GameStop Joins FTX As Retail Partner

Gaming retail company, GameStop, has signed a partnership deal with crypto exchange, FTX.US, to bring a more integrated experience to both of their customers. 

FTX x GameStop

Although the financial terms of the contract have not been revealed, it is established that GameStop will be FTX’s preferred retail partner in the United States for the entire term of the partnership. The deal will allow GameStop customers to access the FTX community and marketplaces for digital assets. Additionally, GameStop will also start carrying FTX gift cards in select stores and collaborate with them on new eCommerce and online marketing initiatives. 

GameStop’s Web3 Pivot

The news of the partnership set the gaming retailer’s share value to go up 13%. GameStop’s shares closed at $24 on Wednesday and were trading at $27.35 after the bell. The company has been attempting to break into the Web3 space ever since it was at the center of a social media-fueled trading frenzy that sent its shares soaring. Since then, the company pivoted to focus on strengthening its eCommerce capabilities, thus leveraging the spike in online shopping during the pandemic. Since then, the company has launched its own digital assets wallet that allows users to store, send, receive, and use cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. The wallet, which runs on the Ethereum blockchain, will operate across decentralized applications (dApps) and is fully non-custodial. This means that users have full control over their digital assets without any third-party intervention. However, the most exciting feature of the wallet has been tied to the biggest news from GameStop for 2022, i.e., the launch of its own NFT marketplace. 

GameStop’s NFT Marketplace

The company launched the beta version of this marketplace in July 2022 in partnership with blockchain startup Immutable X. The most noteworthy fact about this marketplace was that it started out with a record-breaking start. Within just 48 hours of being live, the GameStop NFT marketplace outperformed the Coinbase NFT marketplace, which had been soft-launched earlier this year in April, and then fully opened to the public in May. In fact, in just two days of being active, the GameStop marketplace experienced nearly twice the all-time trading volume of the Coinbase marketplace. 

What’s FTX Been Upto?

On the other hand, Sam Bankman-Fried-led FTX has been making strong moves in the social media and DeFi spaces. For example, it recently partnered with Reddit to launch the network’s Community Points program. On top of that, word around the blockchain is that FTX is all set to acquire crypto lending platform, BlockFi, at a floor price of $15 million. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.