GameStop joins the ranks of virtual asset investors, its stock price jumped more than 8%

U.S. video game distributor GameStop will join the ranks of virtual asset investment. The stock price jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading despite poor performance when it announced its plan to include Bitcoin directly

U.S. video game distributor GameStop will join the ranks of virtual asset investment. The stock price jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading despite poor performance when it announced its plan to include Bitcoin directly like Strategy.

According to the New York Stock Exchange on the 25th (local time), GameStop shares surged 8.27% to $27.50 in after-hours trading.

On the same day, GameStop announced its fourth-quarter 2024 results and said its revenue was $1.283 billion, down 28.5% from the previous year. This is lower than the market estimate of $1.48 billion.

However, rather than the poor performance, investors' attention was drawn to the virtual asset investment plan.

GameOpensource revealed its decision to invest in Bitcoin and U.S. dollar-based stablecoins as it unveiled its results.

According to the report, GameStop held a board meeting the day before and unanimously passed an agenda to add Bitcoin and U.S. dollar-based stablecoins to the company's "financial assets" using cash, future liabilities and stock issuance funds. The decision will be made with additional funds, including about $4.8 billion (about 7 trillion won), which is GameStop's in-house reserve.

It is analyzed that this follows Strategy's move, which has attracted attention from the purchase of Bitcoin.

Strategy, a software company, has invested heavily in Bitcoin since 2020, transforming it into the world's largest bitcoin holding company and investment company. Bitcoin holdings exceed 500,000 and the company's stock price has risen more than 30 times over the past five years.

Influenced by this, various companies have made investments in Bitcoin. Bitcoin miners Maraholings and Riot Platforms, and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase are also representative.

In Japan, Meta Planet, called the "Japanese version of Strategy," joined the ranks with its ambition to expand its bitcoin holdings to 10,000 this year.

However, there are also skeptical prospects for GameStop's Bitcoin purchase.

Wedbush Securities analyzed, "GameOpensource's strategy lacks concreteness and seems to be moving away from its core business," adding, "There is a precedent for failure in NFT transactions and omnichannel retail businesses, which have recently decreased sales by 24%."

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is signaling that it is looking positively at the virtual asset market.

Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has also designated Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset of the U.S. and has been focusing on building a virtual asset ecosystem centered on the U.S. by making favorable remarks on the virtual asset market.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), known as President Trump's family's virtual asset platform, recently announced the launch of USD1, a dollar-based stable coin.

The Wall Street Journal explained about the stable coin project, "We expect it to be an opportunity to expand the Trump family's entry into the virtual asset market."