Tzvi Wiesel, CEO of Baxus (a liquid trading marketplace for fine wines and spirits), breaks down the trading card market through the lens of someone who understands both collectibles and asset markets at their core. From Panini's $25,000 Mahomes Dutch auction to Logan Paul's controversial $16.4M PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator, we explore what happens when grading companies have every incentive to inflate scores and celebrities become both the market makers and the exit liquidity.

This episode covers:

The Logan Paul Pikachu controversy: Why that card shouldn't be a PSA 10, how grading companies mirror the credit rating agencies in The Big Short, and why Beckett 10s are worth more than PSA 10s but Beckett 9s are worth less than PSA 9s (spoiler: it's about integrity)
The celebrity collector problem: How Kevin O'Leary, Logan Paul, and Luke Combs went from accumulating quietly to shilling publicly, why athletes' personal scandals can tank card values overnight, and the uncomfortable truth about who's holding the bag in 2026
Sports cards vs. Pokemon economics: Why there are 30+ Cooper Flagg "one-of-ones," what actual game-worn memorabilia means for card valuations, and why Tzvi thinks Pokemon cards make more sense than modern sports releases
The Magic: The Gathering lawsuit and Universe Beyond: Why collectors are suing Hasbro over print runs, how Final Fantasy became their best-selling set ever, and why Tzvi actually loves that they're printing more cards (even if collectors hate it)
Counterfeit risk and authentication: What it's like buying raw cards at shows when you can't tell real from fake, why slabbing makes counterfeiting easier in some ways, and how the whiskey world is introducing grading systems similar to PSA/Beckett
The Sotheby's whiskey auction experience: Inside the Great American Whiskey Collection sale, how auction houses authenticate bottles, and the story of the mystery bottle they couldn't verify so they just opened and drank instead
Baxus's whiskey gacha machines: How the same mechanics that power trading card pack openings are coming to whiskey collecting, why spending $100 to potentially pull a $3,000 bottle creates the same dopamine hit, and what semi-public beta testing looks like

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