Presented by MMPlate.com – Is the US ready for a license plate aftermarket? Yes, and it’s long overdue. The prestige of ‘one-of-one’ collectibles is paving the way.
It’s an early weekend morning in West Hollywood, California. A line of exotic cars stretches over a mile on Sunset Boulevard, all of them waiting to pull into the parking lot of the Sunset Plaza. Everything from higher production Porsche, Lamborghini, and Ferrari models, to limited edition Bugattis, McLarens and Koenigseggs proceed slowly up the driveway and into their designated parking spots.
When there are so many cars, how do you set yourself apart? Owners keep pushing the modification limits in pursuit of the exclusive title… “one-of-one.” Custom livery, creative wraps, roof scoops, widebody kits, twin turbos, burble tunes, and exhaust notes that can wake the dead. The team from Daily Driven Exotics removed the windshield on their Huracan Evo Spyder, and real estate mogul Manny Khoshbin works with House of Hermès to customize his hypercars. But does this really make the car “one-of-one” or just an exclusive spec of a production car? The owner of the recently released Ferrari BR20 would probably tell you the latter.
Enter license plates.
License plates, by design, are one-of-one. There can be variations in color or style, but the message must be unique. It links the owner to a vehicle. Vehicles come and go, but a personal plate endures indefinitely. The license plate aftermarket is already a thriving business in countries like the UAE, Qatar, and the UK. In August, a new Lamborghini SVJ (1 of 900 worldwide) was spotted in Qatar with a $12 million license plate. The record still belongs to businessman Saeed Abdul Ghafour Khouri who paid $14.3 million for a plate in 2009. We may not know what car wears that plate today, but we remember the details of that record sale.
“The addition of rare, high-value plates is the inevitable next step for car culture in the United States, and California is the perfect place to start,” says Michael Modecki, the founder of ThePlateBroker.com and MMPlate.com. Earlier this year, Modecki minted the first NFT specifically made to accompany an actual registered license plate configuration. “It’s the perfect pairing. Both are one-of-one. Once you have it, no one else can. NFTs are reinforcing the value of scarcity and exclusivity.”
His plate configuration, MM, is already one of the rarest possible in California, 1 of only 35 that can feature two repeating characters (there are no single-character plates available to the public). The addition of the non-fungible token (NFT) makes the MM plate even more exclusive while establishing provenance and preserving authenticity, all within blockchain technology.
As of this writing, the asking price for the MM plate is an astonishing $26,822,784. There is a reason for that price. “When I first listed it on OpenSea.io, the asking price of 5888 ETH positioned the plate to be the most valuable one ever sold, even when adjusted for inflation,” Modecki explained. “Now that the value of ETH has grown, the asking price has grown.” After doing some math, it seems that an offer at $19 million would still beat the current world record, in today’s dollars.
Of course, that’s still a large sum of money for a license plate, but with 189 billionaires and over 1 million millionaires in CA, the buyer pool exists. Factor in international buyers with creative legal teams and this plate should soon find a new owner.
The record-breaking sale of this plate would be the catalyst for establishing a nationwide movement. “After releasing the MM plate, I received multiple requests for help from people all over the US wanting to sell their rare plates. Of course, I was happy to connect with them,” Modecki revealed. “I’m actively helping a retired lawyer find a buyer for his plate right now, but it would be great to parlay the sale of MM into a full-time business. The timing seems right.”
A good candidate to acquire the MM plate is the company MMCrypto, which is currently headquartered in Dubai. A powerplayer in the crypto space, the MMCrypto founders collect NFTs and supercars. This would be the perfect investment to bolster publicity and brand awareness while adding to their collection of rarities.
There are many brands and celebrities who may see the value in a status symbol like this. Off the top of our heads, we can think of: M&M Candies, MetaMask, Maker’s Mark, Meek Mill, Mohammed Maktoum, Miller Motorcars, and Floyd “Money” Mayweather just to name a few.
And of course, let’s not forget the Musk brothers. If Elon and Kimbal are looking for a special holiday gift for Mom, this would be perfect for their mother Maye. And if Maye moved to Texas along with Elon, the Texas MM plate is for sale as well.
Photos courtesy of ThePlateBroker.com and TacticalFleet.com