Logan Paul Sets Record with $16.5M Pokémon Card Sale Amid Controversy
Influential YouTube personality Logan Paul has achieved a groundbreaking Guinness World Record by auctioning off his exceptionally rare Pokémon card for approximately $16.5 million on Monday, marking the highest price ever paid for a trading card in recorded history. Nevertheless, this monumental transaction has sparked significant debate and scrutiny within the collector and investment communities.
The auction centered around the legendary Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card, a unique item from a limited series of just 39 produced during a special competition back in the 1990s. The winning bid came from AJ Scaramucci, son of prominent American financier Anthony Scaramucci, who outmaneuvered multiple competitors offering sums in the seven- and eight-digit figures to secure the prize.
Reports indicate that Paul likely pocketed around $8 million in net profit following the deduction of auction-related fees on that day. He had originally acquired the card back in July 2021 for $5.3 million, demonstrating a substantial return on his investment over the intervening years.
Despite the triumph, the sale has resurfaced longstanding criticisms tied to Paul’s decision to fractionalize ownership of the card through the Liquid Marketplace platform in 2022. The platform’s subsequent shutdown left numerous investors in limbo, desperately seeking ways to recoup their investments, which ultimately led to legal action in Canada.
On Monday, Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at Delphi Labs, took to X to voice his concerns, labeling Paul’s handling of the Pikachu NFT fractionalization as a textbook example of ‘slop tokenization.’ He elaborated that the associated token was merely positioned alongside the physical asset without granting any actual legal rights or claims to it. Shapiro advised potential investors to meticulously review terms of service agreements and to exercise caution against falling prey to what he described as cleverly disguised legal pitfalls.
In response to the mounting backlash, Paul posted on X, explaining that the Liquid Marketplace’s downtime was due to factors entirely outside his influence. He emphasized that upon learning of the problem, he personally funded efforts to bring the site back online, enabling affected users to access and withdraw their funds without further delay. Paul clarified that only a modest 5.4% portion of the card’s ownership had been fractionalized, with investors collectively contributing roughly $270,000 for those shares.
It’s worth noting that Paul himself is not directly implicated in the lawsuit filed by Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission, the nation’s leading securities oversight body, which initiated proceedings against Liquid Marketplace in June 2024. A formal hearing on the matter has been slated for June of the following year.
Logan Paul’s History with NFT Challenges
This latest episode is far from the first instance where Paul has found himself defending his ventures in the NFT space. His ambitious CryptoZoo NFT initiative notoriously fell short of delivering the play-to-earn gaming experience it had promised to participants, resulting in widespread investor discontent and culminating in a class-action lawsuit back in 2023.
To mitigate the fallout, Paul established a comprehensive buyback initiative, reimbursing affected investors after they consented to relinquish their legal claims. Consequently, the class-action suit alleging fraud was fully dismissed by 2025, closing that chapter for him.
Paul’s track record with other NFT acquisitions has similarly been disappointing. For example, he purchased an anime-inspired digital avatar from the 0N1 Force collection in 2021 for approximately $635,000, yet its current market value has plummeted to less than $2,000, highlighting the volatility inherent in such digital assets.
NFT Market Faces Ongoing Downturn
Paul’s record-breaking physical card sale serves as a stark juxtaposition to the broader NFT market’s persistent struggles, where digital collectibles have long dominated trading activity. Although the sector showed promising momentum during the initial weeks of 2026, its overall market capitalization has since experienced a sharp decline exceeding 50%, dropping from $3.2 billion to $1.55 billion. This downturn coincides with a wider retrenchment across cryptocurrency and related markets.
Just last month, in the final week of January, prominent platforms such as the NFT marketplace Rodeo and Nifty Gateway publicly announced their intentions to cease operations entirely. These closures join a growing list of high-profile shutdowns plaguing the industry, underscoring the mounting pressures and challenges facing digital collectible ecosystems today. As the sector navigates these turbulent times, high-value physical asset sales like Paul’s continue to capture attention, potentially signaling shifting preferences among collectors and investors.
