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 develop into a receivable slightly than an intangible asset on the corporate’s stability sheet. The reclassification issues, as a result of it will change how Bitcoin beneficial properties and losses movement by means of GameStop’s quarterly earnings.

Bitcoin treasury corporations have been comparatively quiet because the begin of the 12 months. The value of BTC began the 12 months round $87,000, however has struggled to remain above $70,000 since February. On the time of writing, Bitcoin was altering arms for about $67,000 after having dropped 5% previously week, in response to crypto value aggregator CoinGecko.

The heightened volatility has put corporations with BTC on their stability sheets below pressure. GameStop, which initially spent greater than $500 million shopping for its BTC final Might, 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 best to “rehypothecate, commingle, or unilaterally promote” the retailer’s Bitcoin.

Meaning GameStop did not promote its Bitcoin—but it surely could possibly be bought.

“Though the classification of those belongings has modified, our financial publicity is according to direct possession of the underlying Bitcoin,” the corporate mentioned in its 10-Okay 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 provides the counterparty the best to purchase the asset at a predetermined value, known as the strike value, inside a set timeframe. In trade, the holder receives a premium upfront, producing revenue on an asset that will in any other case simply sit on a stability sheet.

If Bitcoin’s value rises above the strike value, then the counterparty can train the choice and purchase the Bitcoin on the decrease agreed-upon value, capping the holder’s upside. If Bitcoin stays beneath the strike value, 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 basically 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 Might 2025 after finishing a $1.5 billion providing of convertible senior notes to buyers the month earlier than.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen had hinted on the foray into buying 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 corporations have adopted its lead—elevating capital by means of ATM fairness packages, convertible notes, and most well-liked inventory 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.”