Can Gamestop’s GME use bitcoin to spark another frenzied retail stock rally?
GameStop (GME), Reddit’s favourite meme stock from the 2021 bull run, is about to make a comeback in 2025 with a bold new “strategy”: adding Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.
But this is no modest allocation. One day after receiving approval to buy BTC by the board of directors, the company announced a US$1.3 billion senior convertible note offering to raise funds for their first purchase – the size and scale of which is seldom seen from even Strategy and Michael Saylor.
The notes convert in 2030, and they pay exactly zero interest. The idea is that investors can, in the worst scenario, get their money back at par in five years, and in the best scenario, convert their notes into GME stock at a profit if its value rises.
What would make GME’s value rise? The appreciation of its underlying bitcoin – at least theoretically. Yet many questions still need answering: will investors buy bonds from Gamestop? Will the company stay devoted to buying BTC as aggressively as Strategy is? Also, will GME’s stock ultimately track the price of BTC as well as MSTR does?
The Bitcoin Therapist – a popular X account bullish on BTC and MSTR – says he bought some GME recently, believing Gamestop can mimic at least some of Strategy’s success. “The first movers of the Bitcoin treasury companies will have outsized returns compared to everyone that comes later,” he tweeted Saturday. “We saw it with Metaplanet. I think that happens next with GME.”
Don’t forget: Gamestop today is in a very similar position to where Strategy was when it began acquiring BTC in 2020. Both, before bitcoin, were companies dying slow heat deaths as they faded into obsolescence and had no signs of growth on the horizon. This is especially true of Gamestop – a store selling physical copies of video games as games increasingly go digital.
Now, Gamestop has something that most other pubcos don’t. Bitcoin – a volatile asset with extreme long-term growth potential. Combine that with its lingering meme effect from the firm’s 2021 glory days, and GME could be a bond investor’s vehicle for volatility like no other.
Many have predicted that Gamestop might be one of the first firms to go all-bitcoin after Strategy, including Max Keiser. “If $GME announces a ‘Saylor’ Bitcoin treasury strategy the stock will go to $1,000” he tweeted in June of last year. “GME can be the pleb version of MSTR.”
Strategy’s Saylor was also pictured with Gamestop CEO Ryan Cohen last month, signalling that the two were already in discussion.
Ultimately, Jan3 CEO Samson Mow thinks more companies copying Saylor hyper accelerates Bitcoin’s inevitable climb to infinity.
“There is no way that we have another Strategy-type large-scale buyer come into the market without seeing a correction to $0.2M,” he said Saturday.
Brazil Eyes Bitcoin Reserve for Economic Boost
A senior official from the Brazillian President’s administration is advocating for a strategic Bitcoin reserve as a cornerstone of the nation’s economic future.
“Bitcoin is digital gold—the gold of the internet,” said Roberto Machado Campos, chief of staff to Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, last week. “It is a technology that allows wealth to be transferred across the globe swiftly and enables us to store the fruits of our labor efficiently and securely.”
Campos argued that adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset could be “crucial” for Brazil’s prosperity, especially as global competitors like the U.S. establish their own stockpiles—such as the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve announced by President Trump earlier this month.
This push aligns with a proposed bill from Senator Valter Nagelstein, which suggests allocating 5% of Brazil’s national reserves to Bitcoin and expanding crypto payment options nationwide.
With Brazil already boasting over 300 Bitcoin ATMs and a growing crypto-friendly environment under its 2022 regulatory framework, the nation could follow El Salvador’s lead as a Bitcoin pioneer, potentially transforming its $18 billion economy by integrating BTC into its treasury.
More to the point, these discussions signal what every Bitcoiner has long seen coming: nations will soon be racing to accumulate bitcoin before the rest.
Solo Bitcoin Miner Defies Odds, Nets $266K
A lone Bitcoin miner solved block 888,737 last week with a modest home rig, pocketing a $266,000 reward, an email to FutureBit recently revealed.
This anonymous miner, operating through Solo CKPool with a hash rate of just 700 terahashes per second (TH/s)—a tiny fraction of the network’s total 600 exahashes per second (EH/s)—beat odds estimated at one in hundreds of thousands.
The miner used a FutureBit Apollo II, a compact device designed for home use, proving that Bitcoin’s probabilistic design still offers a slim chance for small players to strike it rich.
“I usually have the Apollo miners set on efficiency mode,” the miner wrote. “I scrolled through the Apollo website on my phone, still in the comfort of my bed. I looked at the SOLO Mining User’s panel. What appeared next stopped me cold.”
The win, which included a 3.125 BTC block subsidy plus transaction fees, highlights the improbable but thrilling potential of solo mining in an era dominated by industrial-scale mining pools.
Solo CKPool’s admin, known as “ckpooldev,” celebrated the feat, noting it as a testament to the “lottery-like” nature of solo mining, where persistence and luck can defy the overwhelming computational power of giants like Foundry USA and AntPool.
Just goes to show that even today, there may be an incentive for you to get out there and mine some bitcoin. You’ll help keep the network decentralized – and who knows? You just might hit it big.
Stay humble,
Andrew
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