Coinbase teases Pokémon card packs backed by physical collectibles

Coinbase just did something that would make every 90s kid’s inner child lose composure. The exchange teased a feature that lets users rip open Pokémon card packs on their phones, with every single pull backed by an actual, physical card sitting in a vault somewhere. “Rip packs on your phone. Every pull backed by a real, physical card. Vault it or ship it,” the company wrote on X on September 28. It’s a sentence that somehow bridges the gap between a childhood hobby and a publicly traded crypto company’s product roadmap. What Coinbase is building The concept is straightforward, even if the execution is anything but. Users will be able to open digital Pokémon card packs through Coinbase, and each card revealed on screen corresponds 1:1 with a real physical card. After the digital rip, collectors face a choice: keep the card vaulted in secure storage, or have it shipped to their doorstep. This isn’t Coinbase’s first dance with physical-backed digital collectibles. Back in May 2024, Coinbase Wallet integrated with Courtyard, a platform that lets users mint tokenized versions of physical Pokémon cards. Those physical cards were stored at Brink’s, the armored truck company that’s been mo...