The next step for Collector Crypt: Why crypto collectible card platforms should not rely on Gacha features

Korean research organization FourPillar founder Steve recently published a lengthy commentary on the crypto card platform Collector Crypt ($CARDS), directly pointing out that although the platform has delivered impressive short-term revenue, its growth driver is more like a “new type of casino disguised as TCG” rather than being built on the long-term fundamental demand of the traditional trading card game (TCG) market.

Crypto TCG More Trustworthy Than eBay

Steve noted that the NFT craze had made many people struggle to understand where the value comes from, and the card market is often used as an analogy for NFTs; ironically, before NFTs appeared, the traditional card market already possessed core mechanisms such as scarcity, ownership, and transferability.

Now, the card market is starting to directly overlay on blockchain infrastructure, with Collector Crypt being one of the most representative cases: the platform collaborates with vaults to store physical cards, then tokenizes them and provides a trading marketplace, allowing physical cards to circulate like digital assets and being viewed as a more trustworthy alternative to P2P platforms like eBay.

Collector Crypt Revenue Depends on Gacha Buybacks

However, Steve emphasized that the main revenue for TCG platforms usually comes not only from secondary market transaction fees but also critically from the gacha mechanism: users pay a fixed amount to buy random card packs, hoping to draw cards worth more than the cost.

What sets Collector Crypt apart from other gacha products is that the platform further designed a gacha buyback: if users are dissatisfied with the cards they draw, they can immediately sell them back to the platform at a discount, obtaining instant liquidity, and then reinvest the proceeds into the gacha cycle. Steve believes that this “draw—sell—redraw” closed loop is the core engine behind the platform’s recent rapid revenue growth.

Crypto TCG Relies on Buying and Selling, Lacks Key Demand

He cited platform data indicating that within just one week, Collector Crypt users invested about $19 million in gacha, generating approximately $1.9 million in weekly revenue solely from gacha products. Steve believes that, in a context where most crypto products still struggle to establish stable cash flow, such performance is indeed rare and eye-catching; but he also warns that this more likely reflects gambling-like consumption driven by gacha and buyback mechanisms rather than a genuine resurgence of TCG fundamental demand.

Steve’s core argument is: the reason traditional card markets can exist long-term is not only supported by short-term arbitrageurs but also involves multiple layers:

Players who need cards for actual battles

Collectors motivated by ownership and collection

Traders involved in buying, selling, and exchanging

In contrast, in crypto-native TCG products, demand is highly concentrated on “buying and selling” itself, and the two key layers of players and collectors have not yet formed, indicating that crypto TCGs have not truly connected to the demand base of the traditional card market.

FourPillar Founder: TCG Needs Products and Consumers That Bridge the Gap

He further pointed out that a truly meaningful crypto TCG market must feature products and participants that bridge the gap: cards should not merely be speculative tools but must offer verifiable utility and simultaneously improve the overall user experience; at the same time, the market’s image as just a place for speculation must be gradually dismantled. Without a long-term product vision capable of attracting traditional card demand, Collector Crypt’s current revenue growth is more likely a short-term phenomenon.

However, Steve also offered a more optimistic interpretation: because the limitations of the current model are clearly visible, there is space for more mature products to emerge. As long as a team can recognize and overcome the structural issues driven by speculation, crypto TCG still has the opportunity to evolve into a stage more akin to a genuine card market, making it worth continuing to observe its development trajectory.

This article on Collector Crypt’s next step: why crypto trading card platforms should not rely on Gacha features was first published on Chain News ABMedia.