Modern trends along with digital development have made collectibles a staple of the 21st-century lifestyle. Terms like “digital collectibles,” “NFT portfolio,” and even “Pokemon NFTs” have become synonymous with rising blockchain technology.
However, collectors are often wealthy individuals able to purchase high-priced, unique collectibles from other wealthy personalities. This makes the market one that profits only those in a financially stable position. The question is, can their collecting pursuits be linked to the spirit of blockchain, wealth redistribution, and a more direct support to those who need it most?
What Are Collectibles For?
Collecting is a natural trait in humans, associated with our emotional side and the ability to hold memories. Seeing children play with Pokemon trading cards reminds adults of their childhood, for instance.
But collecting is not only about returning to the past. It is also about praising the present and preserving it for the future. Think of the late 90s, when collecting cards of baseball players and popular TV series, such as Pokemon, were used not only as a way to remember but a way to praise idols of the moment. Kids could show off their Pokemon trading cards to their classmates, evoking interest and a shared appreciation for the famous TV show streaming at the time.
Collecting can attain forms of power, too, as the social layers collectibles add can ignite an uprise in status. Traditionally, art collectors are known for amassing status by the display of wealth, taste and pride through their acquisitions. Now with the rapid appreciation of blockchain-based assets, collectors are turning to new ways of investing their wealth, targeting the decentralized landscape of NFTs.
What Exactly Are NFTs?
NFTs are a new way to hold value and show wealth, all from within a secure blockchain-based environment.
An NFT digital collection, on the other hand, is often sought for the ownership aspect blockchain assets are embedded in. But not all NFT collectors are driven mainly by ownership. The NFT space offers creative, outlandish items perfect for those who are after uniqueness, too.
NFT eccentricity and novelty make them not only possible value storage but also a way for collectors to keep up with the latest emerging trends, and partake in the future of technology. An NFT digital collection can hold immense value, while at the same time offering new ways of collecting, investing and supporting blockchain-based communities and their creators.
The value of collectibles does not only lie in the way they are manufactured, but also in the ways that they can appreciate, such as the CryptoPunks collection whose price has altered significantly since they were minted. There are a couple of markers that can make those assets valuable well beyond their stock price.
Pricing of Collectibles
A collectible’s price can be influenced because it is a one-of-a-kind item. Pokemon trading cards have a lot of printing mistakes, but only rare instances impact the value, as evident on Mewtwo cards that lacked a rarity symbol on the front. One card from that series is worth more than $5,000. The way a collectible is priced depends on a couple of factors, some of them being scarcity, ownership, and uniqueness.
Trading based on those factors would be impossible without a strong community. This network of connections is what allows for collecting in the first place—people who would like to buy and sell potentially rare items. A good example comes from Pokemon, where a collector was willing to pay $240,000 for a Pokemon game trading card due to its rarity and signature of the Pokemon CEO.
Combining scarcity and the status of someone behind the overbearing narrative is another way to increase the value. Pokemon cards are just one out of many examples tied to a bigger product.
Depending on those factors, fans of collecting all over the world search for items that they can hold or later trade. The digital realm is open to new potential collectors, and it bears resemblance to the physical collectible landscape.
Decentralization allows collectors to participate in a variety of aspects of the blockchain ecosystem. Through this technology, artists are able to monetize their talent via an NFT digital collection, and more recently, through digital trading cards, making them appreciate in value in the eyes of the whole blockchain community.
Digital Trading Cards
Digital trading cards are not only virtual equivalents of physical trading cards, but they can also be used to bridge talent with supporters. Through VirtualStaX, a TurnCoin powered platform, people all over the world can create their own, personalized collectibles called StaX and get the additional support they need. VirtualStaX can be created in the StaXApp by people from different sectors like sports, business, and arts among others.
A person interested in creating their own digital trading card, can acquire a BaseStaX, and supporters can acquire them to be part of the person’s journey and directly support the talented person when buying the BaseStaX. Supporters can collect them, reminiscent of NFT collection cards, and profit with the talent’s ongoing success and growth.
Digital cards can not only support the creator but charities as well. While creating the card in the digital trading cards app, the card author can choose whether they would like to devote a part of their income to a charity. VirtualStaX works with two foundations at the moment: Heart of Sport and Heart of Compassion.
The Heart of Sport foundation offers children from disadvantaged backgrounds opportunities to fulfill their sports aspirations. It does so by providing them with equipment, scholarships and training they need to develop their careers. Funds can also go to financial planning, counseling and rehabilitation of athletes all over the world. All inspired by NFT digital collection technology.
Heart of Compassion is focused on providing food, water, health, and human rights to the places that need it the most. The culture of this foundation revolves around the word “Ubuntu” which means, “I am because of who we are.” This spirit of unification and willingness to change are fundamental to a strong foundation.
By using blockchain technology based on NFT collection cards, the invested funds are guaranteed to go to the mentioned foundations, as the technology provides immutability, ensuring that the funds go to the desired place when a transaction is made on the blockchain.
Choosing the Right Card
Collectors can browse through the StaXApp and pick whose journey they would like to be a part of. The Global Popularity Index (GPX) factor, a supply and demand algorithm found in the platform, helps collectors oversee the value of the StaX.
The author of the VirtualStaX can also create a CollectorStax, which is an NFT collection card. If the collector buys it and is right in their assumptions, they can not only help fund the career of the card’s creator, but also profit on the transaction later on. The author of the card does not have to win any big championships, they just need to keep updating and showing signs of progress for the people to follow.
Out of many collecting possibilities that the digital, decentralized landscape provides, like Pokemon NFT projects, some of them, such as VirtualStax, were created to support worldwide talent and people who are in less fortunate circumstances, and this is where the power of blockchain lies—in enabling opportunities for everyone.
