Concerns Over Topps MLB NFT Distribution

Background

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that Topps launched thier first MLB NFT project on the WAX blockchain on 4/20/21.

The rollout itself was about what you’d expect for a high-demand product launch. As someone who works in infrastructure and operations, I sympathize with launch-day issues. These issues aren’t the focus of this post, though…

Pre-Minting

Before going further, I want to quickly discuss pre-minting. Pre-minting is the process of creating assets before they are distributed. In this context, we’re usually talking about cards and packs — they are simply created ahead-of-time instead of on-demand.

It’s important to note that pre-minting itself does *not* mean those cards are pre-assigned to packs. A pack is simply another NFT and doesn’t actually “contain” cards — those are given to you when you open (burn) it.

Confirmation from Marty (WAX) that cards are not pre-assigned to packs.

The Problem

I was lucky enough to grab some premium packs before they sold out. After I finished work for the day, I spent some time with family before returning to the computer later that…