GameStop Loses Head Of Blockchain: What's Next For The Company's Web3 Endeavors -...

After seeing growth in the Web3 sector, video game retailer GameStop Corporation GME may have to find a new person to lead the charge.

What Happened: GameStop’s Head of Blockchain Matt Finestone announced he recently left his position at GameStop, calling the role “among the most meaningful of my life.”

Finestone joined GameStop in April 2021 and led the company’s blockchain aspirations including the launch of the GameStop NFT marketplace.

“Thank you to the GameStop blockchain team. You’ve made the experience exceptional. We went from 0 people to several dozen in short order and everything we’ve built — from products to team culture — is due to you,” Finestone tweeted.

Finestone said he plans to work within the Ethereum ETH/USD ecosystem and return closer to the protocol and infrastructure level. Prior to GameStop, Finestone worked for Loopring.

“I will always care deeply about this project and will cherish watching it advance.”

Finestone told Twitter followers “there’s never been a more exciting time to be an Etherean.”

Why It’s Important: GameStop launched its NFT marketplace in July and passed $3.5 million in sales volume in its first two days to overtake Coinbase Global Inc COIN, then passed $4 million after the first three days of trading. The Coinbase marketplace opened in beta in April 2022 and to the public in May 2022.

Dappradar reported the GameStop NFT marketplace had a sales volume of $5.1 million in the past 30 days and $736,000 in the last seven days.

GameStop recently launched a Betty Boop NFT, which is among its highest sales volume collections of all time.

On Monday, GameStop launched an NFT collection featuring comic artist John Romita Jr., the creator of “Kick-Ass.”

GameStop said it will be launching more video game-specific NFTs in the future. The company shared a tweet earlier this month that it would be bringing NFTs from “Gods Unchained” to its marketplace soon.

GameStop recently announced a partnership with cryptocurrency and NFT marketplace company FTX.

“The partnership is intended to introduce more GameStop customers to FTX’s community and its marketplace for digital assets,” GameStop said.

GameStop’s early momentum in the NFT space along with the future launch of more collections geared to gamers have some believing the video game retailer can carve out a share in the sector. The company will likely look to replace Finestone and make an announcement to keep the momentum going.

GME Price Action: GameStop shares were up 1.14% to $29.24 at market close Monday versus a 52-week trading range of $19.40 to $63.92.

Photo: GameStop