Inside The National 2025: Cardboard Dreams, Silicon Pipes, and Six-Figure Deals

WHAT’S INSIDE

• Tech News: Fed Holds, Tariff 50% copper, BRICS, Debt, ChatGPT Privacy, HHS

• Company Watch: Anthropic, n8n, Groq, Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta Earnings

• Feature: Inside The National 2025: Cardboard Dreams & Six-Figure Deals

• Buzzy Tools: Latest Buzzy tech, AI and financial tools

• Deep Tech: The latest in deep tech, biotech, futurism and more

• Space Tech: Latest news in the space race and aerospace tech

• Crypto: Blockchain and crypto policy and startups or protocols to watch

TECH IN THE NEWS

Fed Holds Steady — The Federal Reserve maintained interest rates at 4.25%-4.5% in a 9-2 vote, resisting President Trump's push for cuts. With a cautious economic outlook, market expectations for a September rate cut have decreased.

Trump’s Tariff Tack — President Trump announced new tariffs, including 50% on copper pipes and Brazilian goods, and 25% on Indian goods and other BRICS nations. ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline, affecting U.S. copper prices.

Debt Dilemma — The U.S. national debt nears $30T as the Trump administration shifts borrowing strategies, moving away from the Treasury Dept's cautious approach to embrace market timing.

ChatGPT Privacy Alert — OpenAI warns users that public ChatGPT queries can be indexed by search engines, potentially exposing personal information. While sharing requires user action, chats remain private unless shared.

Tech Titans Tackle Health — The Trump admin partnered with Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Anthropic, and Apple to launch a digital health ecosystem, focused on AI-assisted health management tools by early 2026.

OpenAI's Nordic Expansion — OpenAI launches Stargate Norway, its first European AI data center, delivering 230MW capacity and 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by 2026 in partnership with Nscale and Aker.

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Inside The National 2025: Cardboard Dreams, Silicon Pipes, and Six-Figure Deals

By The Tech Buzz Team — reporting from Rosemont, IL (July 30–Aug 3, 2025)

“Wait, People Pay How Much for Paper?”

Most of us at Tech Buzz spend our days dissecting AI chips, crypto rails, and orbital power grids—not rifling through shoeboxes of cardboard. So when we walked into the 45th National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) expecting a cozy nostalgia fest, we were floored. 

A sneaker worth more than a beachfront condo. 

The showpiece isn’t a holographic Charizard or a comic-book rarity — it’s a glass case holding one of Michael Jordan’s championship‑clinching shoes, a pair from 1998 that fetched $2.24 million at auction. Behind it glistens the Jordan–Kobe Dual Logoman card, a 1‑of‑1 grail that Heritage estimates at $6 million, while across the aisle sits Shohei Ohtani’s Dynasty logoman card, benchmarked by a $1.067 million sale. Nearby, two 1‑of‑1 Caitlin Clark rookie patches (one of which sold for $660 000. Willie Mays’ 1954 World Series ring—valued at $500 000–$1 million remind visitors that the hobby’s top tier now trades at Ferrari prices.

The National 2025 is a carnival where nostalgia meets nine‑digit asset class. The Donald E. Stephens Convention Center is buzzing with teenagers negotiating five‑figure trades under TikTok ring lights, but the real spectacle lies in the museum‑like displays of big‑ticket memorabilia. Jordan’s Finals‑worn sneakers (past sales of his six‑pair “Dynasty Collection” hit $8 million are back in Chicago as a reminder that game‑used footwear can eclipse most rookie cards. Goldin’s booth showcases the Jordan‑Bryant Dual Logoman card and both Caitlin Clark one‑of‑ones. Over at Fanatics, Shohei Ohtani’s logoman patch draws gawkers, while a bank‑vault‑like case holds Mays’ championship hardware. If your first thought walking in is “Wait, people pay how much for paper and leather?” you’re in good company—so were we, until the numbers forced us to recalibrate.

Cardboard 101: How a 2¼ʺ × 3¼ʺ Rectangle Becomes an Asset

The main hall spanned nine football fields, buzzed with 100k+ attendees, and showcased teenagers negotiating five-figure trades while TikTok ring lights lit their faces. By lunch we’d grasped two truths:

1. Sports cards are a bona-fide nine-digit market—analysts peg the global hobby at ≈ $21 billion today with an 8-9 % CAGR through 2034.

2. The industry’s plumbing now mirrors the tech stacks we cover daily: AI scanners, real-time data dashboards, vault custody, and live-commerce rails.

What follows is our crash-course narrative—equal parts field notes, industry map, and profit playbook.

Takeaway: every handoff taxes the card — exactly why VCs and Fortune 500s now jostle for slots in the value chain.

Scale & Spectacle: The Hobby’s CES

The NSCC isn’t a church-basement swap meet; it’s the World Cup of cardboard. Dealer tables (623 of them) form a maze of glass cases holding everything from $1 nickel boxes to a $12.6 million Mickey Mantle (on display courtesy of Goldin Auctions). Autograph lines curl around mezzanines; strollers double as mobile vaults stuffed with Pelican cases.

At night, the show migrates to a 50k sq ft eBay-sponsored Trade Lounge. What began years ago as hallway bartering is now a branded after-hours carnival featuring QR-coded “Easter egg” slabs, TikTok Shop demos, and PSA-monogrammed lanyards. Every handshake trade is also a potential online listing — platforms want both moments.

Trust Layer: From PSA Slabs to Witnessed Ink

• PSA (founded 1991) processes two-plus million cards a year and still commands ~80 % share. Their brand equity is so deep that lines for on-site grading rival gamer queues at Comic-Con.
  

• James Spence Authentication (JSA) brought its Witnessed Protection Program—certifying autographs on the spot with serialized stickers tied to a 700 k-exemplar database. In a market where a fake Mantle auto can evaporate a 401(k), provenance sells.
  

• Graded Grails: PSA’s newest product teams with Atlanta super-store CardsHQ to sell $299 mystery boxes guaranteed to include only PSA-graded cards, chase hits to $1.8 k. The pilot batch sold out opening day, proof that PSA is expanding from verifier to curator.

Why it matters: grading and authentication aren’t just services—they’re tollbooths that every serious transaction must pass.

Live-Commerce Arena: Breaking as Reality TV

Pack ripping has morphed into game-show theater. The National’s Case Break Pavilion hosts 200+ breakers streaming ~7,000 hours over six days. One breaker slices a $14 k case of 2024 Flawless; a one-of-one Caitlin Clark patch erupts into cheers audible across the hall. Platforms battle for eyeballs:

• Whatnot sponsors VIP lounges and athlete cameos, leaning into its 18–34-year-old core

• eBay Live builds a glass-wall studio, blending scavenger hunts with celeb rip sessions

• Fanatics Live teases beta drops tied to exclusive athlete signings—a vertical play that could make Fanatics the Apple of cardboard.

Breakers operate on thin margins but high velocity; the best streamers turn sealed inventory 3–4× faster than brick-and-mortar shops.

AI & Data: Silicon Picks and Shovels

Ludex: snap a card, get ID + eBay comp in < 3 s. The app boasts “millions of scans” and powers a $25/mo pro tier that functions like Bloomberg for collectors.

Heystack One: a safe-touch scanner that captures pro photos, auto-detects the card, and—via partnership with DC Sports 87—lists it on eBay within hours. Customers can take payouts as break credit, keeping capital cycling inside the hobby.

Market Movers tracks 3.5M individual card SKUs, indexing sports, TCGs, and sealed wax. Users set price alerts, backtest ROI, and even swap “model portfolios” with friends.

Card Ladder CL50—PSA’s in-house index of 50 blue-chip cards—now flashes on PSA dashboards like the S&P 500 for cardboard.

Macro insight: collectors now expect the same data transparency that Robinhood offers retail investors; whoever owns the cleanest dataset owns mindshare.

Corporate Chess: eBay × Goldin, Fanatics Everywhere

May 2024: eBay buys Goldin Auctions while selling its vault business to Collectors (PSA’s parent). The pitch: grade with PSA, store in the vault, list on eBay—no shipping, one fee stack. At this National, Goldin’s record Mantle anchors eBay’s booth, and PSA reps demo “slab-to-list” flows.

Fanatics Collectibles—already Topps’ parent and holder of MLB/NBA/NFL licenses—dominates floor space. Its “Hobby Combine” challenges fans to pack-opening speed drills; staff hint that future Topps Chrome launches will stream live with all-star athletes. Fanatics’ endgame looks Apple-esque: control print, distribution, live selling, and maybe even grading.

Profit Pockets: Five Plays We Like

From Hobby to Asset Class — And Back Again

We came in wide-eyed rookies. We leave with Pelican cases (yes, plural) and a new respect for community-first commerce. Sports cards marry nostalgia with cutting-edge tools: graders secure trust, breakers manufacture hype, AI shortens friction, and billion-dollar platforms handle distribution.

The golden rule: keep the fun, kill the friction. Products that streamline discovery, pricing, or liquidity—without erasing the thrill of the chase—stand to win. And if NSCC 2025 is any indicator, next year’s National will be even bigger. We’ll be there—mic in one hand, maybe a fresh pack of ’89 Upper Deck in the other—ready to rip.

COMPANIES TO WATCH

[OpenDeal] Anthropic — Nearing a $3B-$5B funding round, potentially boosting its valuation from $61.5B to $170B. Iconiq Capital leads, with interest from Qatar Investment Authority and GIC.

[OpenDeal] n8n — The German software start-up specializing in workflow automation is set to raise over $100M at a valuation exceeding $1.5B. With $40M ARR, expanding rapidly in a competitive landscape.

[OpenDeal] Groq — The AI chip startup is poised to raise $600M at a $6B valuation, doubling from last year's $2.8B. With investments led by Disruptive and backing from BlackRock and Cisco, Groq partners with Bell Canada and Meta for AI projects.

Microsoft — Plans to spend a record $30B this fiscal quarter, driven by strong Azure sales and a 39% revenue boost. Azure's ARR now exceeds $75B. Aims to outpace rivals in AI capital spending amid growing demand.

Apple — Apple is increasing its AI investments, with CEO Tim Cook highlighting its importance across devices. Reallocating resources, open to mergers. Features to include translation, workout buddy.

OpenAI — Achieved $12B in ARR, 2xing in 7mths. With 700M WAU for ChatGPT,projects $8B cash burn for 2025. Seeking more funding from Sequoia, Tiger Global, and SoftBank. Plans to launch Stargate Norway, its first EU AI data center.

Palo Alto Networks — The cybersecurity giant plans to acquire CyberArk for $25B, marking its largest acquisition and entry into the identity security sector.

Figma — The design platform's IPO on the NYSE surged, hitting a $45B market cap, with shares closing at $115.50 from an initial $33. This success follows Figma's failed $20B acquisition by Adobe in 2023.

SignalPulse — Read the Top signals, Startups + Deals From Last Week

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BUZZY TOOLS

Buzzy Tech Tools To Watch & Use

OpenAI — ChatGPT's new study mode has step-by-step guidance and quizzes.

Photoshop — Enhancements streamline tasks with Harmonize, Generative Upscale.

xAI — Enhances Grok with Valentin + Imagine features for real-time image & video.

Shortcut — AI agent for Excel surpasses McKinsey analysts in financial modeling.

Fable — Showrunner AI lets users create full TV scenes with prompts.

Manus — Wide Research feature enables AI agent collaboration for large data tasks.

Proton — New o-s authenticator app for secure, offline, end-to-end encrypted 2FA.

Action Agent — AI tool autonomously executes complex tasks with sandbox security.

BUZZY TECH

The Latest Deep Technology & Trends To Watch

Meta's Superintelligence — Zuck AGI prediction; No Smart glasses will disadvantage, merging physical, digital worlds, Allows AI assistants in interviews.

Google Age Estimation — AI filters content for minors, aligning with legislation.

Stanford Virtual Scientist — AI lab designs biomedical discoveries, promises new COVID-19 vax strategy.

Fusion Gold — Startup aims generate gold via nuclear fusion reactions.

Hadal Chemosynthesis — Deep-sea life in hydrogen sulfide, disrupts life model.

CRYPTO WATCH

White House Crypto Report — A new 160-page policy report suggests regulations for stablecoins and digital asset markets. Key recommendations include stablecoin laws, expanded CFTC authority, full-reserve backing for USD-pegged stablecoins.

Strategy's Bitcoin Bet — Michael Saylor's Strategy completed the largest IPO in the US this year, raising $2.5 billion. The funds were invested in 21,021 Bitcoin after upsizing the preferred stock sale from $500 million due to heightened demand.

Ripple's Challenges — Ripple's CTO cites regulatory hurdles and institutional bias for slow XRP adoption and XRPL DEX usage. Despite banking ties, YouTuber Andrei Jikh questions on-chain activity and XRP volatility.

Kraken's IPO Prep — Kraken is raising $500M at a $15B valuation, targeting an IPO in 2026. Following legal resolutions with the SEC, the crypto exchange reported $472M in Q1 2025 revenue, showing a 19% increase.

Samourai Scandal — Founders admitted to operating an unlicensed money-transmission business, laundering over $100M. They face up to five years in prison and agreed to a $237M forfeiture, with $6.4M due before November sentencing.

SPACE_RACE

—SpaceX Starship 38_Pre-flight proof testing begins at Starbase.

—Megaflash Lightning Record_515-mile flash sets longest lightning bolt record

—Venus Peaks_as bright morning star near Jupiter in Orion on August 1.

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