GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has teased that the online game retailer might begin accepting crypto for buying and selling card purchases and stated the corporate’s Bitcoin buys aren’t copying MicroStrategy.
Cohen advised CNBC’s Squawk Field on Tuesday that GameStop shifted techniques to cut back reliance on {hardware} within the face of rising prices and focus extra on buying and selling playing cards and collectibles, which might someday be purchased utilizing crypto.
“There’s a chance to purchase buying and selling playing cards and to take action utilizing cryptocurrency. So, we’ll see how a lot there’s on the precise demand facet for that type of product,” he stated.
“The utility of crypto past investing is a hedge in opposition to inflation. I believe up to now that’s been the most important demand for crypto, and so, the flexibility to truly use crypto inside transactions is one thing that is a chance and it’s one thing that we’re taking a look at.”
GameStop taking a look at all cryptocurrencies
Cohen stated that whereas there’s “positively a chance” to truly use crypto within the house, GameStop hasn’t particularly chosen which token it is going to use.
“We’re going to take a look at all cryptocurrencies,” he added.
GameStop beforehand made forays into the crypto house with a nonfungible token market, which was ultimately shuttered in January 2024 resulting from issues about regulatory uncertainty.
It additionally launched a crypto pockets, which it additionally shut down in November 2023 resulting from comparable issues over laws.
Bitcoin a hedge in opposition to inflation
GameStop joined the rising variety of firms shopping for Bitcoin (BTC) when it acquired 4,710 BTC on Could 28, in a purchase order value over $500 million on the time.
Cohen stated GameStop’s funding in Bitcoin is a “hedge in opposition to inflation and world cash printing,” and traders shouldn’t see it as one other clone of Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy, which fits by Technique.
“We now have our personal distinctive technique, and we now have a really robust steadiness sheet of over $9 billion in money and marketable securities, and we’ll deploy that capital responsibly as I might my very own capital,” he stated.
The corporate plans to “search for alternatives the place the draw back facet is proscribed and there’s a number of upside,” Cohen added.
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On June 23, GameStop disclosed it had raised one other $450 million as a part of its deliberate $2.25 billion non-public convertible observe providing for investments, which might embody Bitcoin.
Inventory hasn’t reacted to crypto fee tease
In February, shares in GameStop (GME) noticed an 18% leap amid hypothesis that it was contemplating investments in various asset lessons, together with crypto.
On the shut of buying and selling on Tuesday, nonetheless, GameStop shares had been down over 2% and buying and selling at $23.22, seeing only a 0.30% bump to $23.29 after the bell.
GameStop shares have been a blended bag in 2025, having climbed 30% within the 30 days earlier than the corporate’s Could 28 Bitcoin buy however then tanking 22% in June after the corporate introduced a rise in its deliberate non-public convertible observe providing.
Journal: Bitcoin $200K ‘apparent’ breakout, GameStop’s first BTC purchase: Hodler’s Digest, Could 25 – 31
