GameStop NFT Marketplace Taps Loopring as its Underlying Protocol

American video game retailer, GameStop Corp has doubled down on its plans to become an active player in the digital currency ecosystem with the launch of the Beta version of its Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace to rival existing players like Coinbase. The highlight of the announcement is the partnership between GameStop and Loopring, an Ethereum-based layer-2 protocol atop which the NFT marketplace was built.

According to Adam Browman, Head of Growth at Loopring, the choice of the protocol was hinged on the fact that access to the marketplace “needs to be fast, cheap, and secure for the masses,” a feature that the Loopring L2 protocol offers.

“The new Marketplace built atop Loopring L2, ensures that users receive the strongest digital property rights anchored by a secure, decentralized, and credibly neutral environment like Ethereum. Loopring zkRollup inherits Ethereum’s self-custodial security while abstracting away costly gas-fees, leaving no one priced out,” Browman said in a blog post.

Tapping into the NFT and Metaverse Hype

GameStop has grown in popularity, especially amongst millennials and the Gen Z investors who turned the company’s shares into a meme stock in order to get back at short-sellers on Wall Street. As an entertainment hub, the company does not want to sit on the sidelines and watch the blockchain, and gaming metaverse innovation slip by, hence, its broad consistency in embracing crypto and metaverse-focused innovations.

While GameStop has a functional partnership with Immutable X, an NFT Layer-2 platform on Ethereum, the partnership with Loopring is a sign that the company has a vested interest in tagging along with the Ethereum blockchain, taking advantage of its security and legacy amongst decentralized application creators.

“Loopring has built the rails for creators to deliver high-performance applications that rival the speeds and scalability of Web2, while also empowering users to receive provable ownership and control over their assets in Web3. These massive speed improvements and lower costs open up the design space for NFTs and gaming that were recently unimaginable,” and perhaps captured the interests of GameStop.

The push by GameStop to veer into the NFT world compliments several other moves from new startups launching metaverse-focused projects. As reported by TheCoinRise, one of such protocols, Guild of Guardians recently raised $5.3 million from investors to build out its game product.