From collectible to investable: the rise of Pokémon trading cards as Asia’s newest asset class

The evening also saw the live auction of a PSA 10-graded Pikachu Illustrator card. Paul bought the card in 2021 for nearly $5.3 million, making it the most expensive Pokémon card sold at the time. Bidding five years later had already reached $5.35 million (excluding fees) before the event even began; a representative from Guinness World Records was there to witness proceedings. 

Yet, few expected the card to set further records. Most of the final price estimates from those in the room, including that of collector, auctioneer and TV personality Ken Goldin, who runs the auction house, were around the $10 million mark. But could it surpass the price of the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction, which until then was a 2007-2008 Dual Logoman Autographed Kobe Bryant-Michael Jordan sports card, sold in August 2025 for $12.9 million?

Trading cards fall into two broad categories: sports trading cards, which date back to the late 19th century, and trading cards games (TCGs), which emerged in 1993 with the launch of Magic: The Gathering, inspiring successors like Pokémon. Sports cards saw significant price growth in the 1980s and 1990s, with the first sale over $1 million in 2000. TCGs, however, have followed a steeper trajectory. The first six-figure sale of a Pokémon card was in 2013, with such prices becoming increasingly common into the 2020s. 

The pandemic-era collectible boom, along with millennial nostalgia, accelerated demand. Grading companies like PSA and Beckett helped standardise value. In late 2020, Logan Paul entered the Pokémon market, streaming the unboxing of a sealed 1st edition base set box he bought for $200,000, drawing wider attention to the hobby.

By September 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Pokémon cards had outperformed the S&P 500, with values up 3,821 per cent since 2004, compared with the benchmark index’s 483 per cent gain. That trajectory set the stage for the hammer falling on that snowy night. The ‘Pikachu Illustrator’ PSA 10 shattered expectations, selling for almost $16.5 million—a 213 per cent return over six years. 

For Paul, the appeal goes beyond money. “I love collecting,” he told the gathered collectors and investors. “I love Pokémon. But the heart of what makes Pokémon collecting so special is the community. There are people in this room who I met through collecting who are some of my dear friends, who have come to my wedding, who I’m now business partners with, just because of the hobby and how it’s brought us all together.”

Among the enthusiasts at the New Jersey event was a collector team from Hong Kong led by Ray Chan, co-founder and CEO of meme platform 9gag, and chairman and CEO of MemeStrategy, a publicly listed company in Hong Kong focused on digital assets. It was Chan who had bought 12 packs from the box set, which he opened with Paul alongside members of the MemeStrategy team and Hong Kong actor, director and collector Stephen Fung. 

Chan has been building a collection of Pokémon trading cards, which among other cards includes hundreds of PSA 10 ‘Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat’ cards, a collaboration between The Pokémon Company and the Van Gogh Museum. But he is building more than a personal collection—he aims to develop a full trading card ecosystem across Asia, increasingly catering to investors as the trading card market evolves into a recognised alternative asset class. It was with this in mind that he was so keen to be part of the Goldin live unboxing and auction. 

See also: 9gag’s Ray Chan made memes mainstream. Can he do the same for Web3?

“We believe that collectibles are one of the fastest growing cultures in history,” says Chan. “We are trying to become the bridge between the west and the east, and that’s why we [attended the event]. We [also] want to tell people that institutional—a public company like us—is paying attention to this market. This is no longer a niche market where only kids collect cards.”

Ken Goldin agrees: “From five years ago, the population of collectors around the world is probably triple … What’s really changed is where a lot of the collecting hobby used to be USA-centric, it is [now] worldwide—it’s Asia, the Middle East, Europe, it’s all over.”

The global trading cards market reached a value of $15.8 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $23.5 billion by 2030, with adult collectors driving premium product demand—Pokémon alone sees 19 per cent adult participation rates; the brand turns 30 this year and has an estimated lifetime revenue of US$150 billion, proof of its longevity and continuing influence.

“People in their 30s and 40s now grew up with manga and comics and cartoons. That’s why they resonate with a lot of these products that in the past only kids would buy,” says Chan. “But now, it’s almost like they can buy back part of their childhood. And if those assets go up in value, it’s a bonus.” 

Asia’s trading card scene is booming. Look at December last year: the 2025 Singapore Card Show hosted its largest edition yet, with attendance jumping from 6,000 the previous year to around 25,000. 

In Hong Kong, Grade10, which was acquired by MemeStrategy in September 2025, held its fourth festival, drawing 23,000 visitors to its trading card show, 20 per cent from overseas. Sixty per cent of the show focused on TCGs, highlighted by a centrepiece display of 400 PSA 10 ‘Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat’ cards.

Later that same month, collector Leslie Fok, who leads Hong Kong conglomerate Lawsgroup’s branding, marketing and commercial leasing, launched his first PokeFest, a three-day Pokémon-themed card show and exhibition, “a show by collectors for collectors” at Lawsgroup’s fashionable D2 Place shopping mall in Hong Kong, which attracted 34,000 people. 

Goldin notes that outside the US, TCGs far outpace sports cards in popularity. “I think it offers such nostalgia for people. A lot of people remember these cards as well as the shows and the anime they grew up with and they want to recapture their youth.”

Chan adds that the preference for TCGs in Asia is partly cultural: “Many IPs are Japanese. Pokémon and One Piece resonate more than Western IPs like Marvel or Disney.”

Collectors in the region have been keenly observing the rapidly evolving TCG market.

Raymond Lai, a quantity surveyor, has built a collection of between 200 and 300 cards. Since starting 18 months ago, he’s seen its value rise by 1,200 per cent according to the Collectr app. He has also seen increasing numbers of people consider buying trading cards and ask for his advice. “More people investing in cards will help the market to boom on one hand, but when hot money comes in, you don’t know how long it will last,” says Lai. “I think the important thing is don’t over-invest, and appreciate the art of the card.”

Fok, who will host a second edition of PokeFest in May, began his collecting journey with art toys in 2000 before he moved into paintings in 2020. A fascination with the art of Pokémon cards shifted his focus in 2021. He was also drawn to the transparency of the market: graded cards were getting more popular and you could trace past transactions. “I see myself as both a collector and an investor, but more like a collector,” says Fok. “I want to own something I can hold physically”.

Fok has a 300-strong collection featuring “old back” cards released between 1996 and 2001—mostly Japanese because of their superior printing quality—and has purchased most of the popular characters in PSA 10. He also seeks out Shining cards, which are especially rare at grade 10 as their hot stamping is easily damaged. 

With a passion for collecting and a depth of Pokémon card knowledge, Fok is keen to educate others who want to start collecting and ensure the market develops in a healthy, sustainable way. He believes the market for TCGs is a bull market now, and that a bear market will follow the 30th anniversary year of Pokémon, having experienced three waves in the market since he started collecting. 

Singapore-based Seth Lim has more confidence. He started collecting at primary school, when he filled four binders with cards—he estimates they would have been worth about US$20 million today, but his best binder was given away. However, after sending the top cards for grading, he estimates the value of his personal collection—which today is anchored in cat-themed Pokémon cards—at around $6 million. As a co-founder and partner of AkaVault, a collectibles consignment and sourcing business, and of The Private Collective lounge space and vault, which houses 4,000 to 5,000 cards at a range of prices, Lim has extensive experience dealing in TCGs, predominantly Pokémon but also some ‘One Piece’ cards, for high net worth individuals while also building a community of Pokémon TCG collectors in Singapore, hosting trading nights and other events.

Since Lim returned to card collecting in 2022, he has noticed that while “initially it was all collectors—people buying the cards they love—right now, mostly people are coming into the community asking, is this investable? Will it go up over the years?” And he identifies three types of people: traditional collectors, people who want to gamble and scalpers who buy packs and boxes to flip at higher prices. 

Lim believes that institutional money coming in will strengthen the market. But he has advice for collectors, cautioning on choosing the right cards. Lim opts for PSA 10 versions of the cards he wants and advises paying attention to ‘population’—the total number of copies of a specific card known to exist in a certain grade, and how recognisable a card is. He also highlights some risks: security and authenticity are top concerns, including fake cards, scams and theft. As someone who travels internationally to deliver high-value cards to and from collectors, Lim or his business partner will often be accompanied by an armed escort. 

As trading cards rise in value, risks grow alongside opportunity. MemeStrategy’s Chan is working to support the market’s growth across collectors, investors and institutions. 

At the start of the year, MemeStrategy launched Grade10 Vault with art logistics firm Crown Fine Art, offering professional storage with museum-grade security, independent auditing and blockchain-based digital certification. From thefts and counterfeits to climate-sensitive storage, collectors and investors face a range of challenges—Grade 10 Vault aims to mitigate them. 

“We want to use technology to improve the existing trading card market: to make transactions more seamless, digitise and tokenise it to make it easy for people to invest, to create a digital trail of the card on the blockchain to check for authenticity when cards are transferred,” says Chan.

This month, MemeStrategy launched the world’s first tokenised Pokémon trading card fund, centred around the PSA 10 ‘Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat’ card. The card is among the most prominent worldwide and is estimated to have a total market capitalisation of over $94 million. There are approximately 47,000 PSA 10 versions in circulation, with MemeStrategy aiming to hold 25 per cent of them, all stored in the Grade10 Vault and verified by experts. Secondary market prices have risen over 400 per cent since the card’s late-2023 release, giving investors rare access to the market at scale.

“The collectibles market is expanding rapidly, yet institutional participation has remained limited due to logistical and security barriers. We are solving that problem.” says Chan. 

Not everyone is sold on this ‘vaulted’ future. For purists, the idea of a card sitting in a high-security bunker, never to be touched or seen, is anathema to the hobby. 

“What's the point in owning something but not enjoying it?” says Fok, who has around 50 cards from his collection on display in his home, swapping them out depending on his mood, but appreciating his proximity to the cards and their artwork, as well as the conversations they spark. “It’s like buying an expensive car but not driving it and just putting it in the garage.”

Yet professional grading, digital marketplaces and institutional investment are transforming Pokémon cards from childhood hobby into financialised collectible market. More people across Asia are entering the trading card market, drawn by low barriers to entry relative to other alternative assets such as watches or fine art. But the influx of investors has shifted market dynamics.

“Two or three years ago, the market was 75 per cent people who really wanted to collect and 25 per cent who saw it as an investment,” says Leslie Fok. “Now it’s the opposite: 75 per cent of people want to speculate or join the game because they see opportunity.”

Goldin adds a cautionary note: “The biggest misconception is that everything goes up or is valuable. The vast majority of cards will never become significantly valuable because of production volumes. People need to understand the market before they enter it.”

For newcomers, key considerations include paying attention to a card’s history, popularity and population; opting for professionally graded cards, especially grade 10, which can command premium value; and remember that trading cards, like other alternative assets, lack liquidity—their value ultimately depends on future demand. 

Passion, however, still matters. “If you are buying to collect and just enjoy collecting, collect what you like,” says Goldin. “If you are buying to hopefully resell something down the line, collect what everybody else likes.”

On that chilly night in New Jersey, collectors ripped open packs hoping to pull a card worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But for many enthusiasts, the thrill lies less in the price tag than in the hunt itself.

“I would say enjoy it,” says Fok. “Life is short. Enjoy the things you own.”

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