Although we didn't outright sneer when linking to this May 2024 Le Monde article:
"In Japan, yakuza are reduced to stealing Pokémon cards",
it might have been a bit condescending to include "Making a slow getaway: Japan's anti-yakuza laws result in cohort of ageing gangsters" among the outro links. The geriatric mobsters may have known exactly what they were doing....
Since then we've seen:
October 20, ABC News - Thieves steal nearly $1 million worth of Pokémon cards in SoCal FedEx truck break in
November 1, ZeroHedge - Pokemon Card Mania Sparks Bubble Fear: "Just Doing A Crazy Bull Run"
Which started with:
A PSA 10 Aquapolis Crystal Lugia just sold for $360,000 again, tying the record from earlier this month; in August one sold for $148,511, per . New floor or the top? Follow us for more collectible news https://t.co/BDysHzoZxu
— Nerdcave’77 (@nerdcave77) November 1, 2026
As it's hook and then went into charts, graphs, market analytics, fear/greed indicators, lists of top cards, analyst commentary:
We are no longer just talking about people spending a few thousand dollars on nostalgia anymore. At these extravagant prices, collectibles are competing for the same pools of capital that could otherwise be sitting in stocks, crypto, watches, art or other alternative assets....
and so much more that it's actually a bit overwhelming.
For what it's worth today's introduction was previously used on top of a September 2025 Wall Street Journal story:
"The Hot Investment With a 3,000% Return? Pokémon Cards"
Meanwhile I still look back at what might have been:
June 2018 - CryptoKitty Trading Volume Collapses: Andreessen, Union Square and Climateer Hurt Worst which has most of the story including:
Which was followed by March 2019's "Who owns IP on the blockchain? CryptoKitties give glimpse into less-cute crypto concerns"Matt Levine's Meow Culpa—CryptoKitties, An Exegesis
"How we made $100K trading CryptoKitties"
Not us, we're HODLers, this guy:...
I had asked that people not mention CryptoKitties in my presence as I am still in mourning* but they do anyway....
Her piece was written a couple weeks ago i.e. at least two cryptocurrency price tumbles ago.
Think of a waveform, but not the smooth, soothing shape of a sinusoid. Rather think of a faux quasi-periodicity with just enough regularity to trigger a mirage of pattern recognition, just enough to suck you in, across the event horizon of speculation into the madness of Hunter S Thompson:...
"Still humping the American Dream, that vision of the Big Winner somehow emerging from the last minute pre—dawn chaos of a stale Vegas casino. Big strike in Silver City. Beat the dealer and go home rich. Why not? I stopped at the Money Wheel and dropped a dollar on Thomas Jefferson—a $2 bill, the straight Freak ticket, thinking as always that some idle instinct bet might carry the whole thing off. But no. Just another two bucks down the tube. You bastards! No. Calm down. Learn to enjoy losing....
Excuse me, I have to take a moment
