GameStop is BUYING Bitcoin! Using $1.3 Billion Convertible Debt! | Bitcoin News by CoinCorner

Transcript

It's happening - the world's most iconic meme stock, GameStop, is buying Bitcoin, and they're issuing debt to do so. Eric Trump joins the board of advisers for the Japanese Bitcoin treasury company, Metaplanet. And the BBC has released one of their most positive Bitcoin articles to date, showing off the benefits of Bitcoin mining in Africa.

Welcome back to Bitcoin News, brought to you by CoinCorner. I'm your host, Alex Glasse. Now, let's get straight into this week's top stories.

It's been another positive week for price action, as Bitcoin's currently up around 5% just this week, and it seems to be continually grinding up from the lows we saw earlier this month - gaining around 15% in total. Sentiment appears to be staying more optimistic after the Fed hinted the end of QT, or quantitative tightening, which is the first step in relaxing monetary policy and creating a more supportive environment for risk assets, with lower borrowing costs and increased liquidity in financial markets.

As well as this, despite Trump's ongoing tariff wars, this week he suggested that his 2nd of April tariff number announcement could be softer than expected - as cars and microchips were removed from the list.

Now for our first story - after months of speculation, GameStop have announced they will be purchasing Bitcoin for use as a treasury asset. But not only that - they'll also be issuing debt to help fund the purchases. Back in February, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen met with Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy, which started the rumours that the company could be considering a Bitcoin allocation. Strive Asset Management CEO Matt Cole also reached out in a letter urging GameStop to adopt Bitcoin as the reserve asset, which Cohen acknowledged.

And as well as all of this, Cohen currently follows only three accounts on his X profile: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Magazine, and GameStop.

But this week, following GameStop's fourth quarterly earnings report, the company revealed that its board has unanimously approved an update to its investment policy to add Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. And after the market closed, during extended hours trading after this announcement, it caused the stock price to soar by around 177%.

The company is currently sitting on around $4.7 billion in cash, with many now speculating how much Bitcoin they actually intend on purchasing. But Michael Saylor is already putting the pressure on them - in a poll on X asking the community: what's the minimum amount of Bitcoin GME needs to purchase to be respected by bitcoiners? The most voted answer: $3 billion or more.

Just 24 hours after this announcement, GameStop revealed a private offering of $1.3 billion of convertible senior notes - with an interest rate of % - the proceeds of which will be used for corporate purposes, including the acquisition of Bitcoin in a manner consistent with their newly updated investment policy.

So it seems they are going full steam ahead with adopting the Strategy playbook. And maybe - just like Strategy - this could be the move that saves the struggling company turned meme stock. Although, since this second announcement, the stock is down by around 20%.

Now, speaking of Strategy - this week they officially crossed over the monumental milestone of owning half a million Bitcoin. Strategy revealed that they had purchased an additional 6,911 Bitcoin for the total cost of $584 million, and now they officially hold 561,849.9 BTC.

Even speaking at Bitcoin conferences, Metaplanet hopes his business expertise and passion for Bitcoin will help drive their mission forward - to continue building one of the world's leading Bitcoin treasury companies. Whilst operating on a much smaller scale than Strategy, the Tokyo-based company currently holds over 3,200 Bitcoin worth approximately $267 million, making them the largest corporate holder in Japan.

But it seems investors like the Bitcoin exposure they're offering, as the share price is up 2,425% over the past year. And at their shareholders' meeting earlier this week, the event was completely packed - apparently with people queuing out the door trying to get in.

Now, speaking of Bitcoin exposure in the stock market - BlackRock made headlines this week by launching its first Bitcoin ETP in Europe. The exchange-traded product began trading this week on Germany's Xetra exchange and Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam.

Now, Bitcoin and crypto ETPs have been available for years in Europe, but this entrance from BlackRock - the world's largest asset manager - demonstrates their conviction and growing mainstream embrace of Bitcoin. Although despite this global shift, here in the UK such products are still unavailable for retail investors.

Speaking of the UK - this week the BBC have come out with an in-depth report following the impact of Bitcoin mining in Africa. Joe Tidy visited Grid's Bitcoin mine in Zambia, which uses excess hydroelectric power generated from the Zambezi River. Gridless collaborated with the existing power plant, which was built in the early 2000s - although due to slow uptake from the local community, half of their energy was being wasted every single day.

But now, thanks to Bitcoin mining utilising this excess energy, the income now accounts for 30% of the plant's revenue - which, as a result, allows them to keep energy costs down for the local community and provide more locals with electricity who may have never had it before.

Grid's impact in Africa has been quite widely covered within Bitcoin media outlets, but what's so exciting about this article is that it's coming from the BBC - a mainstream media outlet - which could allow the wider public to learn more about the positive benefits of Bitcoin.

Now for our final story - it seems that the global Bitcoin race has begun, as Pakistan unveils plans to attract investment through friendly Bitcoin and crypto legislation.

Pakistan's Finance Minister said: "We want to attract international investment because Pakistan is a low-cost, high-growth market."

Trump is making crypto a national priority, and every other country - including Pakistan - will have to follow suit.

Building on this, the country is also reportedly developing specialised electricity tariffs to attract Bitcoin mining and blockchain-based data centres - aiming to capitalise on the country's surplus power capacity, transforming a potential liability into a valuable asset.

Now, I'm afraid that is all we have for you today. If you got value from this video, please drop a like down below and make sure you subscribe so you never miss an update of Bitcoin News.