NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 23: People stand by ALT billboard in Times Square during the 4th annual NFT.NYC conference on June 23, 2022 in New York City. The four-day event featured 1,500 speakers from the crypto and NFT space with over 14,000 guests in attendance. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)
(Noam Galai via Getty Images)
The year was 2020. During an unprecedented time, the sports card market saw an unexpected rise. As the hobby adapted to a changing world, NFTs began to thrive. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital assets stored on the blockchain that verify ownership and authenticity—essentially, a way to prove that a digital item is truly one-of-a-kind. Between January and July 2020, five digital sports cards sold for $36,000 or more. The highest? A . Coming in second? A—oof.
Unlike traditional digital files, NFTs can’t be duplicated in a meaningful way—even if someone takes a screenshot, they don’t own…
