A Bright Future for Collectors: Introducing Courtyard.io’s New Marketplace

TL;DR: Courtyard.io is a first-of-its-kind marketplace and tokenization service that enables anyone across web2 and web3 to easily own and trade physical collectibles on the blockchain, unlocking greater transparency, liquidity, and a powerful new form of ownership for collectors.

At Courtyard.io, we’re on a mission to empower all kinds of collectors by pushing the boundaries of how people collect and trade. We couldn’t be more excited to introduce our new marketplace that makes it simpler than ever for any kind of collector to own, manage, and trade physical collectibles on the blockchain.

We’re no strangers to tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). In March 2022, we released $500k worth of tokenized and vaulted Pokémon cards and sold out in a couple hours. Soon after, we launched a process to enable any collector to easily tokenize and vault their card collections, receiving hundreds of cards week after week. But to truly onboard the $400B collectibles market — full of passionate collectors who, for the most part, could care less about setting up a self-custody wallet — we had to take it to the next level.

A New Kind of Collectibles Marketplace

Enter Courtyard.io, a tokenization service and collectibles marketplace that feels familiar and intuitive to all kinds of collectors while still being fully onchain. Collectors can access better liquidity, higher levels of transparency, and a powerful new form of ownership without the usual hurdles.

Someone who visits Courtyard.io today and purchases a rare 1st Edition Charizard card might not even realize they’re doing so on the blockchain! The seamless user journey is made possible through our work with partners like Polygon and Privy.io to roll out new features including:

• Crypto or credit: In addition to crypto, every collectible on Courtyard.io can be purchased with a credit or debit card. Collectors can choose from preferred options like Apple Pay or Google Pay and receive the collectible in their wallet instantly.

• Instant wallet creation: Anyone with an account will automatically get an embedded Courtyard.io wallet, making it easier for new collectors to take that first step with trading collectibles onchain. Web3 power users can optionally link an external wallet to their account in profile settings.

• Gas fees are gone: Gas fees on Courtyard.io are a thing of the past when you buy, sell, and trade. Instead of worrying about a spike in fees or unexpected charges, we want people to focus on what matters most — collecting.

Courtyard.io empowers everyone to focus on the timeless joy of collecting while tapping into blockchain-powered benefits such as:

• Instant liquidity by selling or transferring your collectibles worldwide
• 1% passive income every time a card you vault is resold
• New levels of transparency/provenance through digital ownership
• Access to more buyers across both credit card and crypto payments
• No gas fees, low seller fees, and no sales tax on vault transactions
• Power to discover and bid on every collectible onchain at any time — even those that aren’t listed!

These are only some of the ways that Courtyard.io is unlocking new value for collectors. We’re constantly listening to feedback from the community and experimenting with new ways to empower collectors even further.

Laser-Focused On Cards (For Now)

Browse the Courtyard.io marketplace and you’ll quickly see there’s one main type of collectible in focus: graded cards. It’s a broad category covering Pokémon cards, all varieties of sports cards, the budding sector of VeeFriends cards, and so much more (The Beatles?).

There are many reasons why we’re prioritizing cards, but for a particularly powerful one let’s rewind to this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention. Nearly 600,000 square feet of Chicago conference space was covered with booths of cards as far as the eye could see. A record 100,000+ eager collectors attended — striking deals, chasing their grails, and flexing carefully curated card collections. The sports card market alone is expected to reach $62B by 2027 — and that doesn’t even include the massive Pokémon sector!

The strength of the cards market and the kind of passionate collectors that perpetuate it make it a perfect space for us to innovate in. While we plan to maintain this focus for the near term, we know it’s only the tip of the iceberg as far as what kinds of collectibles could benefit from tokenization.

What’s Next For Courtyard.io

As far as we’ve come, it’s still early. We’re constantly building, shipping, and iterating on new ways to provide value to web2 and web3 collectors alike. We’ll be celebrating the marketplace launch with an upcoming drop that aims to transport people back to the “very best” era of collecting. We’ll also keep exploring new ways to supercharge analog collectibles in a digital world while pushing the boundaries on the range of collectibles we support. To quote a favorite web3 community saying, it’s time to onboard the masses.

Create a Courtyard.io account to tokenize and vault your cards for free, and to tap into the new marketplace. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Discord to stay plugged in on the latest updates (and make sure you sign up for drop alerts 👀).