Coinbase Expands Out of Crypto and Into Pokemon Packs

Users will open packs in the app and keep or ship the real card they pull. Coinbase has not published prices or odds, while New York tests whether paid random prizes count as gambling.

Coinbase Readies Pokémon Pack Openings Backed by Physical Cards

Francis Gable

29/09/26 · 2 minSeptember 29, 2026 · 2 min read

Coinbase said on Sept. 28 that it will soon let users open Pokémon card packs on their phones, with every digital pull backed by a real card they can store or have shipped.

The feature brings paid, random pack openings into a crypto exchange app. It arrives as New York's attorney general argues in court that paying for a random prize with resale value is illegal gambling, and the company she is suing points to card packs in its defense.

Coinbase Leaves Prices and Odds Unstated

The teaser on X promised: "Rip packs on your phone. Every pull backed by a real, physical card. Vault it or ship it." It gave no launch date. The post had passed 3.8 million views by Sept. 29.

Coinbase has not said what packs will cost, what the odds are or whether The Pokémon Company is involved, according to multiple reports.

Courtyard already sells digital packs that reveal vaulted physical cards, Pokémon among them. In August, FairGambling reported that Underdog was preparing random card packs whose terms describe disclosed odds and an automatic sell-back after seven days.

Card Packs Sit at the Center of a Gambling Case

Attorney General Letitia James sued Valve on Feb. 25, alleging that paid loot boxes in Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 are illegal gambling. A loot box is a paid mystery container with a random prize that, the suit says, can be turned into cash.

Valve denies the claim. In a public statement, it said popular products used the same way "include baseball cards, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu."

Valve also wrote that the attorney general appears to treat digital mystery boxes as different from physical card packs. It says New York wants to stop players from reselling the items they win.

Coinbase's packs are opened on a screen, but the prize is a physical card. Until Coinbase publishes its prices, odds and terms, buyers cannot tell whether a pulled card can be sold back for cash, the kind of resale at issue in the Valve case.

Treat gambling as entertainment you pay for. 18+, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, help exists at BeGambleAware and GamCare.