GameStop launches digital wallet for cryptocurrencies and NFTs

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: GameStop has become the latest to fully embrace cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). On Monday, the video game retailer announced a digital wallet that allows gamers to send, receive, store and use virtual currencies and NFTs across decentralized apps – all within their web browser. The wallet will also allow users to buy and sell NFTs on GameStop's upcoming NFT marketplace, which is expected to launch in the second quarter of the company's fiscal year, or by the end of July.

The self-custodial Ethereum wallet, fitting known as the GameStop Wallet, can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store.

Self-custodial wallets differ from what you'd find on a service like PayPal or Robinhood in that you are the sole owner of the private digital key needed to access the wallet. That's good for security sake, but it also means you are responsible for keeping up with it. If you lose the key, there's no middleman to help recover it.

In February, GameStop announced a partnership with Immutable X to use its platform for their upcoming NFT marketplace. The agreement also established a $100 million fund that'll award grants to NFT content and technology creators. The funds will be issued through Immutable X's IMX token, a cryptocurrency valued at $1.02 per at the time of this writing.

Image credit: Jonathan Weiss

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https://www.techspot.com/news/94686-gamestop-launches-digital-wallet-cryptocurrencies-nfts.html

 

[JKnight]

Not this garbage again.

 

[RudyBob]

Does GameStop have a future? Not if this is their bent

 

[Axle Grease]

"Self-custodial" wallet? No no no. A "self-custodial" crypto wallet is just called a crypto wallet. That ...thing... whereby the user does not own the private key belongs to some guy named Clayton.

 

[bviktor]

A little late to the party eh?

 

[bviktor]

"Self-custodial" wallet? No no no. A "self-custodial" crypto wallet is just called a crypto wallet. That ...thing... whereby the user does not own the private key belongs to some guy named Clayton.

Oh how dare they being explicit!

 

[MaXtor]

Perfect timing. They're going to bring regular people in at the (hopefully) bottom. I actually think crypto is going to crash a lot harder. I mean BTC was at $5k in March 2020, and everyone thinks this is the end right now. It's kind of ridiculous. Mind you, most people also think this is the end of the stock market crash, which is also funny, we're going way lower.

To be fair, crypto hasn't been through a real recession. So we can't predict how it will fair when the stock market has the hardest crash in over a hundred years. We'll see. GameStop hasn't launched their NFT marketplace (which I think is a good thing). Let people adopt the wallet. Let people get off of centralized exchanges. And then see what happens with the (NFT) market before launching theirs.

The current iterations of NFTs are garbage. If GameStop wants to transition to a technology company (and be successful), they need to recognize that and create NFTs that do more than prove you own a picture.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Watching these failing companies launching cryptocurrency friendly services is like watching the final nails going into their coffins.

 

[ZedRM]

This is a mistake for GameStop, of El Salvadorian proportions...