GameStop has made an update to their NFT landing page, indicating interest in recruiting creators to join the platform prior to launch.

GMEdd.com first unearthed the existence of GameStop’s Official NFT project in May 2021 upon discovering a website that didn’t detail much besides a potential slogan for the project, and ever since then investors have speculated what GameStop NFT entails.

On October 28th, GMEdd.com published source code from Loopring’s public GitHub repository that confirmed the highly-speculated NFT Marketplace partnership amongst the ambitious pioneers.

Prior to this, digital breadcrumbs had led us to that same point, detailing how Loopring has the technology that GameStop would require to bridge traditional e-commerce and blockchain and engineer the revolution of gaming.

Upon Tuesday’s after-hours session coming to a close, the company has made a few changes to the same landing page that started it all, including a banner inviting creators to request an invitation to join the NFT Marketplace.

Oh, and several hours earlier the Chairman of GameStop’s Board Ryan Cohen tweeted “taking a dump in the metaverse,” alongside a stock image of a man wearing VR goggles on the toilet. Really, we can’t make this shit up.

Change The Game

Now, GameStop has overhauled the NFT.GameStop.com landing page, including a banner inviting creators to request an invitation to join the NFT Marketplace. Scrolling down, visitors will see a second call to creators.

GameStop’s NFT landing page as of May 25th and December 27th, 2021.

GameStop has also changed the color of the text “GAME” on the site from purple to a pastel gradient, symbolic of Web3, representing GameStop’s interest in the emerging industry

Upon opening the form, creators are greeted with a message saying, “Power To The Creators,” and that the platform will open up minting access on a rolling basis.

Again, visitors see the lengthier slogan, but in an outlined font that looks fun and playful.

Power to the players, Power to the creators, Power to the collectors

By tapping, “Let’s go,” creators are taken to a typeform asking them up to ten questions about their experience with NFTs, their existing projects, and what they intend to create for the marketplace.

The survey starts with a request for what they should call you, and is followed by a thank you for wanting to participate.

A flow chart created by nateeo.eth for GMEdd.com visualizes the question process.

One of the categories for participating is “Independent artist / creator / game dev / meme lord,” while the other fills companies / brands / game studios / IP [intellectual property] holders. 

With such an in-tune NFT division at GameStop, the meme lord banter was no surprise, and can we really be surprised that Ryan Cohen signed off on it?

More importantly, these two choices reveal that GameStop is interested in the participation of both creative individuals and game studios, answering some questions as to what kind of content may be on this platform.

The email sent back to those who fill out the GameStop NFT Creator Form.

Upon filling out the form, respondents are notified via email that their submission was received and the rolling basis for minting is reiterated.

Wen Launch

Loopring is speculated to be one of GameStop’s partners in the NFT Marketplace, and while their Layer-2 wallet will allow for gas-free, instant transactions on the platform, it needs to be bug-free and ready to support hundreds of thousands of eager users when the marketplace arrives.

Loopring had previously disclosed an anticipated Q4 2021 launch date of their premium partner’s NFT Marketplace, but with less than a week of the year now remaining it seems to be an unlikely deadline to most. 

Back in October, Loopring’s Head of Community Byron Wiebe stated that Loopring’s free Layer-2 Wallet will be launching simultaneously or prior to the NFT Marketplace, allowing for easy adoption amongst those who aren’t used to crypto.

Byron answered some questions from ManBearOrca on October 26th.

Just one week ago, on December 21st, Loopring began rolling out their L2 wallet to “onboard the masses,” leading the curious to wonder when to anticipate a marketplace launch.

Despite an intuitive user interface, the wallet still lacks fiat off-ramps, a feature that, “is being worked on and coming hopefully early in 2022,” and would be required to allow users of GameStop NFT to convert their crypto back to usable cash. 

Loopring’s Community Manager has also changed his rhetoric in the last few weeks, now stating that “this quarter is only the beginning,” and “the major adoption will happen throughout 2022.”

Byron’s tweets on December 6th. Yes, that is really his profile picture.

It seems improbable GameStop is interested in launching an empty marketplace, and with applications for creators just now opening it will take some time for the team to go through the immense interest and coordinate with candidates on a rolling basis.

All factors considered, GameStop has undoubtedly made huge progress towards their NFT Marketplace launch behind-the-scenes, but short-term investors may need to remain patient for some time longer, as a buggy launch would be much worse than a delayed one.

In the retailer’s ambitions to transform into a technology company, GameStop has a lot to prove, and the execution matters most.

Sources: NFT.GameStop.com, Byron on Twitter, Byron on Twitter

Join GMEdd.com’s Official Discord Server to chat about this article, GameStop’s transformation, and more.

CONSIDER DONATING TO SUPPORT RESEARCH AND BUY OUR CONTRIBUTORS A COFFEE

GameStop Corp. today released financial results on the company’s Investor Relations platform for the third quarter ended October 30, 2021.

The gaming retailer in the midst of transformation will also host an investor conference call at 5:00 pm ET to review the company’s financial results. This call and any supplemental information can be accessed at GameStop’s investor relations home page.

GMEdd.com Co-Proprietor Rod Alzmann will be live on Bloomberg TV’s Bloomberg Markets What’d You Miss? at 4:30 PM EST to discuss the company’s financial results and ongoing transformation.

THIRD QUARTER OVERVIEW

Net sales were $1.297 billion for the quarter, compared to $1.005 billion in the prior year’s third quarter.

Sales attributable to new and expanded brand relationships, such as Samsung, LG, Razer, Vizio and others, contributed to the Company’s growth in the quarter.

Inventory was $1.141 billion at the close of the quarter, compared to $861 million at the close of the prior year’s third quarter, reflecting the Company’s focus on front-loading investments in inventory to meet increased customer demand and mitigate supply chain issues.

Ended the period with cash and cash equivalents of $1.413 billion as well as no debt other than a $46.2 million low-interest, unsecured term loan associated with the French government’s response to COVID-19.

Established new offices in Seattle, Washington and Boston, Massachusetts, which are technology hubs with established talent markets.

Secured a new $500 million ABL facility, which closed in November just after the end of the third quarter, with improved liquidity and terms, including reduced borrowing costs, lighter covenants and additional flexibility.

WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

The webcast with management is scheduled for December 8, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. ET to discuss the Company’s third quarter activities and financial results. This call, along with supplemental information, can also be accessed at GameStop’s Investor Relations. The phone number for the call is 877-451-6152 and the confirmation code is 13725350. This webcast will be archived for two months on GameStop’s investor relations website.

Source: GameStop Newsroom, Form 8-k


Read the transcript of GameStop’s Q3 2021 Earnings Conference Call here.

As Q4 2021 progresses and the launch of GameStop NFT remains ahead, the Chief Executive Officer of Loopring Daniel Wang has responded to a request for some Q&A.

On October 28th, GMEdd.com released source code from Loopring’s public GitHub repository that confirmed the highly speculated partnership amongst GameStop and the Ethereum-based high-throughput, low-cost, layer2 technology company.

Prior to this, GMEdd.com had published digital breadcrumbs leading to that same point, detailing how Loopring has the technology that GameStop would require to bridge traditional e-commerce and blockchain and engineer the revolution of gaming.

While speculative investors and crypto enthusiasts have eagerly awaited an official statement, a Canadian journalist has decided to ask Loopring’s CEO Daniel Wang his thoughts on scalability, the future of Loopring, and the all-but-announced partnership, granting GMEdd.com permission to share what he found.

The Interview

On November 23rd, 2021, the freelance journalist started with a simple request sent to the Loopring Foundation email for comment on a story in the works about layer-2 solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Emails obtained by GMEdd.com, with private information redacted.

After requesting a quick interview with a Loopring representative and obtaining a response from Daniel Wang himself, the journalist, who asked we keep their identity private, sent over several questions for the CEO.

Three days later, Wang responded to the inquiry, providing color on several different topics related to the company’s technology and its anticipated adoption.

The questions, and Wang’s relevant responses, can be read in their raw format without edits below.

November 26, 2021

Q. Scalability has always been a major issue for Ethereum adoption. L2s like Loopring solve this problem, but the infrastructure is still in it’s beginnings. Do you think that, in the future, users will only interact with L2s, and that L1 will basically become an under-the-hood settlement layer?

Yes, I do think this will be the case for most users. A layered design is much easier to scale.

Q. How would you describe, in layman terms, the advantages of ZK rollups versus optimistic rollups? Is the withdrawal period the only major difference for the user?

The waiting period for withdrawals is a major (noticeable) drawback of optimistic rollups, but the other thing people often neglect is that there needs to be watchers of OR blocks to constantly find potential violation of rules and then challenge the operators in a timely minter to protect user’s interest. These watchers need to be incentives and they cannot share the same interests with operators to stay independent. 

Q. Loopring already has use cases, such as a DEX. But if you think about the finality of your protocol, ten or twenty years down the road, what use cases do you have in mind? Do you plan to be more business/payments-oriented, or game-oriented?

That’s a good question that I don’t have a good answer for. The blockchain space has been embracing new ideas and technologys on a daily basis. It’s hard to make a road map for even the next two years. We are more interested in building infrastructures instead of focusing on an application. Recently what makes me excited is that progress Ethereum Foundation has made in their zkEVM effort. I believe in a year or two, there will be general purpose zkRollup built on top of it to offer full EVM compatibility. 

Q. Vitalik Buterin recently talked about the importance of social recovery for wallets. Losing private keys is a big risk for users, and it’s holding many people from joining crypto/DeFi. Do you think products like Loopring Smart Wallet can help mass adoption? How do you see the evolution of this product in the next few years?

Smart wallet with social recovery is really a good product idea, but the adoption is slow due to higher gas cost of deployment and transaction compared with EOA wallets. I believe to solve this barrier to the market, smart wallets shall be deployed onto layer-2s instead of Ethereum mainnet. It will also be great if Ethereum can support converting EOA addresses to contract addresses so people can try EOA first, then convert them to contract-based wallets later to adopt social-revery based solutions.

Q. There have been a lot of rumors about a potential partnership with Gamestop, which is allegedly working on a NFT marketplace. Can you tell us more about this potential deal? And beyond Gamestop, how would you describe the way Loopring can integrate in the metaverse?

I cannot comment on that.

Q. How many users do you think DeFi can have in 20 years, and what place do you think Loopring will have in it?

I would image most people who have a smart phone will have crypto apps installed and owns some cryptocurrency. By then, Loopring will probably be gone — there will be a lot of younger and smarter people building next generation of technologies to outcompete most existing blockchain platforms/products. It will be sad that two years later most of the current projects are still around. Don’t you agree?

Our Interpretation

Daniel Wang envisions a future where end-users interact with Ethereum entirely on Layer2, leaving standard L1 ETH as a settlement layer, citing enhanced scalability. 

When the question was raised about a road map, the Chief Executive stated that due to the rapid embrace of new ideas in the sector, “It’s hard to make a road map for even the next two years.”

On Loopring’s Discord server in September, Wang stated he was struggling to write the company’s third quarter report in fear of leaking secrets and breaching a non-disclosure agreement, indicating the secrecy of the project.

Amid widespread rumors and source code leaks, by opting to state that he “cannot comment,” in his latest interview on the GameStop partnership, Wang acknowledges the existence of the speculation and declines to negate it.

While official announcements have yet to be made, and with GameStop’s third quarter fiscal 2021 earnings results disclosed on Wednesday, December 8th, retail investors anticipate a product launch of GameStop NFT, bridging the gap between traditional e-commerce and blockchain, within the upcoming month.

Source: Emails with Daniel Wang

Join GMEdd.com’s Official Discord Server to chat about this article, GameStop’s transformation, and more.

CONSIDER DONATING TO SUPPORT RESEARCH AND BUY OUR CONTRIBUTORS A COFFEE

GameStop Corp., today announced that it will report third quarter fiscal 2021 earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, December 8, 2021.

The gaming retailer in the midst of transformation will host an investor conference call at 5:00 pm ET on the same day to review the company’s financial results. This call and any supplemental information can be accessed at GameStop’s investor relations home page.

WHERE TO TUNE IN

The phone number for the investor conference call is 877-451-6152 and the confirmation code is 13725350. The conference call will be archived for two months on GameStop’s corporate website.

GMEdd.com had hosted livestreams for prior conference calls, as viewership often surpasses what GameStop’s systems can handle.

For Q1 and Q2 2021 Earnings, GameStop streamed the report on their official YouTube channel, which remain the company’s most viewed videos; a testament to the devotion of the company’s retail investor base.

We advise all GameStop investors follow @GMEdd on Twitter for updates.

THE SIGNIFICANCE

This will mark the second earnings call since the departure of former Chief Executive Officer George Sherman and the board overhaul.

While Ryan Cohen announced at the Annual Shareholder’s Meeting that the company does not plan to talk a big game, investors will anticipate some direction or announcements regarding GameStop NFT from the aspiring technology company under new leadership.

The recently instated CEO Matt Furlong, a former Amazon executive, will likely speak during the majority of the conference call, if tradition continues.

Source: GameStop News Room

Since GameStop’s favored Amazon and Chewy don’t refurbish technology, who better to recruit from than Apple? It’s only fair, considering Ryan Cohen remains the company’s largest individual shareholder.

In the year 2000, GameStop started refurbishing games and consoles with just 20 employees in a different building down the street. Just over a decade later, 1,100 worked in a plant formerly used to build wire harnesses for an automotive company, and consoles were just the beginning. 

The Verge states that at the time of reporter Sean Hollister’s visit in 2012, factory workers were testing iPads, iPods, and iPhones for basic functionality: the buttons, the screen, the microphone, the headphone jack, the charging port, and software features. 

It all happens fast: “Every 42 seconds, a unit will be rolling off this cell,” a factory worker says.

Think Different

On June 24th 2010, the much-anticipated iPhone 4 was launching in the United States and Apple Inc. had just rehired Randy Teele to his prior position as the company’s Senior Manager of AppleCare Planning and Procurement after a brief one-year hiatus to work for semiconductor producer Micron Technology.

After persevering through the “Antennagate” scandal, Randy Teele would go on to serve the company through multiple promotions over eleven more years, as the tech pioneers changed the world and reinvented the smartphone, achieving over 40% market share.

Randy was at Apple for every iPhone launch except for the 3GS on June 19th, 2009. He came back to the California-based company just in time for the 4.

In November of 2021, Randy Teele’s decade-long commitment to the $2.6T company was foregone to take up an opportunity to deliver Ryan Cohen’s vision.

See GMEdd.com’s Tech Hire Database at our Report and Models page

Revealed via LinkedIn, Randy Teele departed his position as Apple’s Senior Director of AppleCare Service Operations to begin a new role as GameStop’s Vice President of Worldwide Refurbishment and Warranty.

Randy Teele’s LinkedIn as seen on November 22, 2021.

Having relocated from San Francisco to Grapevine, the experienced supply chain professional is now in charge of overhauling GameStop’s Premium Refurbished Program.

The Core of It

Apple has continuously topped LaptopMag‘s comprehensive support rankings for the last few years, through a combination of speed, friendliness, and knowledgeable agents aligning with GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen’s emphasis on delighting customers.

Stanley “Randy” Teele doesn’t have much of a digital presence, but GMEdd.com was able to find that while working at Cisco in his early career, the global demand planning manager was referred to by an intern from MIT as part of a collective of very smart, dynamic, and driven individuals.

[My manager] has also helped me to work with a very smart, dynamic, and driven set of individuals at Cisco, including Mark Still, Randy Teele, Tom Bomberg, and Kyle Nolan. 

And with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2001 alongside over a decade of growth at Apple, it’s safe to assume that the esteemed executive didn’t leave behind a blue chip to oversee replacing broken Xbox disk drives in Texas.

GameStop must be up to something bigger.

Sources: MIT.edu, The Granite – 1993, The Verge, Randy Teele on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac

Join GMEdd.com’s Official Discord Server to chat about this article, GameStop’s transformation, and more.

CONSIDER DONATING TO SUPPORT RESEARCH AND BUY OUR CONTRIBUTORS A COFFEE

GameStop’s stock may have gotten a little ahead of fundamentals in January, but everything that has transpired behind-the-scenes since then may be leading to a massive reevaluation. 

GameStop’s transformation from a struggling brick-and-mortar retailer into a technology company that will soon unveil GameStop NFT — a gas-free, consumer-facing, blockchain marketplace — may become one of the greatest turnaround stories in business. All the while, the company has remained silent and the financial media refuses to cover it.

If you’ve been following along since GMEdd.com’s inception almost a year ago, you already know the prologue, but for those who are new here: buckle-up and welcome aboard.

Glassware and Dog Food

The story begins long ago with a mentor’s inspiring devotion to his business…

Ted Cohen was a glassware importer with an impeccable work ethic, who reportedly never missed a day on the job. He led by example, but not in a deliberate way. “It’s who he was,” his son says. 

Ted Cohen pictured on the left.

With a keen eye for capital allocation, the disciplined leader kept track of the expenses that most entrepreneurs forget about. Power bills, the varying prices of hundreds of glassware products that he sold, and even the daily gas prices to accommodate for impacted transportation costs.

If you take a carload of this (pointing to a pallet of glassware) you’ll make more money. But if you take a carload of that (pointing to a different pallet), you’ll make less money, but you’ll keep the customer. So, take a carload of that.

Read more on Ted Cohen in Entrepreneur.

Ted Cohen was in it for the long haul. Less concerned with making a “quick buck,” Ted wanted to please his customers. Through his commitment to the business, Ted went on to motivate his son, Ryan, who credits his father’s guiding footsteps in his career.

Influenced by his father, the 25-year old Ryan Cohen dropped out of college and founded Chewy, originally MrChewy, with a friend he met in an online chat room. Chewy’s goal was to create a household brand and sustainable business that “delivers pet happiness” through unmatched convenience and customer service.

Joan Verdon at Forbes reports that, back then, Cohen used the 1997 Jeff Bezos letter to Amazon shareholders as a roadmap for how to grow the company. Chewy’s playbook became Bezos’ emphasis on the need to scale, to achieve market leadership, and to make bold bets.

MrChewy as seen in a 2011 screenshot of the site.

In need of capital, Cohen has said he approached over 100 venture capital firms. After being turned away by all of them, Cohen finally secured the company’s first outside investment of $15 million through linking with Larry Cheng of Volition Capital.

From that point on, the mission was larger. I was even more committed to making Chewy an industry leader, because it was no longer just our own money on the line. Larry had gone out on a limb for us. I felt that responsibility. [Ryan Cohen in HBR]

By 2016, the pet product retailer had grown to $900 million in sales and had become the number 1 online pet retailer. One year later, Cohen had raised $350 million and was preparing for an IPO.

This all took a turn when PetSmart purchased Chewy for $3.35 billion in the largest e-commerce acquisition of all time. Two years later, PetSmart took Chewy public at a valuation of $8.7 billion.

Ryan Cohen has spoken with TechCrunch about Chewy’s IPO.

In an interview with Connie Loizos of TechCrunch, Ryan Cohen referred to Chewy’s IPO as his “baby graduating from the college that he never went to,” and the year of the record-breaking acquisition Fortune named Cohen one of its “40 under 40.”

After continuing to operate as Chewy’s Chief Executive Officer for nearly a year after the sale, Cohen then stepped away from Chewy to begin an exploratory process.

Ryan Cohen considered retirement overrated.

Without any desire to retire at age 33, the relentless entrepreneur began plotting his next move.

I’m lucky. I’m talking to a lot of different entrepreneurs and business[es] and looking at corporate board opportunities. I’m going through that exploratory process.

RC Ventures

In April of 2019, Cohen saw an opportunity with GameStop and invested, pushing the video game retailer to focus on online sales and shutter unprofitable locations.

GameStop had tried and failed to sell itself after years of stagnant growth and corporate strategy missteps. The company hired a new CEO, George Sherman, a veteran of retailers including Advance Auto Parts. Sherman was GameStop’s fifth CEO in less than two years.

At the time, Ryan Cohen was far from being a household name. Living a private life, Cohen had rarely spoken with the press, and GMEdd.com can only cite seven media appearances despite selling a high-profile, multi-billion dollar company prior to his initial GameStop purchase.

With Cohen down on his GME investment, his suggestions to the board largely ignored, and stock reaching an all-time low of $2.80, the investor executed on an activist approach and upped the ante to a 9% stake, as he filed his first 13D for GameStop via RC Ventures LLC on August 28, 2020. 

RC Ventures’ first 13D filing, dated August 28th, 2020.

This sparked waves, particularly within value investor circles, as many pondered the e-commerce guru’s investment motives. What was the Founder of Chewy doing investing in GameStop?

For the past year, Cohen had been perfectly crafting a digital presence, coming out of his private life and conducting more than a dozen interviews, seemingly in an effort to build his credibility as an e-commerce mogul and aid with public support in the event of a proxy battle for control of the company.

When Cohen filed his initial stake in GameStop, traders were interested in the business magnate’s motives and discovered his recently-conducted media sharing his groundbreaking story of beating Amazon in the digital world.

At the time, Cohen had established a website, ryan-cohen.com, that embedded various media appearances and formal interviews the Chewy co-founder had given.

Roaring Kitty was impressed with Ryan Cohen’s success as an entrepreneur.

Retail investing icon Roaring Kitty first stumbles upon Ryan Cohen’s rudimentary homepage during an August 28th, 2020 livestream.  At the time, the deep value investor was merely trying to learn more about the Chewy founder. 

The website has since been shut down in December of 2020. Had the website done its job? 

The Letter and the Agreement

In November of 2020, Ryan Cohen again upped his stake, averaging into a 9.98% position.  More importantly, the activist investor amended a letter to the board in his 13D titled, “Maximizing Stockholder Value by Becoming the Ultimate Destination for Gamers.”

Snippets of Cohen’s Letter to GameStop’s Board in November 2020.

In a bold move, Ryan Cohen urged GameStop’s board to adopt the right roadmap to value creation, stating that the company needs to evolve into a technology company that delights gamers.

GAMESTOP’S LEADERSHIP MUST PROMPTLY PIVOT FROM A BRICK-AND-MORTAR MINDSET TO A TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN VISION

The letter called to attention the ineptitude of then-CEO George Sherman, “Regrettably, Mr. Sherman appears committed to a twentieth-century focus on physical stores and walk-in sales despite the transition to an always-on digital world,” Ryan Cohen wrote. 

To this day, the November 2020 letter remains the preeminent voice of Ryan Cohen’s vision regarding the gaming retailer, that all investors should review for an inside-look at his strategy.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the board responded by hosting a private call with Mr. Cohen.

Outraged with a proposed dilutive offering that was never mentioned on the call, Cohen wrote an email to GameStop’s then-chairwoman, Kathy Vrabeck, warning her that he would go public with his disapproval if the company proceeded with the sale. He urged her to share the email with other directors, people familiar with the matter said.  [WSJ, Aug. 12, 2021]

“The ill-timed stock offering created a wedge and he used it to his advantage,” a former board member said.

Reportedly leery of a prolonged fight and open to new ideas to improve the business, the board invited Mr. Cohen and two of his associates to join in January.

Read How Ryan Cohen Took Over GameStop – WSJ for more.

GameStop announced the RC Ventures agreement on January 11th.

With Ryan Cohen and his colleagues from Chewy’s executive suite now appointed to GameStop’s board, the work was just getting started.

Cohen in Charge

One of GameStop’s first Cohen-lead initiatives was recruiting a Chief Technology Officer, Senior Vice President of Customer Care, and a Vice President of Fulfillment. 

All of these appointees came from Amazon and Chewy, with the job titles and work experience indicating a new direction the board member was steering the company towards.

Shortly thereafter, the then-CFO Jim Bell was pushed out and a “hiring frenzy” rapidly ensued.

In May, GMEdd.com published GameStop Poaches Talent From The Best – Amazon, Chewy, Facebook, Google, and More.

As if the decades-old company was a startup once again, tech and e-commerce talent looking to be a part of something began leaving blue-chips in droves to fulfill Cohen’s vision. LinkedIn chatter began hinting towards GameStop gearing up for a transformation that will be studied in universities for years to come.

The stock remained volatile, and in April a new slate for the board was announced, with Chewy’s first investor Larry Cheng nominated for a seat and Ryan Cohen to be elected as Chairman.

At the company’s Annual Shareholders Meeting on June 9th, 2021, the newly-appointed Chairman addressed claims that the company was withholding a roadmap from investors.

We know some people want us to lay out a whole detailed plan today, but that’s not gonna happen. You won’t find us talking a big game, making a bunch of lofty promises, or telegraphing our strategy to the competition. That’s the philosophy we adopted at Chewy.

After months of cheeky tweets from Cohen, GameStop had announced two new fulfillment centers, mirroring Chewy’s locations and strategy. Simultaneously, the company had eliminated all long-term debt and raised nearly $2bn to fund transformation efforts.

GMEdd.com also took note of several job listings and LinkedIn posts that indicated the company would be expanding their corporate footprint from Grapevine to South Florida, Seattle, and Boston in an effort to have a vast pool from which to recruit talent.

The Future of Gaming

Sprinkled in these job postings were hints that the company was up to something big. GMEdd.com first noted in an otherwise typical job posting from April 8th, 2021, GameStop inadvertently expressed interest in the booming non-fungible tokens market, alongside blockchain and cryptocurrency.

GameStop’s Job Listing from April 8th, 2021

Listed under additional skills and experience, GameStop asked that applicants have experience in: blockchain, cryptocurrency, or non-fungible tokens.

In an increasing mania, GameStop began recruiting individuals for an “NFTeam” upon establishing NFT.GameStop.com, asking for exceptional engineers, designers, gamers, marketers, and community leaders to join the project.

It wasn’t long until speculative investors began pondering GameStop’s move into NFTs, and what the brick-and-mortar retailer was up to hiring blockchain engineers.

By October, GMEdd.com was confident enough to put all of the pieces together and publish the findings.

Loopring is the key

Loopring is aiming to leverage blockchain to become the leading user-facing financial services application in the world. Revolutionizing trading, investing, payments, ‘banking’, to become the gateway of choice for users to experience the parallel financial system of Ethereum — in all its glory and security.

Loopring posted an interview titled, “Counterfactual Wallet & NFTs on Loopring” on Medium. 

For months, the technology company had teased an NFT Marketplace launch with a “premium owner,” coming soon, and with glaring business ties and family ties, it seemed Loopring had the technology that GameStop would utilize to bridge traditional e-commerce and blockchain, and engineer the revolution of gaming.

Read more on the clues in Clues Point Towards GameStop Launching NFT Marketplace with Leading Crypto Technology Company Loopring

Just days later, with the clues published and the theory gaining traction, GameStop bluntly requested NFT marketplace experience in a job posting, alongside blockchain gaming.

The very next day, GMEdd.com noticed updates pushed to Loopring’s public GitHub repository containing code referring to GameStop, confirming the highly speculated partnership.

Loopring’s ‘NFT feature’ code revealed several references to GameStop.

Loopring had also announced that the NFT marketplace will feature gas-free, instant transactions, eliminating a high drop-off point in the conversion tunnel and a major impediment to mass-adoption.

At this point, with over 250 fresh tech-experienced hires, it has become irrefutable that GameStop is on the brink of transforming into a technology company, and now it’s just a matter of valuation.

What’s it worth?

It could be argued GameStop’s NFT marketplace has a greater chance of success because the established gaming brand already has a customer base of early adopters, including 55 million PowerUp Rewards members and an enthusiastic base of retail investors eager to adopt the platform.

Through a successful NFT marketplace launch, GameStop has the potential to generate millions of high-value additional revenue per year, cementing itself in the technology sector and forcing Wall Street to stop evaluating the company as a brick-and-mortar retailer and start implementing tech multiples. 

Sources: Ryan Cohen in Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, Roaring Kitty on YouTube, SEC 13D Filing, GameStop Careers, Chewy.com Archive, GameStop News Release, Loopring on Medium, GitHub Archive, Wall Street Journal, HBR

Join GMEdd.com’s Official Discord Server to chat about this article, GameStop’s transformation, and more.

CONSIDER DONATING TO SUPPORT RESEARCH AND BUY OUR CONTRIBUTORS A COFFEE