GameStop’s (GME) massive $420 million bitcoin The transfer earlier this year was not a departure, but it does not hold the coins either.
In its annual report filed on Tuesday, the video game retailer revealed that 4,709 BTC, of its 4,710 coins, had been pledged to cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase (COIN) as part of an over-the-counter covered call strategy.
The disclosure offers a clearer explanation for a January wallet that showed GameStop shifting almost its entire bitcoin position to Coinbase Prime. The move had sparked speculation that the company was preparing to sell its stakes. Especially as digital asset treasury companies faced increasing pressure from falling cryptocurrency prices, raising questions about whether GameStop was de-risking.
The BTC Options Strategy
Instead, what happened is that the company has issued short-term call options on its bitcoin, with strike prices between $105,000 and $110,000 and maturities until the end of March.
The trade was intended to generate income from option premiums, while limiting profits above those levels.
The filing shows a liability of $0.7 million tied to the options and an unrealized gain of $2.3 million. It also said that after the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, a portion of the covered call contracts expired unexercised, while the related collateral remained on Coinbase Credit.
I no longer have bitcoins
The structure also changed how GameStop accounts for its holdings.
Because Coinbase can remortgage or redistribute the compromised bitcoin, the company no longer classifies the assets as directly owned. You now record an account receivable, the right to claim equivalent BTC later.
This is a notable change from its buy-and-hold strategy. While GameStop said its economic exposure remains similar to holding bitcoin directly, the position is no longer unencumbered. It has a counterparty and is linked to derivatives.
The company reported that accounts receivable tied to the pledged bitcoin were worth $368.3 million at the end of the fiscal year. It also recorded an unrealized loss of $59.7 million linked to the decline in the price of bitcoin.
