Redemption Rights vs Physical Ownership — What the Token Actually Gives You
Owning a token for a vaulted card and owning the card are not the same thing — and the distance between them is the whole game. This explainer separates the two rights collectors routinely conflate: what the token is and what you can demand from the vault.
Two rights, not one
| Right | What it means | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Token ownership | You hold the on-chain record — tradable instantly, publicly proven | The blockchain |
| Redemption right | The platform will ship you the physical item on request — if its docs promise that | The platform’s terms |
A token without a redemption right is a receipt for a picture. A redemption right without a named vault, a process, and a fee schedule is a marketing sentence. Check both independently.
What “redeem” really does
On the documented vault platforms, redemption is a one-way door:
- Courtyard — redemption requires identity verification (KYC), burns the token permanently, and ships the physical slab at-cost via FedEx from a Delaware vault. Trade the token or hold the card — not both.
- Phygitals — “claiming” retires the digital token and ships the physical card from its US vault partners; notably, its documentation states the collector retains legal title to the item throughout — the token is a title-record, not a licence.
The mechanism matters more than the promise: burn-on-redeem (token destroyed) vs claim-and-retire (token delisted) both end your on-chain position, but the legal-title question — who owns the item while it’s vaulted — is separate and is what actually protects you if the platform fails.
The title question (the one that decides what happens on shutdown)
If the platform’s documentation says title passed to you at purchase, the vaulted item is your property sitting in their warehouse — you have a real claim even if the company dies. If title stays with the platform until redemption, you’re an unsecured creditor holding a promise. This distinction — not the token, not the vault’s brand — is what decides the outcome in a platform shutdown.
Before you buy a vaulted token
- [ ] Redemption process documented: cost, KYC, shipping scope, timeframe — and whether it reaches Australia at a sane price
- [ ] Legal title: platform docs state you own the vaulted item
- [ ] Vault named: operator and location identified, not just “secure facility”
- [ ] Burn mechanics clear: you know the token dies on redemption
- [ ] If any box can’t be checked from official docs — that’s unverified, and our registry records it as such
Bottom line: the token proves you hold a record; the redemption terms prove you can convert it into the item; the title terms prove the item was ever yours. Verify all three — they fail independently. Registry profiles carry redemption and custody_model fields exactly so you don’t have to dig this out of terms-of-service yourself: the registry.