GameStop stops supporting crypto wallet due to regulatory uncertainty in the US

GameStop will stop servicing its cryptocurrency wallet from November 1st due to regulatory uncertainty in the US.

“Due to regulatory uncertainty in the crypto space, GameStop has decided to remove its iOS wallets and Chrome Extension from the market,” the company said in a statement.

It is not clear what aspects of "regulatory uncertainty" the company had in mind. Users are advised to ensure they have access to their seed by October 1st.

“Any customer with access to their passphrase can recover their account to any compatible wallet,” GameStop wrote.

The wallets, launched about a year ago, allow you to manage cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in decentralized applications and conduct transactions on the GameStop NFT marketplace. At that time, users expected that the development would benefit various blockchain games, such as Gods Unchained and Illuvium.

GameStop was able to release an NFT marketplace based on the Immutable X sidechain. The choice fell on Immutable X precisely because of the potential financial benefits for GameStop. For example, according to the financial terms of cooperation, Immutable X promised the game retailer to pay bonuses of $150 million in IMX tokens. However, by August 2022, the marketplace ran into problems - GameStop's commission revenue fell to $4,000 per day.

GameStop is headquartered in the United States, where lawmakers and regulators are taking a variety of approaches to combat the rise of crypto and blockchain. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched several lawsuits against crypto firms in the country.

The head of the SEC, Gary Gensler himself, warned investors that the cryptocurrency market is “overwhelmed with scammers and traders,” and cryptocurrencies themselves are a speculative asset class. At the same time, most crypto investors should not count on the protection of the SEC now.