market, where total market capitalisation has fallen more than 50% in recent weeks and several major marketplaces have announced closures.