Blockchain

[UKCardGuy]

I think it's worth breaking down what blockchain is and what it isn't.

Blockchain is not the same as NFTs or Bitcoin. It's just that NFTs and Bitcoin use blockchain technology to support their business model.

Blockchain an instant and immutable ledger technology. Put simply, Blockchain provides a secure record of ownership at a point in time.

Normally, when a buyer and seller agree a transaction, there is a period of time for the transaction to be settled. For example, when you buy on ebay...it takes a few days to make the payment and then a few more days before the seller gets you the card via USPS. That whole period between agreeing the transaction to making the payment and getting delivery is the settlement period. That settlement period is where we have risk around who owns the asset (and the risk) until the goods are fully delivered.

For a completely digital transaction (e.g. an NFT or buying bitcoin) Blockchain provides instantaneous settlement. Because all the components are digital - the transfer of bitcoin for an NFT can be recorded instantly as soon as both sides confirm the transaction. But for a physical asset (e.g. a baseball card or a house), the asset needs to be tokenized. This requires someone to assign a digital token to the physical asset. Then you can buy/sell the digital token and record that instantly by blockchain. Think of it as a digital version of the title to your house.

You need some trusted organization to assign a token to the physical asset and maintain the register. This is critical to stop someone creating multiple copies of the title to their house and selling their house to 5 people.

For baseball cards, blockchain doesn't solve many of the problem we face. For example, blockchain doesn't prevent someone selling a trimmed card nor does it stop someone failing to deliver the card. It can't, in and of itself, tell you that the asset hasn't been tampered with.

There are ways to get around many of these limitation but it seems to focus on holding the cards in a secure vault. Then you don't actually ship the card to the buyer....the buyer just gets ownership of the card in the secure vault.

Think of it like buying/selling on the stock market. Most people never receive a physical stock certificate anymore. Instead your name is held on the register electronically. This is a token that represents your ownership.
Blockchain helps to automate and speed up the management of that register. But if you want to actually have a paper stock certificate to put it in your filing cabinet....you don't get to use the tokenized system.

For those of us who want to actually take delivery of our cards and see them in our display cabinets....I'm afraid blockchain is going to be of limited value.

For anyone with an interest in blockchain for baseball cards, google "Blockchain on physical assets" and you'll find lots of blogs, articles and videos.