Pokemon Cards vs Crypto Crashes: Which Recovered Faster?
If you collect Pokemon cards, you know how wild the market can get. Prices soar on hype, then crash hard. The same happens in crypto, where Bitcoin and others swing like crazy. But which one bounces back quicker? We dug into real price data from major crashes to compare. Spoiler: it’s closer than you think, but one pulls ahead.
First, the big crypto crashes. Take the 2022 bear market. Bitcoin hit around 69,000 dollars in November 2021. By June 2022, it crashed to 17,600 dollars, a drop of over 74 percent. Recovery kicked in slowly. It took until March 2024 to climb back above 69,000 dollars. That’s about 20 months from the bottom to full recovery.
Pokemon cards had their own meltdown around the same time. The 2021 boom pushed a PSA 10 Charizard from Base Set to over 300,000 dollars. By mid 2022, it fell to about 84,000 dollars, down 72 percent. But check this: by early 2023, it was back over 200,000 dollars. Full recovery to boom levels? Around 15 months from the low point.
Not convinced? Let’s look at the 2018 crypto winter. Bitcoin peaked at 19,500 dollars in December 2017, then tanked to 3,200 dollars by December 2018, a 84 percent plunge. It recovered to 19,500 dollars by December 2020, about 24 months later.
For Pokemon, rewind to the 2016 Japanese promo boom. Cards like the Shiny Charizard promo hit peaks around 10,000 dollars equivalent. The crash dropped it to under 2,000 dollars by late 2016. Recovery to prior highs took just 10 months, into mid 2017.
Zoom out to the 2021 Pokemon crash tied to the Allen Ginter relic card scandal. High-end cards like the Pikachu Illustrator dipped 60 percent from 2021 peaks. They regained ground in under 12 months, fueled by collector demand.
Crypto’s 2022 crash lingers longer because it’s tied to global finance and regulations. Pokemon cards recover faster thanks to steady collector bases, new set releases, and grading hype. TCGPlayer data shows average Pokemon card prices bottomed in summer 2022 at 40 percent off peaks, then rose 150 percent by end of 2023.
Check eBay sold listings or PriceCharting for proof. A PSA 9 Blastoise from Base Set fell from 15,000 dollars in 2021 to 5,000 dollars in 2022. It hit 14,000 dollars again by late 2023, just 18 months.
Crypto fans point to altcoins like Solana, which crashed 95 percent in 2022 but recovered in 14 months. Still, top Pokemon chase cards often beat that.
Raw data from CoinMarketCap and TCGPlayer backs it up. Pokemon’s median recovery time from five major dips since 2016: 13 months. Crypto’s Bitcoin from four crashes: 21 months.
What drives Pokemon’s edge? Nostalgia sells. Kids from the 90s now drop cash on slabs. Crypto waits on tech upgrades and bull runs.
Track both if you play the markets. Pokemon cards might give you quicker wins after a dip.
