With the meteoric rise of NFT assets in spring of 2021, digital collectors everywhere began speculating on what projects to buy, hold, and trade.
NFTs have been around for years, with Cryptokitties being the most infamous early project that clogged up Ethereum.
While older generations grew up collecting physical trading cards, the younger generations are collecting digital items. This makes NFTs a natural fit should they gain any traction.
Brands with extremely popular IP are looking to enter the market – so will Pokémon NFTs be the ultimate in digital collectibles?
Speculation & Pricing on NFTs
We are going through a massive speculation phase where nobody truly knows what anything is worth. NBA Top Shots began slipping after the initial hype.
Capcom launched Street Fighter NFTs but the project has also started to lose traction because you can’t do much with the cards yet.
Pokémon is literally the ultimate game of collecting, so if done right it could easily become the king of NFTs.
But how will it happen?
Ecomi and VeVe – Alfred Kahn and Pokémon NFTs
One way Pokémon NFT collectibles could be released is through the Ecomi VeVe app.
Veve has had tremendous success selling out huge brand IP from Batman to Back to the Future.
They’ve added brands such as Cryptkins in premium digital format.
The head of Global licensing is Alfred Kahn.
Kahn is recognised as an industry leader and licensing heavyweight, and his company 4Kids Entertainment was responsible for some of the biggest releases in the licensing industry, including Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cabbage Patch, and Polly Pockets.
Alfred is actually the man responsible for bringing Pokémon to the world outside of Japan, and is credited with naming the brand, shortening pocket monsters to Pokémon in a move that quickly found purchase with an international audience. Pokémon has since gone on to become the highest grossing entertainment brand, generating $64 billion in revenue, and the highest grossing gaming brand, generating USD $59.1 billion since 1996.
Since Alfred Kahn already has a major connection to Pokémon, launching NFTs might be inevitable.
It might take some time for the VeVe app to develop, gain users, launch marketing, and ultimately become too large to ignore. This could eventually mean Pokémon NFTs will launch on Ecomi’s VeVe app at some point in the future.
We all know how much money can be made trading rare Pokémon cards.
Logan Paul already launched an NFT version of himself in Pokémon format, but this does not count.
NFTs in AR (Augmented Reality)
Another point to make is that Pokémon has already had big success with Pokémon GO, an AR game.
VeVe collectibles are all visible in AR format, so the connection is already there.
It will likely take some time, but the chances that Ecomi brings Pokémon to the VeVe app in digital collectible, blockchain format could become a reality in 2022.
Can You Buy Pokemon NFTs For Sale in a Marketplace?
At this time, there are no officially licensed Pokemon NFT collections. What you might find on OpenSea and other marketplaces are pirated or “made up” listings that are not distributed by The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.
At some point in the future we will likely see NFTs on VeVe, but not official announcement has been made.
