YouTuber and WWE star Logan Paul has put his super-rare 1998 Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card up for auction. As of January 16, the bidding had reached $5.1 million, not including the buyer’s premium.
Goldin’s 2026 Pokémon & TCG Auction opened on January 5, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. ET and is set to close on February 15. But that might not be final, as once it hits extended bidding, any new bid can add another 30 minutes. This means the final ending time can slide later into the night.
This card is a big deal, and not only because of the price Paul paid in a private deal back in 2021. Guinness World Records lists the sale at $5,275,000, which made headlines as the most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private sale.
However, the real drivers of value are rarity and condition. Only 39 Illustrator cards were awarded through a Japanese CoroCoro contest, and Paul’s copy is the only one graded PSA 10 by PSA.
In collector terms, this is the top of the pile.
I’ve been collecting long enough to know that rarity plus a perfect grade can push prices into the stratosphere. Yet, the chatter around this sale has not been all positive so far.
The backstory and alleged scam
Before the auction even opened, Cllct reported that Paul’s Pikachu Illustrator had been tied to Liquid Marketplace. This is a platform he co-founded that let people buy fractionalized pieces of high-end collectibles.
In plain English, buyers could purchase tokens that represented small slices of the item instead of owning the whole thing.
The whole platform later turned messy. With UNILAD Tech reporting that there were legal issues and complaints from token holders who said they had trouble getting money after buybacks.
As the Illustrator card was on the Liquid Marketplace, the fact it has now shown up in a major auction has brought many old worries back into the spotlight.
In that same reporting, Cllct added that Paul told them he bought back Liquid Marketplace’s stake in the card for $250,000 in May 2024. He also said that he was working with developers to reopen the platform so users could access funds tied to that reacquisition.
Therefore, the scam accusation, in simple terms, is if regular people bought pieces of the card through tokens, how can the card be sold at auction now?
Additionally, UNILAD Tech highlighted that Paul rejected a $5 million irrevocable bid, in a deal structure where a bidder can lock in a minimum sale price but also take a cut of the upside if the final price climbs higher.
The decision to reject the offer added gasoline to online discussions about the validity of the auction. However, it doesn’t prove anything untowards is happening here.
Regardless of the online discussions, Goldin would not be selling an item that had any question marks over ownership. Therefore, expect the final sale price to be huge.
For example, reports from Polymarket say that the majority of experts estimate the price to go over $10 million. With some even estimating it’ll beat $12 million.
Whatever the outcome, it’s destined to be a staggering price.
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