How a GameStop Shopper Won $115K in Bitcoin From a $13 Pack of Cards

In brief

A collector recently walked away with 1 BTC from a $13 pack of cards purchased from GameStop.
The card came in via card manufacturer Cardsmiths’ Currency Series, which contains cards redeemable for real cryptocurrency.
The pull marks at least the third overall 1 BTC find in the last year.

GameStop doesn’t sell Bitcoin (though it does hold BTC)—but one patron recently scored a full Bitcoin, valued at nearly $115,000 today, after opening a pack of cards purchased at the retailer.

Nestled in a pack of Cardsmith’s Currency trading cards, an Arizona-based collector recently unveiled a 1 BTC card, which comes with a redemption code that entitles the holder to claim a full Bitcoin. The top cryptocurrency is currently trading just under $115,000, as of this writing.

“I didn’t think it was a serious possibility,” the anonymous collector told card manufacturer Cardsmiths.

Cardsmiths’ Currency series cards offer redemption cards for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dogecoin–with the biggest redemption offerings being for 1 BTC or 1 ETH.

Collectors can purchase the packs of currency-themed cards for as low as $13.25 apiece (based on the size of the pack bundle), with 1:192 odds of pulling a crypto redemption—resulting in more than an 865,000% gain based on today’s Bitcoin price.

The recent pull marks at least the third full Bitcoin redemption in the last year via Cardsmiths, with other lucky collectors pulling full Bitcoin cards from $33 and $50 packs, respectively.

Though entitled to the full Bitcoin, the most recent collector said they are only keeping 0.5 BTC of it thanks to a pledge they made on Reddit prior to pulling the card.

“First, let me introduce myself: I’m the crazy Ape who made a promise a while back that some of you may vaguely remember,” the Reddit user named decoparts posted to the Currencytradingcards subreddit. “To recap: I was documenting my pulls from a bunch of S4 Currency cards I had saved up, and I pledged that I would give half of the after-tax value to a charity, out of whatever crypto I found.”

“Boy, was I in for a lesson on backing up my promises and putting my money where my mouth is,” they added.

Though Cardsmiths’ Series 4 Currency cards are all sold out online, its most recent SPACE Series holds unredeemed full Bitcoin cards, with packs that sell for as little as $13.75 via its online store.

The odds of walking away with crypto remain long though, with only 1 of every 192 packs expected to provide a crypto redemption card—the same odds the recent lucky collector faced.

A representative for Cardsmiths did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.