Video game retailer GameStop has clarified its Bitcoin strategy, revealing in a recent SEC filing that it pledged nearly its entire Bitcoin holdings as collateral on Coinbase to execute a covered call options strategy. This move ends months of speculation that the company was preparing to sell its Bitcoin.
According to its 10-K annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, GameStop pledged 4,709 Bitcoin (BTC) as collateral under an agreement with Coinbase Credit. This represents almost all of its Bitcoin treasury. The company used this position to sell short-dated covered call options with strike prices between $105,000 and $110,000, which are set to expire on Friday. The strategy is designed to generate premium income while capping potential gains if Bitcoin's price rallies above those strike levels.
The disclosure shows the company recorded a $2.3 million unrealized gain and a $700,000 liability tied to these options. Some covered-call contracts expired unexercised in January. GameStop stated that the strategy enables it to earn premiums while retaining the Bitcoin if the options are not exercised. The pledged Bitcoin was valued at $368.3 million as of January 31, on which date GameStop also recorded an unrealized loss of $59.7 million due to Bitcoin's price decline.
This financial engineering comes as GameStop faces business headwinds, with the company reporting a 25% drop in revenue and a 14% decline in fourth-quarter sales for 2025. With traditional revenue streams under pressure, the company is leveraging its Bitcoin holdings to manufacture income.
Due to accounting rules, because Coinbase gains control and can rehypothecate or reuse the pledged Bitcoin, GameStop is no longer counting those 4,709 BTC as directly held assets on its balance sheet. Instead, it recognizes a "digital asset receivable"—essentially an IOU from Coinbase. This technicality caused GameStop's ranking among public company Bitcoin holders to plummet from 21st to around 190th, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. The company now directly holds just one Bitcoin that was not pledged as collateral.
GameStop launched its Bitcoin treasury initiative in February 2025 after its CEO, Ryan Cohen, met with Michael Saylor, chairman of MicroStrategy, to discuss Bitcoin strategy implementation.
