The NFT market, along with other blockchain-related scams such as cryptocurrencies, has had a dreadful month, as its perceived “worth” evaporates and its actual monetary value plummets. The response of GameStop is “lol.”
The alternative financing market is collapsing. Since November, not only has there been a 92 percent reduction in sales but there has also been an 88 percent decline in “active wallets.”
This seems to be attributable in part to rising interest rates, which are squeezing the poorest while causing the wealthiest to be much less irresponsible in their speculation. As speculative as it gets, betting on the common misperception about JPG ownership is the most extreme example.
Nonetheless! With this announcement and an empty website, the company chose today of all days to introduce the GameStop NFT marketplace to the public:
— GameStopNFT (@GameStopNFT) May 19, 2022
Meet the new kid on the blockchain #GameStopNFT pic.twitter.com/BIrLrmYnMp
Blockchains have the same effect on the value that the internet had on communication. Global communities may now engage in new levels of interaction, coordination, and commerce.
If the value layers are public, permissionless, and honestly neutral, then the power is with the participants.
None of this has any significance, but what would you expect from a company governed mostly by memes in 2022? (and which continues to treat its employees like scum) Or from a business that is entering NFTs now, long after it has become apparent that nobody outside the laser-eyed technocult cares about ape jpegs.
Last year, GameStop made headlines when hyper-capitalist stock students started manipulating the firm’s share prices, hired a “Reddit hero and former pet food tycoon” to the board of directors, and sought to turn the company into an Amazon-like entity.
It worked for a while, but as other “meme stocks” drop, GameStop’s stock prices, which are down 40 percent year to date, are not looking so nice. While the stock rose from $78 per share in March to over $185 per share in a single day in April, it was not enough to stop the company’s slow descent from its highs in 2021.
Given the date, it is tough to predict success, but if anybody can figure out how to profit from pre-owned jpegs, it is these individuals.
Leave this field empty if you're human:
