The sports trading cards market is booming. You only need to look at the sales of some of the most rare and valuable cards in the world to see the potential
For example, an autographed card of Dallas Mavericks player Luka Doncic sold for $4.6 million.
That is not the only high value sale we’ve seen of late. A 1997 Michael Jordan card recently sold for $2.7 million and, perhaps the biggest shocker of all, a 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card increased in value so much that it recently sold for an incredible $5.2 million.
As any keen investor or trader will know, it’s not only these super-rare cards that demonstrate the strength of the sports card market. Regular cards are sold for tens, hundreds, or thousands of dollars every day.
Usually, buyers and sellers use fiat currency to trade sports cards. But is it also possible to use cryptocurrency?
Buying physical sports cards with crypto
Most physical sports cards are bought and sold using fiat currency, that is, regular currency such as the US dollar. Some sites do offer cryptocurrency as a payment option, but this is still surprisingly uncommon.
In terms of the sheer volume of cards sold, Ebay is still very much the leader of the pack when it comes to sports cards. And although the platform has from time-to-time hinted that they would soon adopt cryptocurrency, the jury is still out on when, or even whether this will happen.
Elsewhere, you’ll have to check out the individual payment options for the platforms that you are using to trade. Some may offer cryptocurrency, most will not. That is, unless you’re buying digital sports cards.
Digital sports cards and NFTs
The use of cryptocurrency becomes much more common in many areas of the online world. For example, crypto casinos are now becoming popular. Joe Fortune is a Bitcoin casino that now accepts Ethereum and other currencies. It offers a number of traditional games which are played using crypto.
Online casinos were early adopters. But cryptocurrency is also well proven as a payment method for digital sports cards. Unlike traditional physical sports cards, digital cards exist as an asset on the blockchain.
People have mixed opinions on the value, and whether there is any point to earning a digital asset. Whatever the opinion, the fact remains that they exist.
Digital sports cards have been around since the early days of smartphones. They have become more popular recently thanks to the concept of NFTs.
NFTs, non-fungible tokens, are tokens that exist on the blockchain. These tokens are linked to a particular digital asset, be it a piece of art or a sports card. Ownership of the NFT is proof of ownership of the digital card.
Just like traditional sports cards, digital sports cards have different rarities and values. However, the market is largely unregulated, so buyers should always be aware of fakes and do their research before making a purchase.
As NFTs and their related sports cards exist on the blockchain, the usual payment methods for buying and selling are cryptocurrencies.
NBA Top Shots
NFTs are often unofficial, aka fake. When it comes to officially licensed NFTs, NBA Top Shots is currently the number one player. Powered by Dapper Labs, their “moments” are all real and can only be bought and sold on the official platform.
NBA Moments are short video clips of players, teams or events. They are denoted with a rarity rating and each has a serial number. Every Moment has a fixed number of copies, so investors can understand how many are in circulation.
NBA Top Shots is built on the Flow blockchain. The platform accepts five cryptocurrencies. They are BTC, ETH, FLOW, BCH and DAI.
Traders sign up for an account and then can fund their account with either cryptocurrency or using a Visa or Mastercard.
Although traders should very much do their own research, the fact that this site is safe and official makes it one of the best places to buy digital assets using crypto.
Elsewhere, football teams across England and Europe have released their own crypto tokens and NFTs, opening up another official marketplace for digital sports cards.
OpenSea
Anyone with even a passing interest in crypto and NFTs will have heard of OpenSea, the original NFT trading platform and still one of the biggest in the world.
OpenSea has a large variety of NFTs listed. Among them, traders can find plenty of sports cards to buy and sell.
The main problem with OpenSea is the number of fake and unofficial NFTs on the platform. The company openly admits that around 80 percent of the NFTs listed are fakes. Due diligence is very much required before making a purchase.
OpenSea is built on the Ethereum blockchain and accepts ETH, DAI, and over 150 tokens.
There are also other options out there for buying sports cards using crypto. All Vintage Cards, for example, accepts Bitcoin payments via Coinbase Commerce.
Final words
When it comes to buying physical sports cards, it can be difficult to find a trusted platform that accepts cryptocurrency payments. Ebay auctions are still huge in terms of trading volume, and the platform does not accept crypto.
It’s worth checking the payment options of the sites you are using. When it comes to digital sports cards and NFTs, cryptocurrency is usually the preferred payment method of choice.