GameStop's Bitcoin HODL Got Boring, So Now It's Collecting Premiums Instead

GameStop confirmed it's still holding 4,710 BTC worth roughly $368 million—ending two months of speculation after an onchain transfer alarmed analysts who thought the company was dumping its stack.

Spoiler: it wasn't a sale. It was the setup for a covered-call income strategy.

The company pledged 4,709 BTC as collateral on Coinbase Prime, keeping just 1 BTC directly on its balance sheet. Those 4,709 coins are now a digital assets receivable rather than an intangible asset, thanks to Coinbase Credit's rehypothecation rights, which forced GameStop to derecognize the position under U.S. GAAP. BitcoinTreasuries.net accordingly dropped GameStop from 21st to roughly 190th among public company Bitcoin holders—not because the coins vanished, but because the accounting treatment obscures direct ownership.

GameStop sold short-dated call options with strike prices between $105,000 and $110,000 per BTC, expiring March 27. The company pocketed premiums on its roughly $500 million Bitcoin purchase from May 2025 while Bitcoin languishes well below those strike prices. The covered-call play generated a $2.3 million unrealized gain against a $700,000 liability on the options book as of the filing.

The move makes sense given Bitcoin's 45% pullback from its all-time high. Rather than selling into weakness or sitting on mounting unrealized losses, GameStop chose to monetize its position through premium income—essentially betting its BTC won't moon hard enough to trigger the calls.

"Although the classification of these assets has changed, our economic exposure is consistent with direct ownership of the underlying Bitcoin," the company noted in its 10-K.

CEO Ryan Cohen, who once posed with Strategy chairman Michael Saylor to signal his Bitcoin intentions, has since pivoted his rhetoric. GameStop is now chasing "transformative" acquisitions, with Cohen describing those ambitions as "way more compelling than Bitcoin." Whether that means GameStop eventually exits its crypto treasury remains to be seen—but for now, it's collecting premiums while the market figures out direction.