The stock price of popular video game store chain GameStop (GME) surged roughly 13% in one day amid rumors circulating online regarding a partnership with Microsoft to work on NFT gaming.
At the time of writing, GME sits at $115.60 as of market close on Feb. 8 and has also held around that level in after-hours trading according to data from TradingView.
GME started February at around the $100 region and has been pumping this month on the back of GameStop’s partnership with NFT focused Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution Immutable X to develop its upcoming NFT marketplace. As part of the deal, GameStop is also rolling out a $100 million grant program denominated in IMX tokens for NFT content creators and tech developers.
The latest rumors circulating via channels such as Reddit and Twitter suggest that GameStop may team up with Microsoft to launch NFT integrations into existing games, along with creating new NFT focused games.
Microsoft partnering with GameStop for #NFT and #Metaverse ?? big companies behind the curve will scoop up the existing industry leaders that have been building the space already.
— AF (@OmniFurukawa) February 8, 2022
Twitter user “P_MackD” shared a photo earlier today that contained compiled screenshots of tweets from Immutable X and Microsoft execs cryptically posting the “probably nothing” meme regarding the major partnership with GameStop.
Yorke Rhodes III in particular, the director of Microsoft’s blockchain department tagged Xbox, Microsoft and GameStop in his tweet, potentially hinting that the tech giant may have a role to play in the Immutable X and GameStop partnership behind the scenes.
Best graphic I’ve seen about all this nothingness so passing it on. Probably nothing though…#GameStop #gme #Microsoft #must#immutableX #loopring #Apple #lrc pic.twitter.com/9vCZn33O5a
— moonape.nft (@P_MackD) February 8, 2022
While it is unclear what the exact connection between the three parties is, a Feb. 6 post on the r/Superstonk Reddit community outlined a notable hypothesis of what the partnership could entail.
Commenting on Microsoft’s major $69 billion acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, bamfcoco1 pointed to the firm’s turn-based player vs player collectible card game Hearthstone as something ripe for NFT integrations via Immutable X and GameStop.
Related:3 things every NFT investor should know to avoid a tax nightmare
The Redditor argued that Hearthstone’s declining user base from a peak of roughly 23.5 million to 3.5 million was partly due to the hefty costs of card collecting and lack of true ownership over the user’s assets, something which could be solved via NFT integrations:
“With the ability to freely mint and trade NFTs on Immutable X’s platform, it’s a no brainer. GameStop could launch Hearthstone on their brand new Web3 platform by simply making an NFT for every card and then distributing them accordingly to users’ existing card collections. It’s about as easy as it would get.”
It appears that Web3 and NFT related announcements have a strong impact on the price of GameStops shares. Cointelegraph reported in early January that the price of GME gained a whopping 26% in after hours trading after the unveiling of the firm’s new NFT division.
GameStop has sold nearly 15 million IMX tokens in the past few days.
Immutable, the developer of Immutable X, has so far sent around 37.5 million IMX tokens to GameStop, with around 15 million more to come.
Yesterday, Immutable announced it had been tapped by GameStop to help build its NFT marketplace.
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GameStop has dumped almost 15 million IMX tokens it had received as part of a development deal with Immutable.
IMX Floods Market
Yesterday, Immutable, the developer of Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution Immutable X, announced a partnership with GameStop that included building out its NFT marketplace.
As part of the deal, GameStop was set to receive up to $150 million worth of its IMX token in grants upon the completion of certain milestones. Transaction records on Etherscan indicate that GameStop received has received more than 37.5 million IMX tokens over the past four days.
Since then, GameStop has dispensed with 14,989,293 of those tokens.
Over a series of three transactions—two of which took place two days prior to the partnership announcement, and one which took place a few hours after the announcement—GameStop moved the roughly $44 million in IMX to centralized exchanges Binance, Huobi, and OKX.
With a current circulating supply of around 225 million, 15 million IMX tokens represents about 6.5% of the token’s supply.
The flood of IMX tokens onto the market has likely contributed to its sharp price decline in the past day and a half. Following Immutable’s announcement yesterday, the IMX token reached prices of over $4.20, but today the token sits under $3 at press time, representing a 40% price decline.
Immutable X is a Layer 2 NFT protocol for Ethereum that allows for quick transactions without gas fees. It utilizeszero-knowledgerollups to scale on Ethereum.
In September, Immutableraised$60 million in funding for its Immutable X scaling solution platform.
Down from its highs of around $380 per share last January, GameStop stock hovers slightly above $100 at press time. It is up around 3% today.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned IMX, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
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GameStop has sold nearly 15 million IMX tokens in the past few days.
Immutable, the developer of Immutable X, has so far sent around 37.5 million IMX tokens to GameStop, with around 15 million more to come.
Yesterday, Immutable announced it had been tapped by GameStop to help build its NFT marketplace.
Share this article
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GameStop has dumped almost 15 million IMX tokens it had received as part of a development deal with Immutable.
IMX Floods Market
Yesterday, Immutable, the developer of Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution Immutable X, announced a partnership with GameStop that included building out its NFT marketplace.
As part of the deal, GameStop was set to receive up to $150 million worth of its IMX token in grants upon the completion of certain milestones. Transaction records on Etherscan indicate that GameStop received has received more than 37.5 million IMX tokens over the past four days.
Since then, GameStop has dispensed with 14,989,293 of those tokens.
Over a series of three transactions—two of which took place two days prior to the partnership announcement, and one which took place a few hours after the announcement—GameStop moved the roughly $44 million in IMX to centralized exchanges Binance, Huobi, and OKX.
With a current circulating supply of around 225 million, 15 million IMX tokens represents about 6.5% of the token’s supply.
The flood of IMX tokens onto the market has likely contributed to its sharp price decline in the past day and a half. Following Immutable’s announcement yesterday, the IMX token reached prices of over $4.20, but today the token sits under $3 at press time, representing a 40% price decline.
Immutable X is a Layer 2 NFT protocol for Ethereum that allows for quick transactions without gas fees. It utilizeszero-knowledgerollups to scale on Ethereum.
In September, Immutableraised$60 million in funding for its Immutable X scaling solution platform.
Down from its highs of around $380 per share last January, GameStop stock hovers slightly above $100 at press time. It is up around 3% today.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned IMX, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
See full terms and conditions.
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The share price of Reddit’s cult-favorite stock GameStop Corporation (GME) jumped by one quarter (in after-hours trading following a Wall Street Journal report on its upcoming NFT division.
The U.S. retail game store giant has been quietly working on an NFT marketplace since May, and ramped things up in October by listing several job openings for Web 3.0 and NFT-experienced software engineers and product marketers.
According to a Jan. 6 report from the WSJ, GameStop has now hired more than 20 people to operate its freshly minted NFT unit.
An unnamed source familiar with GameStop’s plans told the outlet that the unit is building an NFT platform that enables the buying, selling and trading of gaming NFTs, along with establishing key cryptocurrency partnerships.
The marketplace is slated to launch later this year, and the firm is said to be close to penning partnerships with two crypto companies that will share technology and co-invest in the development of blockchain and NFT games, along with other additional NFT projects.
The news was warmly welcomed by after-hour traders who drove the price of GME up 26% since th market close to sit at $162.48 at the time of writing according to Tradingview. After-hours trading (AHT) is often quite volatile due to a lack of liquidity in the market but impacts the price of a stock in a similar way to regular trading.
However, the WSJ’s lack of named sources, or direct confirmation from GameStop has raised the eyebrows of some more conspiratorially-minded GME fanatics. In a post that has 1,100 comments and a 97% upvote ratio on the r/Superstonk Reddit community, user “u/brettmagnetic” questioned if the WSJ article could actually have that much of a bullish effect on after-hours GME trading.
“Sorry, but I don’t believe the movement in price after hours has to do with the WSJ posting about the Gamestop NFT market. I think something else is happening and this article was put out to give the NFT market as the scapegoat for the price increase.”
User “MrFlags69” echoed similar sentiments, arguing that: “The author credited ‘the people’ as the only source I saw. This is anything but journalism.”
Neither GameStop nor RC said shit today. WSJ is not on GameStop’s side. I’m not convinced that the AH bump was due to news about an NFT marketplace but rather a cover story for something going on BTS like forced FTD covering or margin calls. In any case, I buy and hold. pic.twitter.com/jDQFtTYIBr
GameStop (GME) is assembling a team of blockchain and NFT experts to work on the firm’s upcoming NFT platform.
The firm’s GME stock is a cult favorite amongst retail traders as a result of the r/wallstreetbets and Robinhood saga earlier this year. On Reddit the r/Superstonk community boasts 659,000 members, and is dedicated to hosting business and stock discussions related to GME.
A post about GameStop’s job listings yesterday has received more than 10,000 upvotes at the time of writing, with many members posting bullish sentiments over GameStop’s latest move.
GameStop quietly unveiled a bare-bones website for its NFT marketplace in May. The site currently features a Nintendo Gameboy-style gaming console with an Ethereum logo, along with a message calling out for recruits to work on the platform.
Since then the firm has held its cards close to its chest, however on Oct. 25 it listed a total of eight jobs for crypto-friendly candidates, including three roles for NFT experienced software engineers, three jobs for product marketers and with two roles focused on Web3 based gaming.
One of the listings for the Head of Web3 Gaming job says that GameStop is looking for someone with experience with “Ethereum, NFTs and blockchain-based gaming platforms.” The firm has also hinted that there are some plans related to the Metaverse in the works.
“GameStop is looking for a unique individual who can help accelerate the future of gaming and commerce. In this future, games are the places to go, and play is driven by the things you bring. Future creators won’t just build games but also the components, characters, and equipment. Blockchains will power the commerce underneath,” the job listing reads.
Related:Reddit may be preparing to launch its own NFT platform
Members of the r/Superstonk community were singing the firm’s praises yesterday, with “Triaspia2” calling it one of the “best job listings” they had seen, while pledging to buy more GME as it was a “bullish signal.”
Redditor “Donnybiceps” was equally bullish, noting that:
“NFTs are the future and people who haven’t gotten on board the GME train while knowing all these clues then you should be blaming yourself for not thinking this through.”
GME has had a volatile performance in October, going as low as $166 before bouncing to around $187 and subsequently crashing down again. However, according to data from Tradingview, the price of GME has still gained 2.8% this month to sit at $178 at the time of writing. The year-to-date gain for GME is a whopping 844%.
When Reddit users coordinated themselves to use their Robinhood accounts to buy GameStop shares en masse, the short squeeze they created sent shockwaves through Wall Street.
The 1,600% rally that was created turned retail investors and individuals who were new to trading wealthy overnight.
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The squeeze also caused a liquidity issue on Robinhood’s platform that saw the investment app restrict the actions of its users – killing GME’s early 2021 surge in its tracks and causing countless latecomers to the squeeze to lose out.
However, in the wake of the fiasco, the wider world of investing saw the benefits of what was a watershed moment in the growth of retail.
Source: The Verge
As we can see, GME’s 1,600% surge sent the company’s share price sprawling towards $400 in the final week of January 2021.
However, Robinhood sparked outrage among its community of retail investors when the company announced on January 28, 2021, that “in light of recent volatility” it’s “restricting transactions for certain securities to position closing only, including $AMC, $BB, $BBBY, $EXPR, $GME, $KOSS, $NAKD and $NOK.”
Criticism of Robinhood’s movements crossed the political divide. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, democrat and member of the US House of Representatives, said on Twitter at the time,
“This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.”
Republican senator Ted Cruz responded “fully agree” to Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet.
While the timing of the restrictions led to complaints from retail investors over unfair treatment, Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at Freedom Finance Europe, notes that the problems Robinhood faced were purely operational.
“One of Robinhood’s major issues is the lack of liquidity against the large demand on GameStop (GME) stock. It was because of those limits that many investors were dissatisfied and filed complaints and claims against Robinhood. The company, however, denies any involvement in assisting third parties, as nobody outside the company influenced the decision on the limits.”
Although Robinhood’s restrictions led to a sharp fall in the price of GME in the wake of the short squeeze, we can see that further price rallies have punctuated 2021 for the stock – along with similar boosts for AMC and cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin.
This indicates that, despite the fiasco of trading restrictions, we’re still seeing plenty of evidence that the retail market is bullish over investing – and many individuals are taking their enthusiasm for GME further afield across the ecosystem.
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The rise of the retail investor
In 2020 alone, over 10 million new trading accounts were estimated to have been created, according to JMP Securities.
This rise in accounts comes as platforms like Robinhood and zero-commission platforms have made options bets more accessible.
Source: Financial Times
As we can see from the data above, the average daily volume of US equity options traded topped 40 million in early 2021 – levels that are more than double that of any month prior to 2020.
The implementation of zero-commission investing apps and the volume of government stimulus packages delivered during the Covid-19 pandemic appears to have created an ideal cocktail of conditions to draw new investors to the market.
The GameStop short squeeze, despite Robinhood’s high-profile limitations and restrictions, has acted as a catalyst for more users to discover and embrace these newly favorable market conditions.
According to a recent survey by Wells Fargo, around 45% of teenagers said “the GameStop social media situation” had boosted their interest in investing, with 53% of boys and 40% of girls claiming increased interest – indicating that the event has inspired a whole new generation of investors to take their first steps into the stock market.
Driving investors towards cryptocurrencies
The same survey also explored the growing interest in cryptocurrency among younger investors, with 50% of parents admitting their teen knows more about Bitcoin than they do.
Likewise, around 58% of teen boys believe they know more about Bitcoin than their parents, while 33% of teen girls believe they are more knowledgeable.
Source: Coindesk
Here, we can see that retail cryptocurrency trading also climbed around the beginning of the year, with wallet addresses possessing between 0.01 to 1 BTC. However, the biggest impact that the GameStop saga had on the wider world of investment could be found in Dogecoin, a meme-based cryptocurrency that won appeal among investors in early 2021.
Source: Statista
In the wake of the GameStop short squeeze, we saw DOGE rise significantly, but as the year progressed, and investors became more cautious of Robinhood’s restrictions – believing that there may be an unfair playing field in traditional investing – the cryptocurrency pumped significantly in Q2 of 2021 before falling victim to the widespread crypto market pullbacks that spanned into the summer months.
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Although the perfect conditions for a widespread retail influx were already in place before the Robinhood fiasco with GameStop shares, the global news event acted as a catalyst for more individuals to incorporate more investment opportunities into their portfolios.
Whether we look to traditional investment markets or cryptocurrency, it seems as though the wider world of investing has benefited from the chaos of early January, with fresh blood on the market and greater retail awareness of crypto.
As these new arrivals learn the ropes and become more mature with their investments, we may soon see a healthier market for it.
Dmytro Spilka is a tech and finance writer based in London. His work has been published in Nasdaq, Kiplinger, Financial Express and The Diplomat.
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.
One of the hedge funds badly burned in the infamous GME social media driven short squeeze is closing down, while GameStop itself has just completed its $1.13 billion equity offering.
According the Financial Times, London-based White Square Capital operated by Florian Kronawitter has closed its main fund and will return capital to investors.
White Square Capital reportedly had $440 million in assets under management (AUM) at its peak. The hedge fund was one of many that suffered double digit percentage losses from short positions in January, when the Wall Street Bets subreddit helped pump GME’s price from $21 on Jan. 12 to around $345 on Jan. 27.
However the FT reported a source as saying the fund’s closure was unrelated to its GameStop misadventure. In a letter to investors, co-founder Kronawitter cited the traditional equity long-short model was being “challenged” in the current financial climate, as there are “way too many fish in the pond” that operate with the same long-short strategy.
“The traditional edge is being arbed away [eroded by other investors], there’s an oversupply of capital,” Kronawitter said.
The co-founder also highlighted that the hedge fund’s opportunities for arbitrage have “diminished” due to the “onslaught of capital caused by central bank monetary interventions.”
These factors are also accompanied by the relative ease of access to information and cheaper investment alternatives, with Kronawitter asserting that it brings it to question how the management fees from hedge funds can be justified in the current market.
In a Reddit thread discussing the news on the r/wallstreetbets subreddit, members of the group shared their delight, with user “turtleduck77” likening hedge funds that shorted GME to dominoes falling, noting that its “Time to invest in dominoes! The game not the pizza.”
Related:New decentralized crypto exchange is inspired by r/Wallstreetbets
GameStop completes ATM offering
Yesterday GameStop announced the completion of an at-the-market (ATM) equity offering, with the company selling five million shares of common stock generating almost $1.3 billion before commissions and offering expenses.
“GameStop will use net proceeds from the ATM Offering for general corporate purposes as well as for investing in growth initiatives and maintaining a strong balance sheet,” the announcement read.
One of the growth initiatives likely to be funded is GameStop’s NFT marketplace set to be launched on Ethereum.
While details are sparse at this stage, the firm’s blockchain division is reportedly headed by the former business operations leader of Ethereum and Loopring DEX, Matt Finestone.
The smart contract platform is based on the ERC-721 NFT standard and was created by foobar, a developer who has worked on wrapper solutions for the classic version of Crypto Punks, HD Mooncats, and MooncatHelper NFT projects in the past.
While top crypto assets and memecoins have been in a major down trend since May 12, GME’s meme stock has increased 36.6% within that time frame, increasing from $161 on May 12, to $220 as of today, according to TradingView.
In comparison, data from CoinGecko shows that crypto’s nearest equivalent in meme coin Dogecoin has cooled down, has dropped 64% — declining from a price range of $0.50 on May 12, to $0.18 today.
It appears that “r/wallstreetbets” favorite meme stock company GameStop is in the process of developing its own NFT marketplace.
Oh wow, @GameStop is launching an NFT platform https://t.co/3lkqgJTiwS pic.twitter.com/3BT1Szo9qJ
— Brad Michelson (@BradMichelson) May 25, 2021
While an official announcement hasn’t been made, the gaming giant appears to have launched a website named “nft.gamestop” — and is currently on the lookout for recruits:
“We welcome exceptional engineers (solidity, react, python), designers, gamers, marketers, and community leaders. If you want to join our team, send your profile or something you’ve built to: nfteam@gamestop.com.”
Information on the bare bones website is sparse. Apart from the job listing, there is a Nintendo Game-Boy-like gaming console with a GameStop cartridge placed at the top. The console’s screen has green text which reads “power to the players, power to the creators, power to the collectors.” The website budget looks like it was under $20.
Interestingly, there is a link under the console to an Ethereum address. Upon searching the address on Etherscan, it looks like the firm will be utilizing Ethereum’s ERC721 standard, with an overview showing a “GME token” although there are zero in circulation so far.
In the comment section on Etherscan, some “r/wsb” members have already flocked to show support, with several people commenting with “I like the stonk,” — a popular meme within the community.
LaMelo having a tokenized ball
Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball is set to drop a collection of 500 Dynamic NFTs — non-static and updatable NFTs — before the NBA Rookie of the Year announcement in June. The collection will be dropped on lameloball.io.
“As I learn more about blockchain, I realize this is the most powerful and unique way to engage my fans in a way that’s special to them individually,” Ball told ESPN on May 28.
Ball is one of three rookie of the year candidates and is dropping 500 “Dynamic NFTs” that will automatically update to include the award (if he wins it).
Unlike static NFTs which can’t change, Dynamic NFTs can be updated with new data as they rely on “perpetual smart contracts that use oracles to communicate with and react to external data and systems” according to Chainlink Labs.
Dynamic NFT Framework, Chainlink Labs
Utilizing Dynamic NFTs, Ball plans to update or “level up” the NFTs according to events from his NBA career. The 20-year-old also plans to offer lotteries that will allow collectors of the NFTs to “burn” them in exchange for that chance to win game worn-memorabilia.
“LaMelo will become the first athlete to mint his career on the blockchain,” Sher Chaudhary told ESPN, The co-founder of Playground, the Southern California-based NFT design studio working with Ball.
According to ESPN, along with the 500 Dynamic NFTs, the rookie of the year candidate has plans to release a further 9,500 standard NFT’s on the Ethereum Blockchain.
NFTs are Gucci
Christie’s art auction house has announced the launch of a new NFT auction dubbed “Proof of Sovereignty” — which includes a tokenized fashion film from Gucci.
The auction is already underway and due to close on June 3 and is being curated by the co-founder of art and crypto media advisory firm Universe Contemporary, “Lady PheOnix.”
The auction will consist of artworks from 19 different artists and includes fashion giant Gucci’s first-ever NFT — a tokenized fashion film co-directed by Alessandro Michele and by renowned photographer and director Floria Sigismondi.
The film explores the themes of “universal desire for renewal; a yearning to bloom and flourish after the shadow of winter has passed,” and has a starting bid of $20,000.
All of the proceeds from Gucci’s NFT sale will be donated to UNICEF USA, which supports UNICEF’s role in COVAX — “an initiative aimed at ensuring global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.”
Animoca Brands and Hedera
NFT game developer Animoca Brands has entered into a partnership with a public distributed ledger or DLT, network Hedera Hashgraph to develop two DLT-based gaming projects.
Hedera Hashgraph revealed the first project is an NFT based soccer game, that will feature tradable tokenized player NFTs which are backed by Hedera’s native token HBAR.
The NFTs will be redeemable for HBAR after an unrevealed “cooldown period,” with the firm claiming that this will represent the “first time that an NFT will be redeemable for a fixed and guaranteed amount of an underlying crypto asset.”
The second project dubbed “Helix Warp” will be an independent DLT-based online gaming platform focused on taking down cheaters.
Coming soon – Helix Warp
“Helix Warp will counteract cheating by creating a server-side simulation environment and leveraging the Hedera Consensus Service to record results. Game developers will be able to plug into Helix Warp and deploy hack-resistant leaderboards in their games.”
“Helix Warp will target HTML5 games, to begin with and utilize the Helix Warp token to underpin the ecosystem,” the blog post added.
Robinhood will be adding more crypto staff and potentially listing more coins.
CEO Vlad Tenev acknoweldged that the company lost trust for delisting GME and DOGE.
Tenev was evasive when answering questions in his recent Senate testimony.
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Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announced that the company would list more cryptocurrencies and hire extra crypto staff. The expansion comes in the wake of a major controversy surrounding the company’s delisting of various “meme stocks,” leading to accusations of Wall Street collusion.
Robinhood Reveals Crypto Ambitions
In a video posted on Thursday, Tenev said the company is working on its wallet features and considering new coin listings.
“As much as people are bugging me on that on social media, I’m bugging our crypto team and our software engineers. We’re going to try and get that done as fast as possible. And we’ll see. We might add some new coins along the way,” said Tenev.
Tenev added that the company would hire a “ton” of crypto staff and made statements to criticize Coinbase and other crypto exchanges.
“One thing that we’re probably not doing as great of a job communicating to customers is just how cost effective our offering is,” Tenev said. “If you trade on Coinbase, or some of these other, kind of smaller outfits, you’re paying 1%, 2%, even more.”
The CEO openly addressed the loss of trust that the company has suffered due to delisting the GME stock and other assets during a social media frenzy that had been pumping prices.
In January, members of Reddit’s WallStreetBets community noticed that various hedge funds were overexposed on their short positions for GameStop stock and executed a short squeeze, resulting in billions of dollars worth of liquidations for Wall Street institutions. One hedge fund, Melvin Capital, had to be bailed out by Citadel for $2 billion.
The GME pump marked the first time retail traders had managed to beat Wall Street, and Robinhood’s GME delisting resulted in outrage throughout the trading community. Robinhood closed many long positions without traders’ permission, resulting in lost funds and accusations of corruption and collusion with Robinhood’s Wall Street partners.
There is no reason you should be using Robinhood after today.
— The Chairman (@WSBChairman) January 28, 2021
The company also halted all crypto trading at the height of a buying frenzy spurred on by public figures, including Elon Musk. The move was again met with outrage among retail traders. However, Robinhood still added 3 million new crypto users in February.
Tenev was summoned to testify in front of the U.S. Senate, refusing to answer questions around potential falsehoods he had told the media regarding liquidity problems and his reasons for halting crypto trading.
In the latest video, he acknowledged the reputational damage Robinhood had suffered, claiming “we’re doing as much as we can to get the true story out there.”
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author held Bitcoin
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BitMEX co-founder and former CEO Arthur Hayes has returned from exile with a post on the derivatives exchange’s official blog calling for a boycott of legacy platforms following the GameStop drama.
Hayes said the incident, where trading on Robinhood was halted after retail traders forced a short squeeze causing hedge funds to suffer billions in losses, showed that markets are stacked against retail traders:
“The game masters just didn’t like how the game was being played, so they jacked up margin to force a course correction,” he said.
The former BitMEX CEO urged retail traders trader to “opt-out” of the legacy financial system in favor of “Crypto Capital Markets”:
“Withdraw all your money from your broker. Stop trading. Stop paying the system that you believe treats you like a second-class citizen. That is opting out, and it is extremely powerful and liberating.”
The post follows months of silence from Hayes — who went to ground last year after the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed charges against BitMEX executives in October for allegedly violating federal anti-money laundering and know-your-customer obligations and operating an unregistered trading platform.
The post did not provide any indication as to his current whereabouts, and did not address any of the accusations levied against BitMEX. However, he apparently has BitMEX’s permission to post on its official blog as he noted that he intends to post on a fortnightly basis.
Hayes’ return to Crypto-Twitter for the first time since September was welcomed by many notables of the crypto sector, including BitInstant founder Charlie Shrem, Kraken’s growth lead Dan Held, Three Arrows Capital CEO Su Zhu, and Blockstream co-founder and CEO, Adam Back.
Arthur’s baack! Good read on $GME people need to grok the rules. Know the system.
— Adam Back (@adam3us) February 18, 2021
However, not everyone offered Hayes a warm welcome, with Twitter-user “Lord Ashdrake” replying to Hayes: “bro, shouldn’t you be like in jail or something?”
