Years After NFT Clash, Logan Paul Sells Pokémon Card For Guinness Record $16.5M
YouTube star Logan Paul has turned a popular culture prop right into a document. Based on stories, his pristine Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card bought for about $16.5 milion at public sale, and Guinness World Records confirmed it as the best worth ever paid for a buying and selling card at public sale. The sale folded collectively celeb, collectors, and controversy in a means that drew a lot of consideration.
Logan Paul: Rare Card Fetches Record Price
According to Guinness World Records and public sale notices, the cardboard carried a PSA 10 grade — an ideal rating from the key grader. That grade issues. Only about 39 of those Pikachu Illustrator playing cards have been initially made in Japan for a contest within the late Nineteen Nineties, they usually hardly ever seem on the open market.
Congratulations to @LoganPaul and the crew at @GoldinCo on a historic evening
pic.twitter.com/0vpWfzYw9s
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) February 16, 2026
Goldin Auctions ran the sale. Reports word the bidding spiked over weeks, pushing the ultimate quantity properly previous earlier information for each Pokémon and sports activities playing cards. Paul had paid roughly $5.275 million for a similar copy in 2021, a purchase order that already turned heads again then.
.@LoganPaul‘s uncommon @Pokemon card turns into most costly ever bought in record-setting public sale.
The PSA-10 Pikachu Illustrator went on sale through @GoldinCo and finally bought for $16,492,000.https://t.co/B1YBUIqhbx
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) February 16, 2026
A Public Handoff With Flair
The public sale’s end was half spectacle. Reports say the profitable bidder was A.J. Scaramucci. He is named a enterprise investor and because the son of Anthony Scaramucci. At the stay occasion the cardboard was positioned on the brand new proprietor’s neck inside a customized diamond necklace — a visible second that linked collector tradition to celeb theater.
What an epic evening. I’m really grateful for the Pokémon neighborhood, Ken Goldin, and my crew for making final evening a historic second for the passion.
To handle issues relating to the possession historical past of the cardboard, now for the info:
I had initially provided to promote as much as 51% of the…
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) February 16, 2026
A Guinness adjudicator was current to make the document official, and movies from the occasion circulated extensively on-line. Some viewers noticed the scene as a celebration of accumulating. Others noticed a present staged to drive information protection.
Past Tokenization Sparked Disputes
Logan Paul’s $16.5 million sale comes years after a fractional NFT row involving the identical card. Years in the past, Paul had tried a unique path: tokenizing elements of the identical card by way of a platform that provided fractional possession. Reports have disclosed that some traders later claimed the buyback or token phrases have been unfair.
Those complaints fed a broader debate about whether or not promoting slices of uncommon objects is a good technique to share possession, or whether or not it leaves patrons uncovered when the asset is later resold complete.
Legal and client safety questions have been raised. The latest public sale reopened that dialogue, as a result of the resale worth dwarfed the sums lots of these fractional house owners had anticipated.
A Moment That Means More Than Money
Beyond the greenback determine, the sale alerts how a lot value is assigned to cultural artifacts tied to large manufacturers and massive names. Collectors have lengthy pushed costs for uncommon playing cards.
Now celeb possession and viral moments can push costs larger than anybody might need guessed a decade in the past. Reports say this sale additionally nudged Pokémon playing cards previous many well-known sports activities items in relation to headline worth.
Featured picture from Logan Paul, chart from TradingView
