The Fun Side of “Orange Pilling” the World

Last week, I told you about my experience at Bitcoin 2026.

There were far fewer people in attendance. The displays were not as wild and whacky as a year ago. And the mood wasn’t anywhere near euphoric. It was more somber.

And it’s one reason why I’m bullish on bitcoin today.

Going to conferences like the Bitcoin Conference isn’t all business though. Sometimes you come across things that are fun.

For example, last year I found some interesting products in the exhibit hall bazaar. Like a one-ounce silver coin that has the ability to have bitcoin loaded into it.

(I bought 3 of them, signed by the artist.)

Or bitcoin “cash” that functions as a way to have bills to use in trade. You just load the amount of bitcoin on the bill as its face value, and off you go.

But this year, I found something even more fun…at least to me.

Some of you may know that I’m a collector. And it’s not just collecting things like rare gold and silver coins. I’m also a collector of other items, like the autographed photo of Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams hanging in my office. (Which some Strategic Trader Founding Members may remember seeing in the background of our most recent Quarterly Zoom call.)

I also collect trading cards. In fact, I like to attend the National Sports Collector’s Convention every year looking for deals. (I’ll be there again later this summer.)

Besides being fun, I view these collectibles as their own asset class. Buying certain items is an investment not unlike buying stocks, or the warrants I recommend in Strategic Trader. The main difference is I can hold them in my hand or hang them on my wall.

Take for instance my 2020 Donruss Optic Pat Tillman Downtown card in a PSA 9. (For those of you not familiar with collecting, PSA stands for Professional Sports Authenticator. The company grades cards on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being perfect condition. The higher the grade, the more valuable the card.)

It’s a rare card. It’s what’s called a “Case Hit” meaning only one of these types of cards – the Downtown – lands per case of boxes. The odds of pulling one out of a pack are about 1-in-250, or 0.4%.

Today, there are only 94 in existence with a grade of PSA 9. I bought the card about two years ago keeping in mind both the rarity of the card itself and its grade. At the time I paid $800.

But the most recent sale of that same card? $6,500.

Which means I’m up more than 8x in just two years.

As far as current players, one of the most collectible today is Shohei Ohtani, already considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Both as a hitter and a pitcher.

Three years ago, I bought several of his 2018 rookie cards recognizing a dip in his market. Including the 2018 Topps Update Rainbow Foil pictured below.

I paid about $160 for it at the time. Today’s value? $900 based on the most recent sale.

Now, I plan on holding these two cards as part of my collection until it’s time to move on. Or unless something better comes along.

But I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting things in the collectibles world. Including what I found at Bitcoin 2026.

Alladan. AG the Alchemist. Jesus. Coin Dad… They’re just some of the people I met at the booth of Based Trading Cards (BTC) that makes high-end bitcoin trading cards.

Already on Series 4, each set is limited to just 21,000 packs. The same figure as the total amount of bitcoin that will ever exist. And many of the cards are visually works of art. Especially considering BTC works with real artists who come up with the designs for each card.

So I couldn’t help myself and initially bought 2 packs of cards for $50 each and opened them at the BTC booth.

On the first pack, I pulled a rare artist card made by the artist Asanoha. (You can watch the reaction from the BTC crew as I pulled the card here.)

A card that’s selling on eBay for around $150.

But as luck would have it, Asanoha was also exhibiting at the conference showing off both his art and his Bitcoin Art Magazine. (You can follow him here.)

So I tracked him down, chatted with him for a bit and had him sign the card. (He likes to remain anonymous in photos.)

After chatting a bit more with the BTC crew, they invited me to their informal “trade night” where a group of BTC enthusiasts would trade cards and make deals…at the food court in the Venetian hotel.

It was great fun. And it never ceases to amaze me the passion that collectors have and how welcoming they are to everyone, new or experienced.

But the whole experience got me thinking, why wouldn’t something similar happen to these cards as it does in the sports world? What would happen if I bought a box of the Series 4 BTC cards and let it sit for a while? After all, a box of Series 1 – the first ever made – would set you back around $50,000 on the secondary market.

Now, I wouldn’t expect Series 4 to get anywhere close to that price. But what would happen if bitcoin is higher at next year’s conference, as I expect it to be? How would the value of the cards respond to that? Would the box be worth more? Would it be worth opening it then? How will the individual cards inside trend over the next year?

So that’s exactly what I’m going to find out. I bought a box for $1,200 and told the BTC crew I’ll see them next year in Nashville ready to rip.

Stay tuned…

Regards,

Editor, Strategic Trader