A high-rolling venture capitalist says Pokémon cards would become the global currency during an apocalypse, noting that their returns have beaten the S&P 500 by over 3,000%.
Peter Levin — the founder and managing director of Griffin Gaming Partners, which invests in gaming and sports companies — is an avid trader himself, with a collection well north of half a million cards.
“I’m absolutely convinced that if the world suffered an apocalypse tomorrow, the following day the global currency would be Pokémon cards,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview just about trading cards.
“You could walk into a trading card shop or a Walmart, a Costco, or a Walgreens, and buy a pack of cards, and the odds of you pulling a rare and valuable card are no less or greater than my odds. I think the democratization of that experience is what keeps the industry going,” Levin added.
Over the past few years, trading cards have seen a rapid return to popularity, largely stemming from amateur investors stuck at home during the pandemic – who also drove other fringe trades, like the GameStop meme stock.
Logan Paul jumped in on the fun, setting a world record with his $5 million purchase of a rare Pikachu Illustrator card five years ago. He went on to sell it for a whopping $16 million earlier this year, breaking yet another record.
Mint-condition cards can be so valuable that they have even inspired crime sprees, with a crew of bandits in New Jersey stealing $50,000 worth of Pokémon cards in a smash-and-go robbery in June.
Pokémon fans have taken the brand’s “Gotta catch em all!” catchphrase to heart, stashing away hordes of cards as their valuations skyrocket – with some comparing the investment strategy to their Roth IRAs or brokerage accounts.
Since 2004, the cards – which are not subject to financial regulation – have seen a roughly 3,821% return, according to Card Ladder data cited by the Wall Street Journal last year. Over the same period, the S&P 500 gained 483% while Meta rose 1,844% since its public debut in 2012.
Analysts have estimated the trading card market is worth as much as $50 billion annually and could continue to grow as more entertainment powerhouses – including Disney – seek to turn their beloved characters into trading cards.
Disney has struck deals with Topps, a collectible cards maker, for Disney, Marvel and “Star Wars” products. Similarly, Hasbro has deals for Marvel and “Spider-Man”-themed cards; and Ravensburger, for a trading card game called Disney Lorcana.
Hasbro is also planning new collectible card sets based on the characters of “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe,” while Pokémon recently announced a “Pokémon: Wild Card” movie coming to the big screen in 2027.
There are also plenty of other popular cards already on the market, like One Piece, which is based on a Japanese manga series that was turned into an anime show and a live-action Netflix series, and Magic: The Gathering, a 1990s card game in which players act like wizards.
Nintendo introduced Pokémon in 1996 as a video game, and the characters have since inspired TV shows, movies, video games and collectible trading cards. For many, the cards are not just an investment, but a tie to their own childhood nostalgia.