Amid a cryptocurrency downturn that some are calling a “crypto winter,” Grapevine-based retailer GameStop announced this week that it launched a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace — the legacy retailer’s latest attempt to prove it is capable of digital transformation.
Like other NFT marketplaces, GameStop’s platform allows users to buy, sell and trade NFTs. As of July 13, the marketplace features 269 NFT collections and nearly 55,000 NFTs. The marketplace has sold more than $3 million worth of NFTs thus far, according to the company’s metrics.
GameStop charges a 2.25 percent marketplace fee, according to Ars Technica, which would mean that the company has netted more than $65,000 in commissions in its first several days.
The GameStop NFT marketplace’s most popular collection was an exclusive series from MetaBoy, which sold all 10,000 of its NFTs for more than $1 million, according to the GameStop stats page.
The platform is an Ethereum Layer 2-based marketplace that allows users to connect their own cryptocurrency wallet, including the self-custodial wallet GameStop launched in May.
The marketplace is currently in a public beta stage, according to GameStop. In the future, the company said the marketplace will expand to include Web3 gaming, more creators and other Ethereum environments.
This isn’t GameStops first time making headlines as of late. The company’s stock skyrocketed last year after a social media movement on Reddit inspired retail investors to overpower the institutional investors that had shorted the stock, essentially betting on the company to fail. The Redditors and other first-time investors bought enough shares to trigger what is known as a short squeeze, forcing institutional investors to buy back their shares at a huge loss.
