Courtyard: A Web3 collectibles marketplace supported by Brink, specializing in tokenizing physical collectible items.
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Courtyard: A Web3 collectibles marketplace supported by Brink, specializing in tokenizing physical collectible items.
Courtyard is more like a third-party organization that authenticates collectibles through professional rating agencies and uses NFTs to digitize physical collectibles.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy aya, TechFlow
On November 3, the Web3 collectibles marketplace Courtyard announced a $7 million investment from institutions including YC and OpenSea.
Next, let's take a closer look at how Courtyard integrates with Web3 technology.
Project Overview
Courtyard operates similarly to traditional collectibles platforms like Poizon.
Users can sell their physical collectibles on the platform or store tangible items—such as trading cards, sneakers, and watches—in secure vaults.
Moreover, each collectible is authenticated by experts, insured, and stored in vaults provided by Brink, Courtyard’s partner.
The key difference is that after verifying authenticity, Courtyard creates a 3D model of each physical item and mints a corresponding Connected Collectible—a unique type of NFT specific to the platform.
Users can trade Connected Collectibles on any NFT marketplace and earn 1% of the sale price each time their NFT is resold, until the NFT is burned to redeem the physical asset.
NFT holders may burn their tokens at any time to reclaim the physical item, with global delivery handled via Brink’s network of warehouses.
To test the functionality of Connected Collectibles, Courtyard purchased 1,000 PSA-graded Pokémon cards in March this year, minted them as NFTs, and introduced a unique "pack-opening mechanism" through smart contracts.
Team Background and Funding
This round of $7 million was led by NEA, with participation from YC, OpenSea, Garyvee, Brinks, Cherry Ventures, and other firms.
Founder Nicolas le Jeune first encountered NFTs while working at YouTube. Later, he joined YC, where he met co-founder Paulin Andurand.
They both believed NFTs would revolutionize the collectibles market, and began their project before the broader crypto market plunged into a harsh bear winter, eventually securing admission into the YC accelerator program.
Project Analysis
Courtyard functions more like a third-party institution, authenticating collectibles through professional grading services and using NFTs to digitize physical assets.
Digital collectibles lower transaction barriers in the market and significantly improve user experience.
Of course, one of the biggest advantages is reducing wear and tear on rare collectibles like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card—since trading on-chain causes no physical damage to the original item.
Website: https://courtyard.io/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Courtyard_NFT
Official Site: https://courtyard.io/
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