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GameStop announced on Wednesday that it bought 4,710 bitcoin<\/a>, which is worth over $500 million at the time of the purchase.<\/p>\n The video game retail chain has struggled to stay relevant in a time when digital gaming purchases are increasingly popular \u2014 plus, the company took on a new kind of notoriety when it unwittingly became the center of a short squeeze<\/a> in 2021. <\/p>\n GameStop stock remains a bit inflated from where it was before the meddling<\/a> of Reddit community r\/WallStreetBets, but years out from its unpredictable moment in the spotlight, GameStop is still reporting annual declines in net sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n To support its financials, GameStop announced<\/a> to investors in March that it would update its investment policy to add bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, and today\u2019s news represents GameStop\u2019s follow-through on that promise. GameStop stock stumbled<\/a> after<\/a> each crypto-related announcement, likely due to investors\u2019 concerns around the historic volatility of crypto.<\/p>\n GameStop\u2019s recent interest in bitcoin isn\u2019t as random as it may seem.<\/p>\n Under then-President Joe Biden, the U.S. government was cracking down on the crypto industry due to its connection to fraud<\/a> and corruption<\/a>. Now, the Trump administration has flipped the script and is establishing a Strategic\u00a0Bitcoin Reserve<\/a>. Trump\u2019s media company<\/a> also has plans to raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin.<\/p>\n Trump even invited the top holders of his memecoin<\/a> \u2014 a volatile cryptocurrency that is not pegged to any real determinant of value, but rather, the trollish whims of certain online communities \u2014 to a private dinner at the White House.<\/p>\n As Trump and his family become more entwined with crypto, his opponents have raised concerns around Trump\u2019s ability to manipulate the crypto market for his own financial gain.<\/p>\n Co-sponsored by 17 other Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) responded to Trump\u2019s increasing investment in crypto with the \u201cEnd Crypto Corruption Act<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently, people who wish to cultivate influence with the president can enrich him personally by buying cryptocurrency he owns or controls,\u201d Senator Merkley said in a press release<\/a>. \u201cThis is a profoundly corrupt scheme. It endangers our national security and erodes public trust in government.\u201d<\/p>\n But without support across the aisle, these efforts to mitigate Trump\u2019s ethically suspicious crypto investment are unlikely to gain momentum. <\/p>\n With the U.S. government on its side, bitcoin\u2019s price has jumped to all-time highs in May, breaking the $110,000 mark after falling to around $75,000 in April. Companies like Tesla, Coinbase, and Block<\/a> have already made large bitcoin purchases as a way of growing the company\u2019s assets, with each holding over $1 billion worth of bitcoin.<\/p>\n Now, with its massive bitcoin purchase, GameStop follows in these companies\u2019 footsteps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n