Courtyard
@Courtyard_ioThe leading marketplace for tokenized graded trading cards, backed by Y Combinator and secured in Brink's vaults.
PolygonOverview
Courtyard is the largest and most established platform for tokenizing physical trading cards on the blockchain. Founded in 2021 and backed by Y Combinator (W22 batch) plus a $30 million Series A led by Forerunner Ventures with NEA participating (July 2025), Courtyard enables collectors to vault their graded cards in Brink's secure facilities, mint them as NFTs on Polygon, and trade them instantly worldwide. Growth has been explosive: from roughly $50,000 in monthly sales in early 2024 to over $50 million a month by mid-2025, with blockchain trackers like DappRadar at times ranking Courtyard as the largest NFT collection by volume, ahead of Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks.
How It Works
Collectors send their professionally graded cards (PSA, BGS, CGC) to Courtyard, where they are authenticated, insured, and stored in Brink's vaults, the same company that secures gold and silver reserves globally. Once vaulted, each card gets a high-quality 3D render and is minted as an NFT on Polygon, representing verifiable on-chain ownership. Cards can be bought, sold, and traded instantly without physical shipping, on Courtyard's own marketplace or on external ones like OpenSea. Owners can redeem their NFT at any time to receive the physical card shipped from the vault. Courtyard also offers Mystery Packs, a gacha-style experience where users open digital packs to reveal physical cards.
Key Features
- Brink's vault storage with full insurance
- Mystery Packs / Slab Vending Machines with gacha experience
- 1% perpetual royalty for vaulters on every resale
- Credit/debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and crypto payments
- Instant wallet creation for Web2 users
- 3D-rendered scans of every vaulted card
- NFTs tradable on OpenSea as well as the native marketplace
- No sales tax on vault transactions
Pros
- +Largest selection and most liquid tokenized collectibles marketplace
- +Backed by Y Combinator with strong institutional credibility
- +Brink's partnership provides industry-leading physical asset security
- +Very user-friendly, abstracts crypto complexity for mainstream users
- +Supports both crypto and traditional payment methods
- +Passive income through 1% perpetual resale royalties
Cons
- −Some users report hidden fees on Mystery Packs (e.g., $25 pack charged as $26.86)
- −Redemption shipping can be expensive, especially internationally or for single cards
- −Mystery Packs have gambling-like mechanics with no guaranteed return
- −KYC required for crypto withdrawals, not always clearly disclosed upfront
- −Only operates on Polygon, limiting cross-chain interoperability
Supported Collectible Types
Ready to explore Courtyard?
Visit the platform to start collecting tokenized Real-World Assets, then track your Courtyard portfolio alongside all your other platforms with Vollector.