HSE Researchers Find Counter-Strike Skins Outperform Bitcoin and Gold as Alternative Investments
Virtual knives, custom-painted machine guns, and gloves are common collectible items in videogames. A new study by scientists from HSE University suggests that digital skins from the popular video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) rank among the most profitable types of alternative investments, with average annual returns exceeding 40%. The study has been published in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), a free-access online repository.
Investors have long sought after assets that are insulated from stock market fluctuations, especially during times of instability. This has fuelled a boom in alternative investments, with people putting their money into art, fine wine, and vintage cars. Videogame skins can now be confidently added to this list, offering not only aesthetic appeal but also impressive financial returns.
Skins are virtual items that alter the appearance of in-game objects, such as weapons or characters. While they don’t usually impact gameplay or a player’s chances of winning, they allow users to express their individuality. Skins range from simple designs to rare collectibles that can be bought, traded, or sold on specialised online platforms. The most sought-after and rare skins have become the foundation of a new investment trend.
The study by Victoria Dobrynskaya, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of HSE University, and Vladimir Strelnikov, her former student, now a master's student at New Economic School, suggests that digital collectibles from the videogame Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) can yield average annual returns of over 40%.
To assess the investment appeal of CS:GO skins, the researchers analysed data on nearly 5,000 unique in-game items traded on the Steam platform between 2013 and 2024.
The study found that skins are among the top-performing assets in terms of the risk–return ratio. The average annual return on a portfolio of skins was 41.2%, which is several times higher than that of the US stock market (CRSP), real estate (REITs), bonds or gold. While their profitability is comparable to Bitcoin, skins exhibit significantly lower volatility.
According to the analysis, the average skin price was $155, but the distribution was highly skewed, with most items priced significantly lower. The median price was just $11.50, while the most expensive skin in the Steam sample sold for nearly $4,000.
'On average, a skin is traded 800 times per month, with Steam charging a 15% fee on each transaction. As a result, frequent trading is generally unprofitable, making long-term investment in these assets optimal,' explain Dobrynskaya and Strelnikov.
'The Sharpe ratio for skins is 0.34, indicating a favourable return-to-risk profile. For comparison, during the same period, the Sharpe ratios were 0.25 for the CRSP, 0.12 for gold, and 0.21 for Bitcoin. A higher Sharpe ratio signifies better investment performance. While there are no guarantees, we have observed data spanning over a decade, during which most skins have steadily increased in value,' notes Dobrynskaya.
The skin market proved to be largely insensitive to market risks, with the most profitable assets being inexpensive items: common skins of around $2.25 in price generate average monthly returns of nearly 19%. In contrast, rare and expensive skins priced at around $1,700 yield monthly returns below 3%, which is still higher than the average returns of the stock market. As a result, strategies that prioritise marketable, liquid items rather than rare collectibles demonstrate the best performance.
'In-game collectibles are more than just pixels—they are genuine financial instruments that help diversify portfolios and hedge against volatility. At the same time, the market is liquid and transparent, with a capitalisation exceeding $4 billion. This market remains relatively unknown to outside investors, and most skin investments come from actual players. Long-term investment in skins is a common practice among them,' Dobrynskaya and Strelnikov comment.
See also:
Physicists Find a Way to Model Ion Parameters in Plasma in Seconds
Researchers from HSE University and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have developed a set of simple analytical methods for calculating the properties of heavy ions in helium under the influence of a strong electric field. The new approach speeds up calculations of ion mobility and ion–molecule reaction rates by thousands of times while maintaining sufficient accuracy for plasma jet modelling. The findings have been published in the journal Physica Scripta.
Two Years of Growth or Decline: How to Choose an Investment Strategy
Economists from HSE University, together with colleagues from international universities, have analysed stock market movements over almost a century and proposed an investment strategy that could have delivered returns nearly twice as high as the market average. Their research suggests following a momentum strategy during periods of sustained market growth and switching to a value strategy after prolonged market declines. The study has been published in the Journal of Banking and Finance.
Researchers Reveal Link Between Attention and Communication Difficulties in Autism
Researchers at HSE University have examined how communication difficulties in children with autism are related to brain function. The findings show that not only language networks but also attention networks play an important role. The weaker the connections involved in maintaining focus and switching attention, the more pronounced communication difficulties were. The study has been published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Scientists Discover Why Some People Wore Masks During COVID-19 While Others Did Not
Why do some people voluntarily follow new rules while others ignore them? Researchers at HSE University have found that the answer lies not so much in people's willingness to cooperate, as previously believed, but in their ability to empathise with others. Empathy proved to be the strongest predictor of whether people chose to wear face masks voluntarily during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings have been published in Frontiers.
Physicists at HSE University and FIAN Discover Way to 'Photograph' Sound for Testing Materials Used in 6G Communications
Researchers at HSE University, in collaboration with colleagues from the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FIAN), have developed a method for rapidly determining how firmly a film is bonded to a substrate. This is important for the creation of ultrahigh-frequency acoustic filters, which are key components of next-generation 5G and 6G communications. For the first time, researchers have succeeded in measuring the lateral rigidity of the bond between a two-dimensional material film and a substrate in this way. The study results have been published in Applied Physics Letters.
Scientists Create Open Dataset for Studying Concentration
A team of Russian researchers, including scientists from HSE University–St Petersburg, has developed the first open multimodal dataset containing recordings of brain activity, heart function, and video observations to help researchers understand what happens in the human brain during deep concentration. In the future, the dataset could accelerate the development of neural interfaces, rehabilitation technologies, and AI systems. The article has been published in Scientific Data.
Scientists Propose Method for More Efficient Resource Use in Machine Learning
An international group of researchers, including mathematicians from the AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, has provided a theoretical justification for a simple and computationally efficient method of estimating uncertainty in Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD). The paper has been published on the scientific preprint server arXiv.org and presented at AISTATS 2026.
Team Success: Aligning Means with Objectives
In corporations, sports, and academia, people often face challenges they cannot handle alone. In such cases, selecting the right team is crucial. Tatiana Mayskaya, Associate Professor at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences and the International College of Economics and Finance, together with colleagues from foreign universities, examined team characteristics and found that less diverse teams are better suited to objectives where a high average performance is important, whereas more diverse teams are preferable when avoiding failure is critical. The paper has been published in Economic Theory.
Economists Propose More Effective Approach to Reducing Smoking
Economists at HSE University have examined how smokers respond to changes in cigarette prices. When tobacco prices increase, cigarette consumption does not always decline. In fact, spending on tobacco may even rise: according to the researchers, a 1% decrease in cigarette affordability leads to a 0.28% increase in per capita tobacco expenditure. The findings suggest that to reduce smoking rates, tobacco prices must rise faster than household incomes. The study has been published in Voprosy Statistiki.
Biologists Discover Unique Properties of MiR-93-5p MicroRNA in Prostate Cancer
Researchers at the International Laboratory of Microphysiological Systems of the HSE Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology investigated how different isoforms of the same microRNA influence gene function in prostate adenocarcinoma. The study found that in some cases, microRNAs can reinforce each other’s effects by targeting and suppressing the same genes. This finding offers a fresh perspective on the molecular mechanisms underlying tumour development and on the search for disease biomarkers. The results have been published in PeerJ.