“I went from checking Coinbase first thing to…”

This newsletter was crafted by us and sponsored by our friends at Alt.

Last month a Lebron James autographed rookie basketball card became the most expensive basketball card ever sold at $5.2 million. Sports fans may be experimenting with digital sports moments, but there’s no doubt that physical cards remain the OG.

In March we wrote about the launch of Alt and its $31M Series A led by Seven Seven Six plus notable investors including Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures. Alt is a platform that lets you invest in sports cards just like stocks. The launch drummed up interest from newbies to seasoned traders who get by on makeshift tracking tools.

"After seeing a Wayne Gretzky rookie card go for $1.3M, this is something I could get into. Great product."- Glen Creaser

"I went from checking Coinbase first thing in the morning to checking Alt. Never going back to excel ;-)" - Greg Rosen

Alt differentiates the buying process from its competitors in a couple of key ways. Every asset that you see for sale on Alt has already been authenticated and is sitting in Alt's bank-grade Vault. A purchase enables instant transfer of ownership and your Portfolio on Alt is updated to show the current market value of your assets, powered by Alt’s proprietary data model.

“Alt makes this possible with Alt Value which allows you to understand the value of your cards and track them over time. Their exchange makes it easy to find investment-grade assets and transact securely, with some of the lowest fees for sellers in the market.” - Alexis Ohanian

Those selling fees are a 1.5% transaction fee with no extra processing costs.

The team at Alt told us they’re currently building lending, grading services, escrow, and more — i.e. giving your sports cards the kind of treatment you’d expect when investing in a house.

You don’t actually have to be a sports fan to care about Alt, which is short for alternative investments. In full, the company is an exchange to trade alts — they’re just starting with sports cards. The model can apply to many assets: watches, sneakers, art, and more.

By taking a lot of concern out of alt trading — sketchy transactions, safe storage, lack of clarity on the valuation — Alt can attract investors of all types, from hobbyists to seasoned investors who want to diversify their portfolios.

What does the future of no-code look like?

We talked to Ben Tossell, founder of Makerpad, after the announcement of the company's acquisition by Zapier. Read about his pivot while forming Makerpad and his thoughts on community and no-code's future.