GameStop launches NFT marketplace amid crypto market turmoil

GameStop today launched its non-fungible-token (NFT) marketplace to allow gamers, creators, collectors and other community members to buy, sell and trade NFTs. This comes as the crypto market crashed amid a massive sell-off investors and heightened inflation fears and pausing of withdrawal crypto lending service Celsius and Vauld.
The company’s marketplace is a non-custodial, Ethereum Layer 2-based marketplace that enables parties to truly own their digital assets, which are represented and secured on the blockchain. According to The Verge, there are more than 200 collections you can peruse and more than 53,000 NFTs led on the marketplace.  The company’s NFT platform will facilitate customers to buy, sell and trade NFTs of video game items, including clothes, weapons and characterics of the various player avatars.
Earlier in March, GameStop has launched a beta version of a crypto wallet that will facilitate gamers to buy and sell their crypto-assets and NFTs without having to leave the game. This comes after a Wall Street Journal report claimed that the company is hiring a 20 person division to establish partnerships.

A crypto wallet is where users can store their digital assets, this includes crypto coins and NFTs. What makes GameStop’s wallet different from other wallets like MetaMask is that it is a non-custodial wallet, which means you own your private keys— the crypto equivalent of a password. This wallet is exclusively designed for gamers only.
According to the company, users will be able to activate the Layer 2 exchange protocol, which means less gas fee(transaction fee to use the wallet) and faster transaction times. Currently, users will be able to make payments in Ethereum only.
Gamers will be able to download the GameStop wallet and add its extension to their browser. So while playing any ‘Play-to-earn’ games they would be able to make transactions directly from their wallet, without having to leave their computer screen. It should be noted that the wallet company says that it may use user data as well as track the user’s IP address. This could be a big drawback of the GameStop wallet, especially in the Web3 space which promises to offer anonymity to users.