GameStop transfers $200 million in Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime as losses loom

GameStop’s on-chain wallets have moved over half of their BTC holdings to Coinbase Prime, raising the likelihood of selling at an unrealized loss of tens of millions of dollars. The company moved 100 BTC (~$9.5M) on January 17 and another 2,296 BTC on January 20, bringing the total to 2,396 BTC, representing roughly 51% of its BTC holdings.

GameStop added 4,710 BTC to its corporate treasury between May 14 and 23, 2025, at an average price of $107.9K, investing roughly $504 million at the time. Now, the company may be selling at around $90.8K, realizing approximately $76 million in unrealized losses, according to CryptoQuant. GameStop’s BTC holdings were worth $519.4 million as of the end of Q3 2025.

Sani flags GameStop’s BTC transfers to Coinbase Prime

Blockchain sleuth Sani flagged the January 17 transfer recorded on Mempool in a post on X and later uncovered the January 20 transfer on the same on-chain data platform. However, the company has not made any official announcement suggesting a sale.

On the other hand, recent on-chain activity has sparked speculation that GameStop is preparing to dump over half of its BTC holdings. However, the sale seems highly unlikely because Bitcoin is currently trading around $89,109 on Coingecko, well below the company’s estimated average acquisition cost of about $106,000. That means any sale would likely lock in significant losses.

Meanwhile, transfers from cold storage to brokerage wallets usually suggest potential selling rather than long-term holding. The transfers could also mean routine treasury management, such as posting collateral, preparing for BTC-linked financial strategies, or rebalancing holdings. Coinbase is commonly used for such institutional brokerage services rather than immediate liquidation. GameStop uses Coinbase Prime as its institutional trading platform.

Additionally, the U.S. SEC requires public companies like GameStop to disclose material changes to their BTC holdings in filings if sales exceed 10% of their treasury positions. Therefore, any move by GameStop to offload more than half of its Bitcoin stash would likely show up in the company’s next quarterly report.

GameStop seeks to reduce physical stores

With rumors of a possible BTC offload still circulating across several media outlets, GameStop has also announced plans to close over 470 physical stores across the U.S., with five of those in Alabama. The Texas-based video game retailer said in a U.S. SEC filing last year that it would close a large number of stores in fiscal 2025, which ends on January 31, 2026. The company closed 590 U.S. stores during the previous fiscal year.

In Alabama, GameStop is closing the stores in Birmingham, Hartselle, Mobile, Opelika, and Troy, while in Arkansas, it is closing three locations, including West Memphis, Batesville, and Little Rock. In Arizona, the company is closing ten locations in Bullhead City, Flagstaff, Lake Havasu, and Mesa. It is also closing four locations in Phoenix and two in Tucson. 

The company plans to close nearly 50 stores in California, including stores in Auburn, Bell, Coachella, and Compton. The other stores within the state are in Davis, Emerville, Fresno, Gilroy, two in Inglewood, and one in Madera. More stores awaiting closure in California are in Oroville, Palm Springs, Petaluma, Pleasanton, two in Sacramento, and one in Yuba City, among others.

Meanwhile, the most closures will be in New York (30), Florida (25), Illinois and Michigan (17), Georgia (15), Kentucky (14), Indiana, Massachusetts, and Louisiana (13), and Ohio (20). On the other hand, states like North Dakota will have only the Fargo location closed, while Nebraska will have only the Papillion store closed.

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