Published on: 24/05/2022
GameStop launches Ethereum wallet, announces upcoming NFT platform
GameStop officially announced on Monday, May 23 the launch of its non-custodial, browser-based cryptocurrency wallet. As of right now, the GameStop Wallet is still in beta release. The wallet system utilizes the Ethereum (ETH) network and Loopring Layer 2 technology to facilitate transactions.
GameStop’s upcoming NFT marketplace is also slated to launch in the second quarter of this year, which will conclude on June 31, 2022.
Users are promised full control of their digital assets in the GameStop Wallet. NFTs and cryptocurrency can be stored, sent, swapped, and received using the wallet. In addition, GameStop said its new wallet would seamlessly integrate with its upcoming NFT marketplace upon its release. With a non-custodial wallet, each user is given a 64-digit key to access their wallet, whereas custodial wallets require a third party to hold the key on behalf of the wallet owner.
The GameStop Wallet extension is available for download on the Chrome Web Store. This wallet will also be available on iPhone, as said on its website. Users can now migrate their MetaMask wallet to GameStop’s wallet, which works similarly to MetaMask.
Prior to the launch of the wallet, the company’s stock fell by 3.56 percent at the end of last Friday’s trading session. Weak Q4 results are likely responsible for the decline in stock price. In Q4 2021, GameStop lost $147.5 million compared to $80.3 million in profit in the same period last year.
GameStop Wallet
According to the company, users can send, receive and use cryptocurrencies as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) across decentralized apps with GameStop’s new self-custodial Ethereum wallet. Thanks to Loopring’s zkRollup, transactions are cost-effective and time-efficient.
Moreover, GameStop’s NFT marketplace, slated to launch in the second quarter of this year, will support transactions via the wallet.
The wallet monitors its users’ IP addresses and GPS coordinates. That being said, the privacy policy states in capital letters that the company will not access or store users’ private keys pertaining to their wallets. Instead, they are only responsible for managing their funds.
“It also monitors the user’s network, clicks, mouse position, and keystroke logging,” the statement reads.
This move came after GameStop reported a loss of $147.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to over $80 million in profit in the same period last year.
NFT Marketplace
It was reported that GameStop had been seeking a security analyst skilled in crypto since as early as April 2021. The company posted job openings in the following month for its NFT project, targeting engineers, designers, gamers, marketers, and community leaders.
Yet, it was not until January of this year that the company officially announced it was looking to enter into what it described as “much-hyped areas” of the NFT industry, with the intention of expanding its core business.
Earlier this month, GameStop announced that it would use Immutable X, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling system, to power its upcoming NFT marketplace. Both companies have set up a $100 million token incentive fund dedicated to NFT gaming. Among other things, the fund will provide financial support for content creators and developers of the platform.
