Recently, a 4-foot-tall Labubu figure sold for over $170,000 in Beijing. At the same time, China’s banking regulator issued a ban: banks are no longer allowed to use Labubu as a customer incentive gift. What started as a cute emotional comfort toy has now morphed into a financialized symbol of scarcity, hype, and speculation. It’s not a toy anymore — it’s engineered desire Labubu is just the surface. Beneath it is a familiar system at work:Artificial scarcity creates FOMO: Blind boxes that on...

Recently, a 4-foot-tall Labubu figure sold for over $170,000 in Beijing. At the same time, China’s banking regulator issued a ban: banks are no longer allowed to use Labubu as a customer incentive gift. What started as a cute emotional comfort toy has now morphed into a financialized symbol of scarcity, hype, and speculation. It’s not a toy anymore — it’s engineered desire Labubu is just the surface. Beneath it is a familiar system at work:Artificial scarcity creates FOMO: Blind boxes that on...