A physical trading card with a scratch-off QR code just raised more than 108,000 USD on Kickstarter in 24 hours — 2,000% of its funding goal — and it might be the most sensible NFT onboarding idea the industry has produced in years.
By Jordan Lee | September 5, 2026
Kento, a new physical-digital collectible created by the team behind digital art marketplace objkt, blew past its original funding target within a day of launching. By Thursday morning the campaign had raised approximately 108,370 USD from 447 backers, and the first season is now turning 117 original artworks from 40 artists into physical trading cards that double as onchain art ownership.
The Hook: Buy the Pack, Scratch If You Dare
The concept is disarmingly simple. Each blind pack contains five cards spread across seven rarity levels, exactly like the trading card packs collectors have opened for decades. But on the back of every card, hidden beneath a scratch-off layer, sits a QR code that lets the owner claim the corresponding artwork onchain. The clever part: you never have to scratch it. A collector can keep the card sealed and pristine forever, or reveal the code and claim the digital version — the choice between physical and digital ownership belongs to them, not the platform.
By the numbers:
- 108,370 USD raised from 447 backers within the first 24 hours.
- 2,000% of the original Kickstarter goal reached in a single day.
- 117 original works by 40 artists in the debut season.
- Five cards per blind pack, across seven rarity levels.
The Evidence: Reversing the NFT Funnel
Kento effectively flips the usual NFT experience on its head. Traditionally, you discover art online, then wrestle with crypto wallets, marketplaces, and onchain transactions to buy it. Kento starts where everyone is already comfortable: opening a pack of cards. Co-founder Brian Mc Alister said crossing 100,000 USD in under 24 hours is a strong signal that people are ready for a new way to collect art, and explained that the team realized many people connect better with art when there is a physical aspect to it.
The team has pedigree. Objkt launched in 2021 and now hosts more than seven million digital artworks, making it one of the longest-running digital art marketplaces in crypto. The debut collection is themed around Web Nostalgia — an homage to the early internet of personal websites, chatrooms, forums, and pixel graphics — with a lineup that includes Los Angeles artist and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree Amber Vittoria, UK digital artist George Goodwin (known as OMGiDRAWEDit), and Tokyo-born generative artist Kazumasa Teshigawara (qubibi), whose contribution references the era when websites were built from HTML tables.
The Core Conflict: Accessibility Versus Purity
Not everyone in crypto will cheer this. Purists argue that physical cards tethered to scratch-off codes are a gimmick that dilutes what onchain ownership means, and blind-pack mechanics import the gambling-adjacent rush of Pokémon-style rarities into art collecting. Goodwin, for one, is blunt about the appeal: if you had seen how much money he has spent on Pokémon cards in his life, joining Kento would have been an instant yes.
But the accessibility argument is winning the moment. After the 2021 boom and bust, the biggest obstacle to digital art adoption was never the art — it was the unfamiliar machinery around it. Kento removes the wallet from the first purchase entirely. A collector can engage with the physical product and only ever touch a blockchain if and when they choose to scratch. Artists also receive upfront compensation for their work plus a share of pack sales, a structure that pays creators even when secondary speculation never materializes.
Market Implications: What This Means for Collectors
The timing is notable. Weekly NFT sales have just jumped 55.6% to roughly 75.54 million USD, with physical-adjacent platforms like Courtyard consistently topping marketplace rankings. The market is clearly signaling that hybrid physical-digital collectibles are where surviving demand lives. Ethereum, the chain hosting most high-value digital art, trades around 2,476 USD in the latest CoinGecko snapshot, and infrastructure of this kind adds genuine usage to networks rather than pure speculation.
For collectors, the practical appeal is optionality: sealed physical cards may carry premium value in their own right, while scratched cards unlock tradeable onchain art. For everyone else, Kento is a template worth watching — the first mainstream-looking bridge between a 100 billion USD trading card hobby and the onchain art world.
The Verdict
One successful Kickstarter does not revive a market, and blind packs carry their own risks — most cards in any rarity-based system are, by design, worth little. But 2,000% of goal in 24 hours proves something the NFT industry has struggled to accept for five years: people would rather start with a pack of cards than a crypto wallet. Expect more physical-digital hybrids to follow.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
108k in a day off scratch cards on tezos of all chains. the objkt crowd never left, gotta respect it
physical cards that double as onchain ownership is the only nft hybrid that ever clicked for me. kento gets it
five cards a pack across seven rarities… its pokemon packs with extra steps and I refuse to pretend I dont want one
447 backers and 108k in a day with basically zero VC push. objkt quietly proving Tezos still ships things people actually want to own.
The never-scratch-it detail is the whole design. Sealed packs always trade at a premium, they imported pokemon logic onchain without killing the sealed market.
grading companies are gonna have a field day with the never-scratch thing. how do you slab a card where the value depends on an unscratched qr lol
grade it sealed and the qr never gets scanned, problem solved. psa slabs sealed packs for exactly this reason already
the never-scratch thing is the grading paradox. slab it sealed and you prove nothing was redeemed, but the qr scan is the only authenticity check lol
the qr is the authenticity layer and the value layer at the same time. grading a sealed one is schrodinger slab, nobody can verify the code without ruining it
grading paradox is brutal. buy the pack, never scratch, and you own a card whose best feature stays theoretical forever
447 backers also means a tiny print run for season one. if the scratch mechanic lands, sealed boxes are the play here
sealed box math only works if season two actually ships. kickstarter physical plus onchain mint is two separate failure points before any premium shows up
sealed boxes plus only 447 backers is the real combo. tiny print run, sealed premium, the secondary on this could get silly if season two sells out fast
447 backers means tiny print run but also tiny liquidity. exiting a sealed box with five buyers aint the same as exiting pokemon product
447 backers is a feature until you try to exit. sealed boxes will move, single cards go radio silent outside the objkt crowd
exiting is the part nobody prices in. 447 backers means the whole buyer pool for singles is maybe a dozen active wallets, sealed or not
sealed boxes the play assumes objkt caps season two. every tcg in history prints more after a sellout, watch the dilution before you case anything
dilution point is real, pokemon printed base set into oblivion after year one. the qr redemption count is the only scarcity oracle here, hope objkt publishes it
dilution fear is valid but objkt capped season one at 117 works from 40 artists. if they keep seasons small the sealed case math actually works
117 artworks across 40 artists means roughly 3 cards per artist. that scarcity plus sealed pack logic is 90s pokemon roi engineering and i respect it
117 artworks from 40 artists is a tight curated season one. Just hope the seven rarity tiers do not get wrecked by whales buying entire cases day one.
108k from 447 backers averages like 240 dollars each. these are collectors buying multiple packs, basically zero tourist money in that number
2,000 percent of goal in a day from 447 people is the most collector brained funding curve possible. zero tourists, all lifers
40 artists, 117 works, 2k percent of goal in a day. objkt accidentally built the panini pipeline and collectors showed up before the marketing did
447 backers averaging 240ish each, thats not kickstarter tourists. tcg people saw scratch off qr and understood the assignment instantly