After the Apocalypse, Money Won’t Matter: Investor Names Pokémon Cards as the New Global Currency

Collector Peter Levin believes Pokémon cards are already outperforming traditional assets and could one day become a global currency if modern society collapses.

Pokémon cards have long since stopped being merely a childhood pastime. Collecting them has grown into a multimillion-dollar market, while livestreams of people opening packs have become a business of their own online. But one investor has taken the idea even further: he believes that after a global catastrophe, Pokémon cards could become a real currency.

As The Hollywood Reporter reports, investor and collector Peter Levin has so much faith in the collectibles market that he owns more than 500,000 cards. If his prediction about the future proves correct, that collection could one day make him one of the richest people on the planet.

Asked whether card collecting is still a niche hobby or has already become a global phenomenon, Levin was unequivocal: “I absolutely believe that if the world experiences an apocalypse tomorrow, the next day the global currency will be Pokémon cards.”

According to the collector, the cards are already showing impressive investment performance. He claims their value has outperformed the S&P 500 by 3,000%.

Levin attributes the transformation of collectible cards into a fully fledged financial asset to the development of the grading, certification and authentication industry. Specialized companies assign condition grades to cards, allowing investors to view them not simply as pieces of cardboard featuring Pokémon characters, but as assets with a defined market value.

At the same time, the idea that Pokémon cards could replace money after an apocalypse raises plenty of questions.

Money works precisely because society collectively agrees that it has value. Pokémon cards are certainly worth significant amounts today, largely because of their rarity, nostalgia and enormous collector base. But what would happen to that value if the existing economic system disappeared?

Still, recent years have shown that the collectibles market is capable of surprising even the most skeptical observers. Pokémon cards have already evolved from a children's game into a serious investment asset, with some of the rarest examples selling for enormous sums.

So if the familiar world really does collapse one day, it is entirely possible that somewhere out there, someone will be willing to trade a cow for a perfectly preserved Pikachu card.