GameStop (NYSE:GME), a retailer of video games, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise that precipitated the meme stock mania, has finally revealed crucial details regarding its upcoming NFT marketplace. Contrary to popular expectations, GameStop has not partnered with Loopring for its NFT-focused initiative, instead choosing Immutable X as its Ethereum Layer-2 partner. As per the details, GameStop has announced the creation of a $100 million fund – denominated in Immutable X’s IMX tokens – to finance grants for NFT creators: GameStop chose Immutable X due to the network’s “zero gas fees for trading and minting NFTs in a carbon-neutral environment,” as per the company’s press statement. As a refresher, Immutable X claims that it is the first Layer 2 (L2) on Ethereum that is geared toward NFTs. For the uninitiated, the L2 is an entire protocol that is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. The protocol interacts with the main blockchain via smart contracts – programs that automatically execute actions when certain conditions are met. Immutable X claims that it can process up to 9,000 transactions per second, offering another avenue of attractiveness for GameStop. The platform also minimizes custodial risks as users retain private keys. Finally, the Immutable X Mint allows users to create and distribute assets (based on ERC-721 and ERC-20 protocols) in a convenient and secure manner. While details are still murky at the moment, GameStop clearly has big plans for its NFT marketplace, which is expected to host billions of low-cost, in-game digital assets and NFTs, including digital real estate and in-game skins. As for Loopring, it seems negotiations with GameStop did not pan out. As we’ve noted in a dedicated post previously, certain snippets of the source code from Loopring’s GitHub profile did reference “gamestopmeta” in the “NFT-DEV” amended code branch, suggesting the possibility of integration with GameStop’s upcoming NFT-focused platform. Nonetheless, all hope is not lost yet. According to a report by Wall Street Journal in January 2022, GameStop was purportedly close to signing a partnership with two companies, with the possibility of entering into similar collaborations with a dozen or more crypto-focused entities later on:
Update: GameStop Does Still Seem to be Partnering with Loopring
A close perusal of GameStop’s Form 8-K shows that the company is clearly still partnering with Loopring: Readers can peruse the entire filing here. We will continue to update this section with further details.
