GameStop buys $512M in Bitcoin for Treasury

GameStop, which transitioned from a video game retailer to a popular meme stock, revealed that it has invested in Bitcoin, with the holdings currently valued at about $512 million.

In a May 28th tweet, the firm disclosed the purchase of 4,710 BTC, which it acquired after finalizing a $1.5 billion convertible senior notes offering earlier in April.

GameStop originally stated it would allocate the proceeds toward forming a corporate Bitcoin reserve, and though the recent release didn’t spell this out, the $512.79 million Bitcoin buy appears consistent with that strategy.

In March, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen alluded to the company’s interest in Bitcoin when a photographer captured him alongside Michael Saylor, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Strategy, who pioneered the practice of public companies holding Bitcoin as a corporate asset.

Strategy’s adoption of Bitcoin propelled it from a relatively modest business intelligence software company to one with a market cap of $101.76 billion, per TradingView data.

GameStop is seemingly adopting a comparable strategy, likely expecting to achieve similar results.

Marathon Digital Holdings Inc., Riot Platforms Inc., and CleanSpark are among the crypto mining companies that hold billions in Bitcoin, while Tesla, led by Elon Musk, held $1.25 billion in Bitcoin as of December 2024.

Corporate treasuries are evolving as firms branch out into cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin, and GameStop appears to be the latest of a growing list of firms bringing Bitcoin into their statement of financial position.

The online gambling marketer SharpLink Gaming announced on Tuesday that it raised $425 million to add Ethereum to its treasury, alongside welcoming Joseph Lubin, Consensys CEO and Ethereum co-founder, to its board.

In 2021, Reddit users, convinced the stock was undervalued, became central to a stock market event where they battled hedge funds shorting GameStop shares.

Keith Gill, who went by Roaring Kitty, emerged as a key leader by publicly challenging short sellers through social media channels.

Consequently, online excitement drove GME’s share price to surge dramatically, fueled by a large short squeeze.

Online hype largely affects GameStop’s stock price, which has since been categorized as a “meme stock.”

Following a long period of silence, Roaring Kitty’s cryptic social media meme caused GME’s price to skyrocket more than twofold from Friday close to Monday open, prompting Nasdaq to halt trading nine times that morning.