GameStop stock takes off as plans for NFT marketplace come into focus

Enlarge (credit: GameStop)

Two of 2021’s strangest trends are coming together Thursday evening as GameStop’s stock surges on a report that it is working to establish an NFT and cryptocurrency marketplace alongside partner game developers and publishers.

The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, suggests GameStop has a 20-person unit working on the online marketplace, set to launch later this year, which will offer in-game goods as supply-limited, cryptographically signed NFTs. In addition, the Journal’s sources suggest GameStop may be preparing to invest “tens of millions of dollars” in crypto-related companies, including the development of games that use the blockchain.

Shares of GameStop stock, which today closed at its lowest point since last March after a six-week slide, were up sharply in after-hours trading immediately following the report. As of this writing, the stock’s value had increased over 30 percent in a little more than an hour after the market closed, bringing to mind images of the “meme stock” rallies of last January.