GameStop announces launch of NFT platform and native token

The American retailer of video game consoles and computer games GameStop announced the launch of a non-fungible token (NFT) platform.

“We are assembling a team. We welcome unusual developers (Solidity, React, Python), designers, gamers, marketers and community leaders,” the message on the site says.

GameStop will issue ERC-721 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain and native GME tokens. The shares trade under the same ticker on the stock market.

“Power to players. Power to creators. Power to collectors,” the tagline on the site proclaims.

GameStop shares rose 16% to above $210.

Earlier, in January, GameStop’s stock on the NYSE reached $347. This was preceded by a call in the r/WallStreetBets subreddit not to let big players sink the company.

The GameStop rally proved costly for large players with short positions, notably for Melvin Capital — the hedge fund lost 53% of its capital in January.

Against the stock pump, the crypto-friendly platform Robinhood restricted trading in several assets. This drew the ire of authorities and investors, who suspected the service of colluding with Melvin Capital and market-maker Citadel.

Later, platform co-founder Vlad Tenev, in a conversation with Elon Musk, explained such a decision “an unprecedented load” and the aim of protecting users. He also rejected reports of collusion with large players.

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