Will Ripmart be the next card for CARDS? Collector Crypt is trying to transition from crypto players to the Web2 consumer market.

Author: Kunal Doshi (0xResearch)

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Overview: The token CARDS of Collector Crypt fell 8% while Bitcoin surged 30%, but on-chain data shows that funds are flowing back from stock tokens to the collectibles sector. More crucially, the market has completely overlooked a catalyst called Ripmart: it could push this project from crypto-native users to the real Web2 consumer market.

Good morning, everyone. As a new week begins, I am excited to introduce our brand new newsletter format. We have listened to your feedback, and from now on, we will bring you daily the content that analysts are focusing on, without filters, straight to the point. Let’s get started.

If you have been following my content, you will know that I am a strong bullish advocate for the on-chain collectibles sector, and the best bet in this sector remains Collector Crypt. Bitcoin has risen nearly 30% from its low of $63,000, but during the same period, CARDS fell 8%. Why is that? Has the trading of collectibles come to an end?

I believe that the current user base of Collector Crypt consists of Web3-native memecoin and NFT players who are looking for quick thrills. These individuals can spend big at gacha machines (and they have), but when the next shiny new toy appears, they will quickly shift their funds there. Recently, that new toy has been the trading pairs of stock tokens that have taken off on Robinhood Chain and Solana.

These trades have siphoned funds from the on-chain collectibles space. You can see that in the week ending August 16, net income peaked at $3 million, just before stock token trading volume began to soar.

Metrics for Collector Crypt began to decline as stock token trading volume rose, which cannot be a coincidence. But guess what? The situation is reversing. After three consecutive weeks of decline, Collector Crypt’s net income has rebounded, delivering two strong weekly performances as stock token trading volume fell back.

Meanwhile, the team added gacha machines to cater to the rising popularity of Riftbound and Dragon Ball card packs. If you have been to a physical card exhibition, you would know that these two card games have been heating up recently, almost like a high beta version of this year’s surge in Pokémon and One Piece card prices. I greatly appreciate the team’s quick response to market trends, with these two categories now accounting for 8% to 16% of total revenue in recent weeks.

But what is the “aha moment” that brings Collector Crypt back into the spotlight and drives the next wave of growth? There is a catalyst that has been overlooked by the market: the launch of Ripmart. Very few people are discussing it on the timeline.

Although the official details have not been extensively published, clues on the timeline point to a consumer-facing livestream shopping app similar to Whatnot. By comparison, Whatnot has raised $545 million and is valued at $20 billion, which illustrates the scale of the livestream shopping experience. Here is my vision for how this model could work.

Ripmart could allow users to purchase card packs from Collector Crypt's sealed inventory and then watch streamers unpack them live. Users can immediately sell qualifying hit cards back to the platform and use the proceeds to purchase more card packs. The potential advantage over Whatnot lies in the built-in repurchase mechanism, which keeps the purchasing power within the platform and maintains a continuous cycle of unpacking. This is similar to the existing gacha process but much more entertaining and focused on sealed inventory.

Pokémon unpacking livestreams have become incredibly popular in the card community, with accounts like Deep Pocket Monster having 1.7 million followers on Instagram. I myself can get addicted to watching unpacking, especially the thrill of seeing someone pull an old card. While the specific economic model between Collector Crypt and Ripmart is still unclear, this could allow Collector Crypt to establish a deeper foundation in the Web2 consumer market, making its trading volume less reliant on the liquidity of the crypto market.

CARDS is one of the few tokens on my long-term holding list that I am willing to hold across cycles. My filtering criteria are projects that truly create value for users and innovate existing processes. Just think about it: a first-edition Charizard recently transacted for $600,000 through Collector Crypt's swap tool, avoiding at least a 10% market fee to auction houses or eBay.

Within a year, this project’s total turnover surpassed $1 billion, with net income exceeding $100 million, established its own storage facilities, and completed integrations with numerous partners.

Achieving so much progress in such a short time is already remarkable, and Ripmart could bring a new phase of growth to this business. Bright skies ahead. Speaking of unpacking, the Pokémon 30th Anniversary expansion box was released last week, each pack featuring a cute Pikachu cover, friends, enjoy the unpacking.

— Kuna