The Rise Of Crypto-Collectibles

With Bitcoin's valuation at an average of US$7,000 in August 2018 (its highest valuation was at US$19,8321 in December 2017), everyone is talking about the burst of the 'Bitcoin bubble'. But is US$7,000 the burst of an asset 'bubble'? This all depends on whether Bitcoin is seen as equivalent to Digital Tulip Bulbs or Digital Gold: if you see Bitcoin as a worthless currency with no meaningful value, then you probably see a US$7,257 valuation as a sure sign of the burst of an asset bubble. If, on the other hand, you consider Bitcoin's intrinsic value to be comparable to gold, then you probably attach little significance to its recent valuation.

Whatever your school of thought on crypto-currencies and their usage, crypto-games and crypto-collectibles are on the rise. Last December saw the introduction of CryptoKitties - digital cats, with each one having different attributes, and with users breeding, buying and selling them on Ethereum (an open source, public, decentralised, blockchain-based platform) using non-fungible ERC-721 tokens. The most expensive kitten sold on Ethereum, was Founder Cat 18, a bug-eyed orange animal with purple spots which sold for US$122,095.

More recently, the Major League Baseball Players Association signed an exclusive deal with crypto-collectible start-up, 'Player Token' to introduce baseball fans to the world of crypto, offering users the first ever in-market athlete digital crypto-collectible. Each Player Token has a unique ID that is recorded to the blockchain to prove the authenticity of each asset.

According to Player Token's press release: "While the core value of the token is in the artwork that features images of Major League Players, the tokens are multidimensional. Each one also includes an individual history, consisting of its mint date and previous ownership. As more fan experiences are unveiled, the token will continue to memorialize those events."

This latest venture continues the trend of an increasing number of crypto-collectibles, from Crypto Kitties to crypto-collectible marketplaces such as Rarebits. Due to the nature of the sporting industry and the number of fans it attracts, this may help the emerging technology in becoming more mainstream.

So what do you need to know about crypto-collectibles?

There are a number of issues that those in the crypto-currency space - from those using the currency in their distribution system to those wanting to set up a game which accepts crypto-currencies, or to...