Why GameStop Put $315 Million in Bitcoin Into a Covered Call Options Strategy

Online game retailer GameStop disclosed this week that it moved all however 1 BTC of its Bitcoin treasury holdings right into a lined name choices technique on Coinbase Prime.

By doing so, the 4,709 BTC stash—price about $315 million as of this writing—has turn out to be a receivable fairly than an intangible asset on the corporate’s steadiness sheet. The reclassification issues, as a result of it’s going to change how Bitcoin positive aspects and losses circulation by means of GameStop’s quarterly earnings.

Bitcoin treasury firms have been relatively quiet since the start of the year. The worth of BTC began the yr round $87,000, however has struggled to remain above $70,000 since February. On the time of writing, Bitcoin was altering palms for about $67,000 after having dropped 5% up to now week, in line with crypto worth aggregator CoinGecko.

The heightened volatility has put firms with BTC on their steadiness sheets below pressure. GameStop, which initially spent greater than $500 million shopping for its BTC final Could, has seen the worth of its holdings drop considerably in latest months.

GameStop famous in its report that the phrases of the collateral settlement imply that Coinbase Prime has the fitting to “rehypothecate, commingle, or unilaterally promote” the retailer’s Bitcoin.

Meaning GameStop did not promote its Bitcoin—but it surely might be offered.

“Though the classification of those property has modified, our financial publicity is according to direct possession of the underlying Bitcoin,” the corporate mentioned in its 10-K annual report with the SEC.

In a lined name technique, an investor who holds an asset—on this case, Bitcoin—sells a name choice to a counterparty. The choice offers the counterparty the fitting to purchase the asset at a predetermined worth, referred to as the strike worth, inside a set timeframe. In alternate, the holder receives a premium upfront, producing revenue on an asset that will in any other case simply sit on a steadiness sheet.

If Bitcoin’s worth rises above the strike worth, then the counterparty can train the choice and purchase the Bitcoin on the decrease agreed-upon worth, capping the holder’s upside. If Bitcoin stays under the strike worth, then the choice expires nugatory and GameStop retains the premium—plus its Bitcoin.

By pledging almost all of its BTC as collateral for the technique by means of Coinbase Prime, GameStop is actually betting that Bitcoin will not rally sharply sufficient to set off the choices—gathering yield within the interim.

The corporate initially bought the Bitcoin in Could 2025 after finishing a $1.5 billion offering of convertible senior notes to traders the month earlier than.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen had hinted at the foray into acquiring Bitcoin by posing subsequent to Technique Chairman Michael Saylor in a photograph on X. Technique pioneered the Bitcoin treasury mannequin, and stays the most important company holder by far with roughly $51 billion price of BTC as of this writing.

Since Technique first labeled Bitcoin as a treasury asset in August 2020, many firms have adopted its lead—elevating capital by means of ATM equity programs, convertible notes, and preferred stock issuances, then deploying it into Bitcoin. Technique has used all three.

However there have been latest questions concerning the firm’s BTC conviction.

In February 2026, GameStop’s Cohen was requested by CNBC if the corporate was contemplating promoting its Bitcoin stash. Cohen declined to say, however alluded to the corporate’s acquisition ambitions as “far more compelling than Bitcoin.”