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Courtyard’s Physical-to-Digital Innovation 🎴

Courtyard might be one of the most slept-on projects in the space.

In a world where critics still feel crypto and blockchain are too speculative and don’t solve real-world problems, this example is a perfect rebuttal.

Let’s quickly touch on what Courtyard is, first and foremost, before getting into why I think it’s exciting.

The model is simple and brilliant, adding liquidity, verification and safety to a historically illiquid market, marred by fraud and slowed by grading and verification.

Real world assets are a big trend in the crypto space — and sports collectibles are no different. Whether it’s dollars, bonds, real estate or collectibles — the efficiency and trustless nature of the the blockchain can reduce friction for what are usually slow and crude processes.

Courtyard’s model also means you as the collector do not need to hold the assets physically yourself, as the NFT acts as a receipt of ownership. This also reduces the need for peer-to-peer shipping, which is an additional friction point that may also damage the physical goods in the process. And, the exchange of ownership is instantaneous on the blockchain. That sounds pretty good to me.

It’s faster, cheaper, safer, trustless, verifiable and has better portability — it’s no surprise that the platform is doing well. They also give a 1% revenue share every time your vaulted card is sold and resold, giving users an additional incentive to send their cards in for vaulting.

Sports memorabilia in the U.S. alone was valued at $27bn+ in 2023 by Statista, forecasting growth to $32bn+ by 2031.

One additional benefit of Courtyard is that, like eBay, they do not require any licensing deals — something that has halted the speed and innovation of Web3 sports businesses in the past due to them being such a huge cost sink.

Data and Growth 📈

The numbers over the last 12 months are staggering.

In January 2024, Courtyard saw monthly sales volumes of ~$50,000.

That grew to ~$10.5m 12 months later, in December 2024.

So far in January (27th Jan 2025) — they have already surpassed that with almost $12m in monthly sales volume.

Now it’s unclear if this is primary and secondary market sales combined (that is my presumption) — Courtyard’s 6% seller fee still sees them driving huge revenues monthly.

The unique buyers and sellers in the market have also risen hugely in 2024.

Unique sellers have grown from 163 to 569 monthly in 2024, whilst unique buyers have increased from 302 to 5,648 in the same period.

The explosive growth in buyers and steadier growth in sellers shows the demand for this market, and how well Courtyard have done to keep liquidity high through a more varied buyer base. It also shows the ARPU (average revenue per user) for Courtyard, like many other collectible-based businesses, is very high. Smaller user base, but higher revenue per user. If scaled further, this becomes a really powerful business model driving a lot of revenue.

The transactions on the platforms have also exploded going from 813 in Jan 2024 to 161,998 by the end of the year.

That’s staggering, and it is why I’m so surprised there is not more being made of Courtyard’s success.

Analysis & Concluding Thoughts 🧠

This is one of the best uses of blockchain I’ve seen in the market.

It shows that when you create an additive experience that reduces friction in a market where there has not been any innovation since the launch of eBay more than 20 years ago — it makes sense that Courtyard has seen explosive growth.

It’s a perfect storm for Courtyard:

This backdrop has given them the perfect platform to grow and scale their business over the last 12 months, and without the need for expensive licensing fees.

It’s true innovation using blockchain to make something better. Because right now few crypto businesses are not solely focused on speculation, that drive revenue and have a growing user base — making Courtyard one of the unique few.

We need more examples like Courtyard, and 2025 is sure to bring them.

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