GameStop moved half its bitcoin, triggering rumors it will dump the asset
“Institutions generally keep their long-term holdings in cold storage... You typically only move funds to Prime if you’re planning to trade or execute a sale.”
GameStop moved more than half its bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, sparking speculation that it could dump all its bitcoin holdings.
The company, which announced its bitcoin pivot with the purchase of 4,710 bitcoin in May in a one-sentence press release, moved 100 bitcoin on January 17 and another 2,296 bitcoin on January 20, according to analyst Sani.
Since May, GameStop hasn’t bought any additional bitcoin and currently ranks 22nd on the Bitcoin Treasuries leaderboard.
Rohan Hirani, cofounder of BitcoinQuant, told Sherwood News that while we won’t know for sure until the company’s next financial filing, moving assets to Coinbase Prime is usually “a clear signal.”
“Institutions generally keep their long-term holdings in cold storage (Coinbase Custody). You typically only move funds to Prime if you’re planning to trade or execute a sale,” Rohani said.
Rohani said that moving 51% of its total stack is interesting, as it suggests GameStop may be treating bitcoin more like inventory to be sold for cash rather than a permanent treasury asset, as Strategy does.
He added, however, that this does not indicate a larger trend, as companies that hold BTC on their balance sheets tend to take a long-term perspective on the asset rather than speculate in the short term.
“This looks like a specific decision by GameStop to shore up its own balance sheet rather than a signal that companies everywhere are dumping. It just looks like a monetization event. They likely need the cash for operations,” he said.
Nic Puckrin, cofounder of Coin Bureau, told Sherwood News that big transfers like this always look like preparation for a sale, but on-chain data can’t tell us if this is the intention unless it happens.
Puckrin added, however, that it wouldn’t be too surprising for GameStop to be selling out at this point, as it’s always been more of an opportunistic holder of BTC rather than a corporate treasury, “and it may feel that now is an appropriate time to de-risk.”
Meanwhile, shares of GameStop have been on a tear since CEO Ryan Cohen purchased $10.6 million in company stock on Wednesday.
GameStop did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
