William Shatner Releasing Set Of Collectible Digital Trading Cards

In about a month’s time, you’ll be able to be among the first fans to purchase, sell, and trade from William Shatner’s new line of digital trading cards. The cards are emblazoned with images from Shatner’s life, handpicked by the Shat himself, and will initially sell for about $1 per card, with multi-packs available. More than just files on your computer, these digital assets are backed by the WAX Blockchain, meaning there is an entire infrastructure ensuring that your card is the real deal. Along with the card’s image (front and back) these collectibles include ownership history, price history, and more. And, you’ll be able to show off your collection, sell cards, and trade your cards with other fans.

A little something for everyone, guaranteed unique

Whether you’re a completist who’s gotta have em all, a collector looking for that certain card to trade for, or an opportunist looking to make some money, this digital card platform looks to be a lot of fun. Plus, we are insanely curious to learn more about the images that will be on these cards. All we know is that they are curated by William Shatner himself who, in true Shatner fashion, has chosen a number of iconic moments from his life, some of which are quite personal to him. Wax.io, the company behind the initial card offering, told TrekMovie that we can expect to see some Star Trek-related cards, including one with William Shatner hugging Leonard Nimoy—sure to be one of the most sought after cards in the set.

“They’re odd pieces — the detritus of my life, like leaving the dust of a comet behind me.”

— William Shatner in an interview with Cointelegraph Magazine

He’s even picked out his childhood dental X-rays! Shatner told Cointelegraph Magazine how he picked out the images, saying: “Even down to an old joke… I have these dental records, and the joke is, this is something I can get my teeth into. It’s just an X-ray of a tooth. But it’s my tooth!”

While multiple cards will be printed with the same image (and some images rarer than others), you can be sure each individual card is unique. That’s something that drew Shatner to the WAX blockchain.

We’re unique. Each individual is unique. And the older you get… the more people you meet… the more empathy you have for the difficulty of living a good life. I believe that there is a uniqueness to all life — dogs are unique, horses are unique, they are individuals and they need to be appreciated for that. Putting something on a blockchain is forever. We’ve come up with a variety of things that are uniquely me, and it will be up there on WAX.”

All in all, there will be about 90,000 unique cards offered. Here is a sample of the Shat dressed as a Ghostbuster. He’s done everything.

Redeem cards for real-life autographed collectibles

To sweeten the deal, some cards, dubbed “golden collectibles”, will be redeemable for real-life items signed by William Shatner, and one lucky person will be able to redeem a real-life autographed action figure of the actor. These cards will be very limited; WAX.io told TrekMovie that there will be “dozens” of redeemable cards.

What’s the deal with the WAX Blockchain?

Shatner’s cards will be sold through the WAX Blockchain, an infrastructure for trading digital assets, but… what does that even mean, and why should you care? In a nutshell, it means that the cards are guaranteed authentic, and information about the card’s history (it’s metadata) always lives with the card. Think of the blockchain like giant spreadsheet in the sky. This is a sky where users can exchange and buy litecoin, bitcoin, and also cards. Any time a card is sold, purchased, or traded, it gets logged on that spreadsheet. Since the blockchain is public, all transactions can be verified, and fake items cannot be added. Transactions, of course, are anonymized, meaning your privacy is guaranteed along with the veracity of your purchase.

Data for William Shatner cards on the blockchain includes:

• Detailed product specifications for each card, including the date it was created, its rarity, images of the card, proof of its authenticity and more. With this information, collectors know exactly which cards they are trading – no guesswork, no need to trust or verify other traders.
• Comprehensive ownership records that show who traded the card and when. Since everyone can see its full ownership history, no one can ever fake ownership of a card.
• Complete trade and sale history, including how much money was paid for the cards and when. No one can ever fake previous sale prices or dates.

You don’t need to worry about any of this in order to participate. You simply sign up for an account and purchase cards with your credit card. Over $100 million worth of digital items have been traded over the WAX Blockchain, with other card sets by companies like Topps proving extremely popular.

Tell me more!

We don’t yet know the exact release date of William Shatner’s card set, but WAX.io told TrekMovie that they should debut by the end of July. To learn more and sign-up to get notified the second the cards go live, check out shatner.wax.io.

Keep up to date with all the new Star Trek merchandise here at TrekMovie.