Logan Paul Sells His Golden Charizard, Leaves NFT Bagholders Holding Empty Poké Balls

Logan Paul has officially leveled up to a new Guinness World Record, selling his ultra-rare Pikachu Illustrator card for a cool $16.5 million—making it the most expensive Pokémon card transaction in history, a trade that would make even a shiny Mewtwo blush. The winning bid came from AJ Scaramucci, son of financier Anthony Scaramucci, who out-dueled a series of other seven- and eight-figure offers in a high-stakes battle that had more drama than a Gym Leader fight.

The YouTuber-turned-serial-speculator reportedly pocketed an $8 million profit after auction fees, having initially snagged the cardboard rectangle for $5.3 million back in July 2021. For the degens keeping score, the card is one of only 39 ever minted from a 1990s contest, making it rarer than a well-timed exit from a memecoin.

This record-breaking cash-out, however, has poured gasoline on the smoldering ashes of criticism over Paul's 2022 decision to fractionalize ownership of this very card on the Liquid Marketplace. That platform later pulled a disappearing act more complete than a ghost-type Pokémon, leaving investors frantically mashing the A button for returns and sparking a lawsuit up in Canada.

On X, Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro delivered a legal-style critical hit, calling it a "classic case of 'slop tokenization,'" noting the token was "basically just 'juxtaposed' with property but has no rights to it." His advice was simple: read the terms of service and avoid what he termed "legal scams"—a novel concept in a space where the fine print is often longer than a blockchain's ledger.

Paul fired back, claiming the Liquid Marketplace went offline for reasons beyond his control, and that he personally funded the site's restoration so users could withdraw once he was aware of the glitch. For context, only 5.4% of the card was ever fractionalized, with the collective bagholders investing about $270,000 total—chump change compared to the main prize.

Notably, Paul himself isn't named as a defendant in the Liquid Marketplace lawsuit brought by Canada's Ontario Securities Commission in June 2024. A hearing is penciled in for June, because justice, like a good bull run, often moves at a snail's pace.

This Pokémon play is far from Paul's first NFT-related critical miss. His CryptoZoo project famously failed to deliver its promised play-to-earn game, drawing rightful fury from investors and a 2023 class-action suit. He eventually made investors whole after they waived legal claims, leading to the lawsuit's dismissal in 2025—a classic "refund and retreat" maneuver.

Other forays into Paul's digital art portfolio have also tanked harder than a low-liquidity altcoin, including a $635,000 0N1 Force digital avatar that's now valued at under $2,000, a depreciation so steep it would make a leveraged long position weep.

The monumental Pokémon sale stands in stark, almost comical, contrast to the broader NFT market, which is currently looking as healthy as a Magikarp out of water. While NFT markets showed a pulse in early 2026, the total market cap has since been cut by over 50%, plummeting from $3.2 billion to $1.55 billion amid the wider crypto cooldown.

Adding to the sector's vibe of a ghost town, NFT marketplaces Rodeo and Nifty Gateway announced last month they would be winding down operations, joining the growing graveyard of high-profile closures. It seems not every project gets to be a Charizard; most are destined to remain Rattatas.