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There is a balance every digital collectible company needs to find.

Scarcity matters. Limited supply matters. Protecting the long-term collectability of a product matters.

But companies also need to ask another question:

What can this collectible potentially do for the collector who buys it?

Not every collector is going to make money. They shouldn't expect to. Collectibles are not guaranteed investments.

But there is something incredibly powerful about knowing that when you open a pack, something extraordinary could be inside.

A 1/1.

A grail.

The collectible everyone wants.

The pull that could potentially be worth thousands—or even millions—of dollars.

The physical trading-card industry understands this better than almost anyone, and right now we're seeing some incredible examples of why the digital collectible industry should be paying attention.

Scarcity has always been one of the foundations of collecting.

But there is a big psychological difference between a collectible being "rare" and knowing that somewhere inside a product is the only one in existence.

That's the magic of the 1/1.

Only one collector can own it.

And until it's pulled, everyone opening the product has a chance of becoming that collector.

That's not simply scarcity.

That's a chase.

The trading-card industry has built an enormous amount of excitement around this concept.

Companies like Panini and Topps don't simply release cards of popular athletes. Their products can contain numbered parallels, autographs, patches and, sitting at the very top of the pyramid, true one-of-one cards.

Those cards create stories.

And stories create attention.

If anyone doubts how powerful a modern 1/1 can become, look at what happened recently with Victor Wembanyama.

In May 2026, a 2023-24 Panini Prizm Black Victor Wembanyama rookie 1/1 graded PSA 10 sold privately for $5.11 million through a deal brokered by Fanatics Collect.

The sale reportedly became the highest known price ever paid for a non-autographed NBA card and the fourth-highest known price for any NBA card.

Think about that.

This isn't a Michael Jordan rookie card from the 1980s.

It's not a century-old piece of baseball history.

It's a modern trading card from a product released only a few years ago.

And it sold for more than $5 million.

Why?

There are obviously multiple factors involved: Wembanyama's superstar status, the Prizm brand, the rookie designation, the PSA 10 grade and the strength of the modern sports-card market.

But sitting underneath all of it is something incredibly simple:

There is only one.

That sale demonstrates the ceiling that legitimate scarcity can create.

And it's not the only recent example.

One of the best examples of the power of the chase happened with Pittsburgh Pirates star Paul Skenes.

Topps created a 1-of-1 Rookie Debut Patch Autograph featuring the patch from Skenes' MLB debut.

Collectors went hunting for it.

The Pirates themselves helped turn the card into a phenomenon by offering an enormous bounty that included two season tickets behind home plate for 30 years, signed jerseys, a meet-and-greet with Skenes and other experiences.

Then the card was found.

And the story became even better.

An 11-year-old collector pulled it from a box he received for Christmas.

The family eventually declined the Pirates' offer and sent the card to auction.

It sold for:

$1.11 million.

That's the type of story money can't easily manufacture.

An 11-year-old opens a box of trading cards and pulls something that ultimately sells for more than a million dollars.

Suddenly people who don't normally follow trading cards are hearing about the hobby.

That's marketing.

But it wasn't marketing created by an advertisement.

The collectible created the advertisement.

We're watching the same formula work again right now.

The 1-of-1 Cooper Flagg Rookie Debut Patch Autograph from 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball was pulled Monday night by RhodyBreakers at a card shop in Rhode Island.

The card features Flagg's autograph alongside a patch from his NBA debut.

And once again, the hunt itself became a story.

Before the card was even found, the Dallas Mavericks put together an extraordinary bounty for whoever pulled it.

The offer included two lower-level season tickets for 32 years, a signed game-worn Cooper Flagg jersey, a postgame photo with Flagg, private access to the Rookie of the Year and Larry O'Brien trophies, a VIP facility tour and additional experiences.

Then, on August 10, the card was finally pulled in Rhode Island.

NBC reported today that the card is expected to exceed the $1.11 million price achieved by the Skenes Rookie Debut Patch.

Whether it ultimately sells for $500,000, $1 million, $2 million or something else isn't really the most important part of the story.

Look at everything one card already accomplished.

Collectors chased it.

Breakers opened product looking for it.

The Mavericks created a bounty.

Social media followed the hunt.

Sports media covered it.

Then someone finally pulled it.

Now the potential value and eventual destination of the card become another story.

Drop → Chase → Pull → Sale → Headlines.

One collectible can generate multiple marketing moments for the same product.

That's incredibly powerful.

This is where I think Panini becomes particularly interesting from the digital collectibles perspective.

Panini understands physical trading cards.

It understands parallels.

It understands scarcity.

It understands the importance of 1/1s.

And it is bringing much of that collecting DNA into Panini Blockchain.

In August 2025, Panini announced that its revamped blockchain marketplace had generated more than $21 million in secondary transactions year-to-date, while every Panini Blockchain pack drop that year had sold out in what the company described as record times.

Then Panini addressed another issue that I believe is fundamental to the future of digital collecting:

ownership.

On March 30, 2026, Panini opened its Ethereum bridge, allowing eligible Panini digital collectibles to move from Panini wallets into self-custody wallets and be bought and sold through OpenSea.

When a card moves to Ethereum, Panini locks the original digital card in escrow so that only one version can be transacted at a time.

That's important.

Because now we're talking about combining several pieces of the collecting puzzle:

Scarcity + Chase + Ownership + Marketplace + Liquidity + Storytelling.

That's a compelling foundation for a digital collectible ecosystem.

But I believe the 1/1 component is particularly important.

This is where I believe the entire digital collectible industry can learn something from physical trading cards.

Imagine a digital drop containing 5,000 packs.

Inside those packs are:

1 × 1/1
5 × 1/5
10 × 1/10
25 × 1/25

There can still be plenty of affordable collectibles.

There can still be Commons, Rares and other editions designed for collectors who simply love the IP.

But somewhere inside the drop is the one.

Now imagine the packs start opening.

After the first hour:

THE 1/1 HAS NOT BEEN PULLED.

After the first day:

THE 1/1 IS STILL OUT THERE.

Suddenly the community has something to talk about.

Collectors are watching openings.

People are posting about it.

Everyone wants to know:

Who is going to pull it?

Eventually someone opens a pack.

The screen changes.

An exclusive animation appears.

YOU PULLED THE 1/1.

Now the platform announces it.

The collector shares it.

Offers start appearing.

Maybe someone offers $5,000.

Maybe $10,000.

Maybe $25,000.

Perhaps years later that collectible becomes one of the defining grails of the entire platform.

That's not simply another drop anymore.

That's a story.

Imagine someone spends $20 or $50 on a digital pack and pulls something that eventually sells for $20,000.

Think about the headline:

"Collector Pulls $20,000 Digital Collectible From $20 Pack."

People are going to click that.

Collectors are going to share it.

People outside the digital collecting bubble are going to ask questions.

What platform was it?

What did they pull?

How rare was it?

How much did the pack cost?

What did it sell for?

And most importantly:

When is the next drop?

That's organic customer acquisition.

Companies spend enormous amounts of money trying to manufacture excitement around products.

Sometimes the best marketing strategy is simply building a product capable of producing extraordinary collector stories.

There is an important distinction here.

I'm not arguing that digital collectibles should be marketed as a way to make money.

They shouldn't.

Companies should never promise financial returns, and collectors should understand that the overwhelming majority of packs aren't going to contain something worth thousands of dollars.

Transparency matters.

Odds matter.

Responsible product design matters.

And companies also need to be careful not to manufacture hundreds of meaningless "1/1s" simply to create artificial scarcity.

A 1/1 only matters if collectors believe that particular 1/1 matters.

But collectors don't need to believe everyone wins.

They need to believe something extraordinary can happen.

That's fundamentally different.

Someone pulled the Paul Skenes card.

Someone pulled the Cooper Flagg card.

Someone owned the Wembanyama Prizm Black 1/1 that eventually changed hands for $5.11 million.

Those outcomes sit at the extreme top of the hobby.

That's precisely why people talk about them.

Here's the part that excites me most.

Digital collectibles shouldn't simply try to replicate physical trading cards.

Digital should improve the experience.

A physical card company doesn't necessarily know the exact second a major chase card gets opened.

A digital platform does.

Imagine real-time grail trackers.

1/1 — UNCLAIMED

Imagine special reveal animations that only the collector pulling the 1/1 will ever experience.

Imagine instant provenance showing exactly when the collectible was minted, pulled, transferred and sold.

Imagine collectors being able to display their grails in virtual galleries.

Imagine special utility or experiences attached specifically to major chase pieces.

Imagine the company announcing instantly:

THE GRAIL HAS BEEN PULLED.

Physical collectibles can't easily reproduce that experience.

Digital can.

That's why I believe the future shouldn't be about recreating cardboard on a screen.

It should be about taking everything people already love about collecting—scarcity, discovery, competition, ownership and the chase—and adding experiences that physical collectibles simply cannot provide.

At its core, collecting isn't entirely rational.

It's emotional.

It's the excitement of opening something.

It's the possibility of finding something rare.

It's owning something another collector wants.

It's completing the set.

It's finding the grail.

And sometimes it's being the person who gets unbelievably lucky.

The collector opening a pack isn't only asking:

"What am I going to get?"

They're also thinking:

"What could I get?"

That second question is incredibly powerful.

The physical trading-card industry understands it.

Panini understands it.

Topps understands it.

And digital collectible companies should embrace it.

There should be affordable collectibles for people entering the hobby.

There should be sets for collectors who love completing collections.

There should be scarce collectibles for serious collectors.

And sitting at the very top of the pyramid should be something extraordinary.

A 1/10.

A 1/5.

And most importantly:

A true 1/1 grail.

Because every drop should have something capable of becoming a headline.

Every community should have something worth chasing.

And every collector should be able to open a pack knowing that, however unlikely it may be, the one could be inside.

The question digital collectible companies should be asking before their next major drop isn't simply:

"How many should we mint?"

It should also be: