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 as Real-World Assets on the blockchain. Founded in 2021 and backed by Y Combinator (W22 batch), Courtyard enables collectors to vault their graded cards in Brink's secure facilities, mint them as NFTs on Polygon, and trade them instantly worldwide. With over 68 employees, it's the most well-funded and staffed platform in the RWA collectibles space.
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 vollector, each card is minted as an NFT on Polygon, representing verifiable on-chain ownership. Cards can be bought, sold, and traded instantly without physical shipping. 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
- On-chain discovery and bidding on any vollector card
- No sales tax on vault transactions
Pros
- +Largest selection and most liquid RWA 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.
Track your Courtyard portfolio with Vollector
Vollector gives you a unified view of your tokenized Real-World Asset collectibles across all supported platforms, including Courtyard.