Drew Austin

2026 NBA Champion, Frontier Tech Investor, GP @RedBeardVC + Founder @DenariiLabs Tokenomics Accelerator + Advisory; Built/Sold @WadeandWendy

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

Thoughts on my first trip to the National Card Show (@nsccshow) in Chicago this past weekend.

What I saw at The National was insane, and incredibly fascinating. There had to be 200k people over 4-5 days. I've never seen more cash in one place in my life. Between cash and collectibles there was probably a billion dollars of value in that venue. I was blown away.

It was the most fun I've had since the 2021 NFT market. Same energy and chaos, but in a physical setting!

Now imagine instead of the ~10k of us who traded nonstop back then, it's 10 million people. That's the card market right now.

At the high end, institutional capital is pouring in. I personally engaged with 3 different collectible funds raising capital. There was an $11m sale of a single card at the show. We will see multiple public ETFs backed by high end collectibles within 12 months.

The mid tier feels overvalued right now. What I can't figure out is whether it's a bubble anywhere near popping. This market is like nothing I've seen: kids 8-16 spending tens of thousands like it's nothing, trading and flipping all day. And the parents love every second of it. Part bonding, part investing, part gambling, part addiction. The whole family is bought in, because the moms actually get a day of peace while the dads and kids run wild at the shows. That alone is priceless to most moms. I know thats how my wife feels.

I bought, sold, traded and saw a ton of stuff.

Here is my market assessment.

I'm selling high supply and buying real scarcity.

Start with the icons. Jordan and Kobe autos are fire and will continue to increase in value, but the over printed vintage inserts are overpriced. And the '86 Fleer Jordan has to come down, it's bananas right now, I saw multiple at every decent booth. It's a common card, that's the reality. Star cards are the new Jordan chase.

LeBron is super in demand now. Base LeBron Topps, are completely overvalued and I wouldn't touch. But the LeBron Topps first edition is one of the most exciting plays in the market to me, I saw so few the entire show, super scarce.

There is incredible demand for the other goats; Ohtani, Griffey Jr, Curry, Brady, Messi, Caitlin Clark, Gretzkey, Wemby, Mahomes...All rightfully so and will continue to appreciate in value.

Modern supply has got to be an issue. Case hits like Downtowns and Kabooms feel massively inflated, driven by young kids chasing them and Whatnot liquidity where they know they can flip them all day. Parallels are a joke, 10 different borders of the same card. And modern sticker autos, too many printed year over year. The flip side is on card rookie autos, limited and you can't make more. I am buying those up in all of the players I believe in.

On rookies, last year's class (Dart, Kon, Cooper, VJ types) I think come down in price the second everyone fixates on the new rookie class. Jeanty is an exception, I think he's just too good to be priced this low.

The new rookie class for the NBA is going to potentially take NBA card collecting to new heights in general. You can find a stud across so many different teams, its a breakers dream.

I think the Bowman 1st cards that are in high demand in MLB will also start to gain appreciation in NBA.

The vintage side of NBA and MLB is where I'm buying: high grade, low supply inserts of Duncan, Garnett, Barkley, Shaq, Ewing, Nash and Nowitzki... Guys like Nolan Ryan, Jeter, Pedro, Randy Johnson, Ichiro, Bonds. Scarce and underpriced.

Pokemon is overpriced and has peaked. I think it slowly comes down until they introduce parallels and sketch cards, which is inevitable given how insane the oversupply is. Every Pokemon booth is the same stuff over and over.

The rest of entertainment IP is the opposite trade, little supply, still niche, and personally find it underrated and undervalued. Star Wars has a real core following that keeps growing, I love Harry Potter, and I think Garbage Pail Kids sees a real boom driven by its crossover into sports.

Two more I like, both scarcity driven. Sketch cards, it's been incredible to watch a real market form and keep climbing among the collectors who actually know about them. And Project 70 and Project 2020 cards in MLB, everyone in those sets is scarce and designed by amazing artists, they outshine every other card in any display, and they're a mix of art and sports that I could see appealing to high end collectors over time. Still niche, fun to collect, I like them. They are the kind of cards I actually enjoy to PC, and if they increase in value along the way even better.

WWE, the modern stuff felt flat, but WWE rookie cards are undervalued and genuinely hard to find.

Some other tech thoughts....

Whatnot is raising at a $20b valuation and it might be undervalued. The overall collectible tech infrastructure is nowhere near where it's going. Enormous amount left to build.

Digital collectibles had a small presence, but a presence nonetheless. Panini made the biggest splash of educating people on the digital collectible market. Topshot had a great location in the trade night room, and there were people engaing for sure, but TS needs to figure out how to build a brand, identify with the culture, and how to resonate with the trading community. The product shines, people really liked it from what I could tell. They just dont really get culture and brand. TS team would learn a ton by hanging around the WhatNot environment, thats who is nailing it right now. Whatnot breakers and streamers are more popular than athletes when it comes to the kids. The saving grace for digital collectibles will be the vaulting tech. Just from seeing how hard it was for everyone to lug around the collection, show it off properly, digital will grow, I have no doubt.

The biggest bottleneck, biggest risk, and where for better or worse, the most value sits, is grading. It's the sketchiest part of the whole industry. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if one day there's a massive whistleblower moment about what goes on behind the scenes at the grading companies. PSA dropped the ball completely in regards to their offering of same day grading. The only explanation I can think of behind the incompetence of PSA is that it is manufactured challenges and intentional lack of investment in technology to maintain some level of scarcity needed to keep their business humming.

I'm still working out the angles as a hobbyist, trader, investor, collector, builder and VC. But I'll tell you this: I didn't eat lunch for 2 days, did 13 hours a day on the floor, sold more than I ever have before by a longshot, and invested at the higher end which is not something I really have done much in the past as a hobbyist. Trading was a blast, I wanted to build an app to make the trading experience easier and more accessible because it was a lot of fun.

Is the market is overvalued, maybe, but it also is showing zero signs of slowing down.

Would love to hear others thoughts on the show, the market, what they are buying/selling and areas where investment is needed from an infra perspective.

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

@mjmaryott @HIGH_IN_BUFFALO @TheRealOmegaDad @CardPurchaser How was the show?! Debating making the 3 he drive tomorrow…

[HYTOPIA (NFT Worlds) @hytopiagg]

We've updated the WORLDS website with full details on the game, the coming marketplace, and more!

Check it out! https://t.co/0HFjfnJ6DO

[Andrew Steinwold @AndrewSteinwold]

The nail in the coffin was Kyle leaving Multicoin

The leading fund in an entire industry and the top dog leaves? Not a great sign

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

No question Boone has a Hal Steinbrenner sex tape that he’s holding over his head.

[Yankees Slut @yankeeslite]

What Hal said following every season since 2020:

2020:
“Our offense—just inconsistent at playing up to their potential, to me. … You couldn’t tell which offense was going to show up.”

2021:
“The majority of the responsibility, whether it's the responsibility of inconsistent offense or bad baserunning, etc., that responsibility lies with the players.”

2022:
“Aaron Boone wasn’t responsible for our offense, the slide they experienced the last couple months of the season rolling into the postseason.”

2023:
“We did not get where we needed to be with run production—it was probably our biggest problem.”

2024:
“We did not play a clean World Series."

2025:
“This Toronto series was on the players. It’s on the players’ shoulders, period. They didn’t hit."

2026:
“The majority of the responsibility … lies with the position players and the inability to score on a consistent basis.”

[Watcher.Guru @WatcherGuru]

JUST IN: Elon Musk's SpaceX $SPCX reports $14.58 billion in revenue for Q3 2026, beating expectations.

[Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee]

Proud of my brother @ajv

@vaynersports building day by day 🧱

[NBA Top Shot @NBATopShot]

Last year's No. 1 pick, a 4x All-Star, and a 2026 All-Star just signed with NBA Top Shot for the season ✍️

🏀 Cooper Flagg
🏀 Pascal Siakam
🏀 Cedric Coward
🏀 Jalen Johnson

Autographs coming this season on the most scarce parallels from each of their Moments

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: The number of restaurants in New York dropped ~2,000 YoY in Q1 2026, posting its largest YoY decline in at least 36 years.

This surpasses even the worst contraction recorded in any quarter during the 2020 pandemic.

The number of eating and drinking places in New York State has now declined YoY for 4 consecutive quarters, its longest streak since 2021.

This comes as restaurants are facing surging operating expenses, including insurance premiums, wages, interest rates, utilities, and health coverage, with overall costs rising faster than national averages.

Last year, employee health insurance costs jumped +12.9% for New York-area service firms, business insurance rose +7.0%, while utility costs surged +8.5%, according to the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

Skyrocketing costs are crushing New York restaurants.

[NBA Top Shot @NBATopShot]

The rookie autos keep coming!
4 more 2026 rookies are officially partnered Top Shot Athletes ✍️

🏀 Labaron Philon Jr.
🏀 Zuby Ejiofor
🏀 Cameron Carr
🏀 Joshua Jefferson

That's 16 signed rookies and counting.
Which one are you chasing first? 👀

[Banana Ball @BananaBall_]

It’s Banana Ball like you’ve never seen it before… 1 stadium, 1 game… 2 fields 🤯

Banana Ball 360 brings the action to all 80,000 fans in South Bend. The field of play will alternate between two fields within Notre Dame Stadium to ensure that fans get the best seat in the house no matter where they sit.

[VeniceStats @venicestats]

Also: $22,955 of base:0xacfe6019ed1a7dc6f7b508c02d1b04ec88cc21bf burned from subs and credits, beating a Sep 2 record that held six weeks 🔥

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

brilliant move to start an amazon competitor, use all electric and driverless vehicles, win on efficiency, under cut the pricing.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Maybe we should start a competitor to Amazon 🤔

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

@BoredCoobs He is THE man

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

I fucking lov Elon Musk, any one who doesn’t can suck it.

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

Looks great and an amazing timing for a fantastic rookie class!

[NBA Top Shot @NBATopShot]

https://t.co/RsdAK0IJHy

[unusual_whales @unusual_whales]

BREAKING: A Tesla–SpaceX merger could be announced before Tesla’s annual meeting in early December, per Barclays.

The most likely structure: SpaceX acquires Tesla in an all-stock deal, with Tesla shareholders getting about 0.7 SpaceX shares per Tesla share, plus a likely premium.

Barclays says Musk would own about 37% of the combined company, with roughly 56% of the voting power.

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

@robpetrozzo love this brotha, feel it deeply

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

@robpetrozzo lol today is my 10 year marriage anniversary as well ! ha

[Drew Austin @DrewAustin]

Me too, working on something in this area I’m super excited about!

[Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee]

I really believe in analog. I'm a big believer in the size and scale that we're going into sporting events, alternative sporting events, festivals, music, food, collectibles... One of the reasons I'm very bullish on collectibles is like people going to conventions. And I just think we're going to live outside even more than people realize.

[Watcher.Guru @WatcherGuru]

JUST IN: Elon Musk's Tesla $TSLA and SpaceX $SPCX may announce plans to merge before December, Barclays reports.