GameStop Becomes FTX’s Preferred Retail Partner in the US

A partnership between GameStop Corp. and FTX US has been announced, through which more GameStop customers will have access to FTX’s community and marketplaces for digital assets.

The release highlighted that GameStop will start stocking FTX gift cards in a few of its shops in addition to working with FTX on fresh e-commerce and online marketing initiatives.

However, the partnership’s financial conditions are being kept confidential for the time being.

Retail stores could expand into digital offerings

With that, the deal is also a major step for FTX US as it listed hundreds of companies last month to diversify its product portfolio from virtual currency to traditional assets. Therefore, the partnership could also be on FTX’s foray into becoming a seller on GameStop stores on a broader front. Be[In]Crypto previously reported that the company’s chief Sam Bankman-Fried and his regulatory team met with White House policy advisor Charlotte Butash at the same time it is expanding overseas.

GameStop’s entry into the field was indicated by the posting of a new job opportunity for a security analyst skilled in cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFT) last year. Now, the deal expands on GameStop’s prior excursions into NFTs, which included the creation of a digital asset wallet in June and the launch of an NFT marketplace in July, despite the broader market downturn.

This was after GameStop, a retailer better known for selling physical games, released the new wallet as a browser plugin to allow users to buy, sell, trade, and hold NFTs in addition to a wide variety of cryptocurrencies in a beta version back in May. The wallet then took on to compete with the well-known wallet MetaMask, which can connect to NFT marketplaces and is also available as a browser extension.

GameStop cutting costs but reported losses in Q2

In July, GameStop also revealed an aggressive strategy to ‘eliminate excess costs’ to invest in the digital front. The company removed its Chief Financial Officer, Mike Recupero, and undertook a staff cut around the time.

GameStop reported on Sept. 7 that quarterly sales decreased and losses worsened. CEO Matt Furlong said in the investor call that “Our path to becoming a more diversified and tech-centric business is one that obviously carries risk and will take time. That said, we believe GameStop is a much stronger business than it was 18 months ago.”

In Q2, the company’s total sales decreased from $1.18 billion in the same quarter last year to $1.14 billion in the second fiscal quarter that concluded on July 30. Compared to a loss of $61.6 million a year earlier, its losses increased to $108.7 million.

At the end of the quarter, it had $908.9 million in cash and cash equivalents and inventory had grown to $734.8 million.