After years behind the scenes building web3 brands, Jonah Kitay and his co-founders were ready to launch something of their own. The result is DYLI: a platform that lets you buy, sell, grade, and manage physical collectibles like cards, packs, and more, without ever leaving your browser. It’s part marketplace, part loyalty system. It all runs onchain, even if most users won’t notice. And that’s kind of the point.

In our conversation with Jonah, we dig into how DYLI is bridging the gap between web2 ease and web3 rails, why today’s collectors expect gamified, streamer-friendly experiences, and what it takes to build a platform that serves the Pokémon diehard, the IRL reseller, and the casually collector all at once.

OpenSea: I’d love to dive in and learn more about you and DYLI. 

Jonah Kitay: I’m Jonah, one of the co-founders at DYLI. I launched it with two other folks. A bit about me: I’ve been building blockchain solutions since 2021. One of my co-founders, Alex [Needelman], and I ran an agency until this past year, when we pivoted to DYLI. The main reason was that we wanted to build something for ourselves instead of for other people.

We spent four years building cool things with amazing teams, probably most notably as the web3 development arm supporting Goblintown and Truth Labs. Those were incredible years, but we wanted to shift our efforts toward a product we believed in. Something that could grow well beyond us, solve a real problem, and create an experience people actually want, beyond just a niche of tech-forward users.

Outside of that, I’ve got a couple of dogs, a beautiful wife, and a nice house in North Carolina.

OpenSea: I love that. So you touched on this a bit—the desire to build something for yourself. But what was the gap in the market? What made you think this was the moment to build DYLI?

Jonah Kitay: There were a few things. We were building lots of different products for all sorts of teams and started noticing common challenges, especially for small IPs, indie game devs, and mission-driven groups. They’re often too strapped for time and resources to think about things like merchandise, collectibles, or broader monetization.

So we thought: maybe we can fill that gap. Help people monetize in ways that aren’t part of their core focus. That was the initial idea behind DYLI. It’s since grown into something bigger. Your home for collecting.

Merch and brand creativity are great, but at its core, collecting is deeply human. Whether it’s stamps, Pokémon cards, or something else, collecting has always been part of our culture. And in recent years, that desire hasn’t changed; it’s just gone digital. Whether it's Twitch creators or new kinds of fandom, people are still collecting; they just expect different tools.

DYLI allows creators to interact more seamlessly with their communities and collectors. And it allows collectors and resellers to manage, buy, sell, and trade in one place, using blockchain not to force a change in behavior, but to enhance what they’re already doing.

OpenSea: That makes sense. So why do you think physical goods are such an untapped opportunity for creators?

Jonah Kitay: Physical goods have always been there, but e-commerce hasn’t evolved much in a decade. The only real innovation is social shopping, like TikTok Shop. If you want to buy something hard to get, you still go to eBay, with the same UI from 10 years ago.

That’s wild, considering how much the world has changed. Shopping is core to human behavior. We should be offering better tools, more rewarding and nuanced experiences, especially for collectors and hobbyists.

If you’re maintaining a collection, you care about condition, provenance, and fluidity in how you manage it. As third spaces disappear, digital spaces need to step up. We're not trying to replace in-person experiences, but we do want to give people options that feel meaningful and intuitive.

OpenSea: That makes sense. Can you walk me through how DYLI actually works, for both sellers and collectors?

Jonah Kitay: Sure. It really depends on whether you're a seller or a collector. Let’s use a Pokémon fan as an example. You shop the way you already do—buy packs, single cards, sealed products—either from our marketplace or digital-only formats like Dabble. Dabble is a random outcome format: you always get something, but the value might vary.

Then you have options. You can have items mailed to you, or choose to have them opened live on stream. If we rip them on stream, we digitize the cards so you can manage them online. You can list them for sale, or even submit them for grading right from the site. Once graded, we digitize the graded version.

We've built an experience that keeps your hobby fun and fluid, whether you're buying, selling, trading, or maintaining mint condition.

OpenSea: So why did it feel critical to build this using blockchain?

Jonah Kitay: You could technically build this without blockchain, but you'd lose a lot of value. Everything on DYLI is onchain, you just don’t feel it. For example, random sales are verifiably fair. If someone accuses us of rigging a draw, we can show them exactly how it worked.

Ownership is also clearer, more secure, and portable. That’s huge for peer-to-peer markets. There are no chargebacks. And once you own something on DYLI, it’s not locked into DYLI. You can use it elsewhere: take a loan on it, raffle it off, or list it on other marketplaces.

Blockchain unlocks optionality that traditional systems can’t. And as adoption grows, the network of apps that support these assets will grow too.

OpenSea: So, how do you see this affecting the broader future of commerce and ownership?

Jonah Kitay: I think it’ll make things simpler. Right now, blockchain can feel confusing, but that’s changing. Infrastructure like wallet abstraction, stablecoin rails, and smoother onboarding are maturing fast.

Once those friction points are gone, what remains is just a better way to verify ownership and conduct transactions. In 10 years, I wouldn’t be surprised if credit cards are in serious trouble. Why would anyone accept a 3% fee when stablecoins offer seamless, feeless alternatives?

But to get there, everything has to level up, not just payments, but ownership too. That’s where DYLI comes in. We’re trying to make the entire transaction experience from purchase to resale feel smooth, transparent, and rewarding.

OpenSea: Definitely. You’ve had some major partnerships, like Atari and Megadeath. How did those come about?

Jonah Kitay: Part of it was from our agency days. We worked with great teams and built trust. Atari’s been an incredible partner. But it’s also about what we offer: things you can’t really do on Shopify.

Mystery sales, fair lotteries, unique sale formats—they all create better outcomes for collectors. Gamification is baked into everything now, from fantasy sports to Twitch subs. DYLI brings that logic to shopping, in a way that’s actually rewarding. Plus, we support enforced royalties on secondary sales, which makes it more sustainable for creators and brands.

OpenSea: And you also partnered with Abstract. What does that unlock for DYLI?

Jonah Kitay: Abstract is our blockchain partner. We launched on day one with them. They’re EVM-compatible, super app-focused, and their tooling, like paymasters, lets us offer a fully gasless, approval-free experience. That’s huge for users who are used to shopping on eBay or Target.

Their team has been incredibly collaborative, especially as we built compatibility with OpenSea while protecting seller royalties. It’s been a strong, aligned partnership from the start.

OpenSea: That’s great to hear. So what’s next for DYLI? What are you looking to build or accomplish in the next, say, 12 to 18 months?

Jonah Kitay: DYLI's off to a great start. All our metrics are up and to the right, and we feel really confident that our thesis is resonating. In the next year, the biggest focus is expanding awareness, getting DYLI in front of more collectors, hobbyists, and creators.

Long-term, I want DYLI to be like Kleenex or Band-Aid for collectibles. A brand name everyone knows. When someone thinks about their collection, whether it’s checking on it, ripping a pack, or selling a card, I want DYLI to be where that happens. We’re investing in physical activations at collector and gaming events so people can see how DYLI works in real life. We’re also building out affiliate programs and streamer partnerships. Ripping packs on stream is incredible content, and there’s a huge opportunity to grow through those channels.

Over the next 12 months, we’ll keep rolling out new features, refining the product experience, and adding depth to our platform. One big feature coming soon is peer-to-peer and peer-to-one trading. Swapping cards is a massive part of the TCG hobby, and we want to make sure our platform supports that seamlessly and securely.

We’re trying to give hobbyists everything they’ve ever wanted in one place. Not changing their behavior, just making it better.

OpenSea: I love that. Anything else you want to make sure people know?

Jonah Kitay: Just that we want to hear from users. We’ve never had someone discover DYLI and say, “I don’t need this.” Once they try it, they use it constantly. But our focus is on building what the community wants, not just what we think is cool. So if anyone reading this has thoughts, ideas, or feedback, we’re all ears. We want DYLI to be the right place for any hobby, not just trading cards, but stamps, Legos, anything.

OpenSea: Wonderful. 

Jonah Kitay: I really appreciate the opportunity.

OpenSea: Likewise!