Is GameStop Making A Crypto, NFT Foray?

Videogame retailer GameStop GME may soon be venturing into the field of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens.

What Happened: GameStop placed an advertisement on its website on Thursday, saying it is seeking a security analyst who will be responsible for monitoring as well as maintaining data and platform confidentiality in an enterprise environment. The security analyst must have "skills and experience" in blockchain, cryptocurrency or non-fungible tokens (NFT).

Other desirable skills for the candidates include machine learning, artificial intelligence, eCommerce, Cloud platforms, eSports, malware analysis, and threat intelligence.

The job opening is at GameStop’s headquarters in Grapevine, Texas.

Why It Matters: GameStop’s intention to hire a security analyst with experience in blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFTs could imply that the company is looking to mint NFTs or planning to add a token to its platform.

NFTs, blockchain-based tokenization of collectible items or art pieces, are seen as having a bright future in online games. Early NFT adopters included game developers that were deploying code to the Ethereum blockchain to create their own games, like CryptoKitties and the trend has picked up in recent months, with a tokenized version of Beeple art going for $69 million.

Others to have come onboard the NFT train include Jack Dorsey — who heads Twitter Inc. TWTR and Square Inc. SQ, Tesla Inc. TSLA Elon Musk's partner — the Candian artist Grimes, actress Lindsay Lohan, rapper Snoop Dogg, to count a few.

In early 2021, GameStop emerged as a darling of Reddit retail investors who carried out a short squeeze in the stock.

Shares of the struggling brick-and-mortar retailer are seeing continued investor interest amid expectations it will adopt a digital business model led by Chewy Inc. CHWY co-founder and major shareholder Ryan Cohen.

Price Action: GameStop shares closed almost 7% lower on Friday at $158.36.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

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