A new blockchain startup is advancing the notion of baseball cards to crypto collectibles. Player Tokens is offering MLBPA-licensed digital keepsakes of major league players.
Each token has a player illustration on the front with updated statistics on the back. Record of ownership is guaranteed through the blockchain. Packs will include five or six tokens and start at $5.99.
“As far as collectibles broadly, baseball really was the scion of it,” said Player Tokens founder and CEO Kush Parikh. “Now we’re looking at something that’s very truly new and unique, and they wanted to be first in regards to really starting to invent this brand-new category.”
Parikh said the idea was sparked by the rollout of Cryptokitties in December 2017. He saw an opportunity to extend beyond “whimsical cats” to an industry where “there’s been an established market,” he added. Player Tokens launched last week, with 10,001 tokens created for each player. (This is the union’s first venture; the league, however, paired with Lucid Baseball on a new blockchain based game called MLB Crypto Baseball last month.)
The benefit of Player Tokens for fans, Parikh said, is that the tokens can be shared digitally with friends and family in a way old-fashioned cards could not be. While “fraud is rampant” in the collectibles industry, he said, the use of blockchain negates any authenticity concerns.
The transparent digital record also offers a world of possibility for promotions. Each big leaguer will know which fans own his token. That allows for connectivity and the creation of new experiences.
As for the use of illustrations instead of photographs for the tokens, Parikh said, “In the days of everyone having a camera, there are literally billions or trillions of photos out there, and it doesn’t feel as collectible, per se, as what we believe is unique line art.”
Perhaps the most innovative technological feature is the accessibility of Player Tokens. Whereas other crypto collectibles require an Ethereum wallet and a number of steps to convert standard currency into crypto, these transactions necessitate only a swipe of a credit card. The secondary market for Player Tokens has not yet been enabled, but the MLBPA will receive a cut of all the secondary sales as well as primary purchases, making the fledgling industry potentially more lucrative for the players themselves.
“Baseball has a strong track record of being pioneers and innovators, especially in the collectibles industry,” Evan Kaplan, MLBPA director of licensing and business development, said in a statement. “We believe Player Tokens is taking a great step forward, modernizing the fan and collector experience while paying homage to the rich history of baseball collectibles. We look forward to fans, collectors, and players engaging in new ways through Player Tokens.”