Logan Paul s $5 Million Pikachu Illustrator Auction Marred By Scam Accusations
Pokemon 
Josh has been playing video games for longer than he can remember, kicking things off with a Master System before upgrading to a Mega Drive. Covering the industry since 2018, if a game has a strong story – or even better, the decisions you make determine the course of that story – odds are he’s going to like it. Or, you know, put Sonic or Pikachu on the cover and that’ll get his attention too.
Logan Paul has dropped a bombshell on the Pokemon TCG community to end 2025 by revealing plans to auction off what is considered by many to be the rarest Pokemon card in the world. However, that announcement has since been bogged down by the card and Paul’s connections to a platform called Liquid Marketplace.
Paul revealed plans to put his PSA 10-graded Pikachu Illustrator card up for auction during an appearance on Fox Business’s The Big Money Show. During that appearance, he recommended young people invest their money in high-end collectibles such as Pokemon cards as opposed to stocks and shares due to how much their value has skyrocketed in recent years.
Paul paid close to $5.3 million for the Pikachu Illustrator card in 2022, setting a world record that is yet to be broken. The YouTuber admits he has no idea how much the card is worth today, but you have to imagine he’s hoping it fetches more than what he paid for it when it goes up for auction in 2026.
Logan Paul Bought His Card Back From Liquid Marketplace Last Year
This is where things start to get a little murky. At some point between buying the card and May 2024, Paul listed it on Liquid Marketplace. The platform is a place where you can effectively buy shares in high-end collectibles, which are referred to as tokens. Listing the card on the platform meant Paul and Pokemon fans could technically own a piece of it, and potentially make a lot of money if it was ever sold.
Here we are, a couple of months away from that eventuality, and there appears to have been a hiccup. Paul has taken to social media to reveal that he actually bought the card back from Liquid Marketplace more than 18 months ago. However, according to that same post, Paul notes that the funds from that purchase, which should have been distributed to those who bought tokens, haven’t seen any of that profit.
Time to root around in your parents’ attic again to see if you still have one of these.
Paul didn’t reveal how much he paid to buy back the card, simply referring to the amount as a “substantial buyout”. Paul claims he was told the funds from that sale were distributed accordingly to those who purchased tokens. However, it has since come to light that certain people at Liquid Marketplace were subjected to “regulatory scrutiny,” and token owners owed money for the Pikachu Illustrator buyback haven’t seen a penny.
Logan Paul Is A Liquid Marketplace Co-Founder, So Why Doesn t He Have Any Answers?
Here’s the kicker in all of this, and the reason why Paul’s upcoming blockbuster sale is facing scam accusations – Paul is a co-founder of Liquid Marketplace. Despite that, he has claimed he had no part in the “regulatory scrutiny” that resulted in partial owners of the card he now solely owns seeing no money from its sale.
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Paul claims he is speaking with Liquid Marketplace to try to get the funds released to their rightful owners, but again, he is a co-founder and part-owner of the company, so if he isn’t one of the people in charge of making these decisions, it’s unclear who is. Suffice to say, if this issue isn’t resolved by the time Paul sells the card in February, the situation is only going to get worse as those who bought tokens will potentially feel like they are owed even more, particularly if the card sells for more than Paul paid for it, which it almost certainly will.
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