TechCrunch Newsletters - Extra Crunch Tuesday: The StockX EC-1

Welcome to Extra Crunch Tuesday

Have you ever bought a pig in a poke?

It’s a saying from medieval times: A farmer traveling on an unfamiliar road agrees to buy a baby pig squirming in a bag from a passing stranger. Unfortunately, when the farmer gets back to their hut and opens the sack, there’s a kitten inside.

Online marketplace StockX has addressed the inherent risk involved in buying online with a rigorous product verification and authentication process.

To date, its users have conducted more than 10 million transactions for sneakers, handbags, streetwear, watches and other high-end items that are often produced in limited quantities.

StockX’s prices are regulated and all transactional data is transparent, factors that have combined to help the platform reach a $2.8 billion valuation.

In a four-part series that dropped yesterday, Extra Crunch analyzes this “foundational new category of market” that began as a hobbyist’s sneaker price chart.

• Part 1: How StockX became the stock market of hype
• Part 2: Authentication and StockX’s global arms race against fraudsters
• Part 3: Where StockX fits in the business of sneakers
• Part 4: The consequences of scaling up sneaker culture

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch this week!

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

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