In short
- GameStop pledged 4,709 BTC to a call option on Coinbase Prime, giving the exchange the right to reverse or sell the coin.
- The move also reclassifies all shareholders from intangible to tangible, changing the flow of gains and losses through the income statement.
- CEO Ryan Cohen has refused to block the sale of GameStop’s Bitcoin, calling the company’s other opportunities “a very compelling strategy.”
Video game retailer GameStop revealed this week that it had moved all but 1 of its BTC Bitcoin Treasury Holdings in a covered call option on Coinbase Prime.
In doing so, the 4,709 BTC stash—worth about $315 million as of this writing—has become a welcome sight rather than an intangible asset on the company’s balance sheet. The reset is needed, as it will change how Bitcoin gains and losses pass through GameStop’s quarterly earnings.
Bitcoin mining companies have been silence since the beginning of the year. The price of BTC started the year at $87,000, but has been struggling to stay above $70,000 since February. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was changing hands at around $67,000 after falling 5% last week, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko.
The increase has put companies that have BTC on their websites under pressure. GameStop, which initially spent more than $500 million to buy its BTC last May, has seen its price plummet in recent months.
GameStop said in its report that the wording of the agreement means that Coinbase Prime has the right to “replicate, merge, or sell unilaterally” Bitcoin sellers.
This means that GameStop doesn’t sell Bitcoin—but it does he can to be sold.
“Although this asset class has changed, our financial exposure is consistent with direct ownership of Bitcoin,” the company said. 10-K annual report and the SEC.
In a covered call option, an investor who owns an asset – in this case, Bitcoin – trades a call option to a counterparty. This option gives the counterparty the right to buy the stock at a predetermined price, called the strike price, within a specified time period. In exchange, the owner receives an initial investment, which results in investment that would otherwise be on the balance sheet.
If the price of Bitcoin rises above the purchase price, then the counterparty can take advantage of this opportunity and acquire Bitcoin at a lower agreed price, making the owner a profit. If the Bitcoin remains below the price of the target, then the strategy may become unprofitable and GameStop will keep the money, including the Bitcoin.
By pledging almost all of its BTC as collateral via Coinbase Prime, GameStop is betting that Bitcoin won’t do anything to trigger the options – collecting yields in the short term.
The company bought Bitcoin in May 2025 after it expired $1.5 billion to give The biggest changes to investors’ notes last month.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen was he also explained the possibility of getting Bitcoin by placing next to Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor in a photo on X. Strategy launched the Bitcoin Treasury model, and is still the company’s largest shareholder by far with approximately $51 billion worth of BTC as of this writing.
Since Strategy first positioned Bitcoin as a financial asset August 2020many companies have followed his lead—raising capital ATM applications, flexible documentsand property interestsand then send it to Bitcoin. Strategy has used both.
But there have been recent questions about the company’s involvement in BTC.
In February 2026, GameStop’s Cohen was interviewed by Price CNBC if the company decides to sell Bitcoin stash. Cohen declined to comment, but said the company’s interests are “more compelling than Bitcoin.”
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