Crypto Biz: GameStop takes the orange pill

It has been a wild few years for GameStop, the video game retailer turned memecoin stock. After being pulled from the edge of bankruptcy in 2021 thanks to a surging stock price, the company has made sensible business decisions over the years, such as shrinking its physical footprint and focusing on higher-margin items. 

Now, GameStop is trying to secure its survival by investing in Bitcoin (BTC). This approach seems to have worked for Strategy, Michael Saylor’s business intelligence firm turned Bitcoin bank. Strategy has now amassed more than 500,000 BTC through successive purchases. And despite experiencing massive volatility, Strategy’s stock has rallied more than 2,100% since acquiring its first Bitcoin back in 2020.

GameStop has memed its way back to relevance — who says it can’t secure at least the next decade of its existence by riding the Bitcoin wave?

This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter chronicles GameStop’s Bitcoin gambit, the adoption magnet that is tokenization and the recovery in Bitcoin mining revenues.

On March 25, GameStop confirmed that it had received board approval to invest in Bitcoin and US-dollar-pegged stablecoins. There’s reason to believe that the video game retailer could make a big splash, given its corporate cash balance of nearly $4.8 billion. This is a notable jump from one year earlier when the company’s balance sheet was around $922 million. 

There’s also reason to believe that GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen was orange-pilled by Michael Saylor after the two met in early February. Cohen confirmed that the meeting took place by posting an uncaptioned photo of him and Saylor on Feb. 8. 

Source: Ryan Cohen

For his part, Saylor continues to accumulate as much BTC as humanly possible. Earlier in the week, he announced that Strategy had acquired another 6,911 BTC, bringing its stockpile to 506,137 BTC.

DigiShares has launched a real estate trading platform on Polygon, giving investors access to a liquid on- and off-ramp for commercial and residential properties. 

RealEstate.Exchange, also known as REX, launched with two luxury property listings in Miami, Florida, including a 520-unit tower and a 38-unit residential complex.

A Google street view of one of the property listings, The Legacy Hotel & Residences in Miami, Florida. Source: Google Maps

DigiShares CEO Claus Skaaning told Cointelegraph that REX has an additional five or six properties in the pipeline, adding that REX will eventually support all sorts of commercial and residential properties. 

REX operates in the United States through a license with Texture Capital, a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The platform is also seeking registrations in the European Union, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. 

CME Group, one of the world’s largest derivatives exchange operators, has tapped Google Cloud to roll out its asset tokenization program. 

Specifically, CME Group is using the Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL) to tokenize traditional assets on the blockchain — a move the company said would improve capital market efficiency and wholesale payments. 

Tokenization could “deliver significant efficiencies for collateral, margin, settlement and fee payments as the world moves toward 24/7 trading,” said Terry Duffy, CME Group’s Chairman and CEO.

Although CME didn’t provide specific details about which assets would be part of the tokenization pilot, it plans to begin testing the technology with market participants next year.

Bitcoin miners are on track for recovery following the network’s April 2024 halving event, which reduced mining revenues from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

According to data from Coin Metrics, miner revenues are approaching $3.6 billion in the first quarter, which isn’t far off from the prior quarter’s $ 3.7 billion tally. It marks a major rebound from the third quarter of 2024 when revenues plunged to $2.6 billion. 

Miners have quickly adapted to the latest quadrennial halving, though revenues remain lower than the pre-halving peak in the first quarter of 2024. Source: Coin Metrics

“With almost one year elapsed since Bitcoin’s 4th halving, miners have endured a period of stabilization, adapting to reduced block rewards, tighter margins, and shifting operational dynamics,” Coin Metrics said.

Despite adverse market conditions since the halving, some miners are doubling down on their Bitcoin hodl strategy. Hive Digital’s chief financial officer told Cointelegraph that the company is focused on “retaining a significant portion of its mined Bitcoin to benefit from potential price appreciation.”

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