Deadstock Secures $2.5M Seed Funding to Build Trading Card Market Infrastructure

Deadstock, which connects physical trading cards with blockchain-based digital twins, has raised a $2.5 million (approximately 3.4 billion KRW) seed investment. The funds will be used for public testing and building global trading card market infrastructure. Deadstock announced that Blish Capital led the investment, with participation from some angel investors. Blish Capital is the venture capital division of Blish ($BLSH).

Deadstock is an on-chain marketplace exclusively for physical collectibles, created by ATH Labs. It combines physical inventory management, tokenization, market trading, and physical exchange features on Arbitrum (ARB). The on-chain marketplace records transaction history and asset ownership relationships on the blockchain. Deadstock integrates physical collectible storage and redemption procedures to connect digital assets with physical assets.

The service's core is matching physical cards with their corresponding digital twins on the blockchain. Digital twins are NFTs representing ownership of specific physical cards, allowing users to trade them in the marketplace. According to Deadstock's terms, when a user requests redemption for a physical card, the corresponding digital twin is burned. This ensures only one digital right corresponds to each physical card, preventing duplicate circulation.

Physical cards are stored by third-party custodians arranged by the company. Users purchase packs to acquire digital twins corresponding to cards and can trade them with other users. The platform also offers a redemption feature for physical cards, though it may take time for shipping and token burning to complete. This investment focuses on designing not just NFT issuance but also the storage, trading, and redemption of physical assets.

For the market Deadstock aims to build, transaction targets are digital rights linked to physical cards rather than simple image files. Users can hold and trade digital twins without immediate card delivery. In collectibles markets, the condition and storage of physical items often affect transactions. Deadstock separates trading and redemption through digital twins while storing physical inventory separately, embedding this process into an on-chain structure.

Service access requires account registration and activation of an invitation code. Terms state that before an invitation code is activated, only website browsing is permitted; wallet and trading features are unavailable. The official homepage indicates a public beta launch with a message about ongoing phased testing, showing the service is being opened incrementally rather than all at once.