In a blog post, GameStop has announced that it will no longer support iOS and Chrome Extension wallets from Nov 1, 2023 due to “regulatory uncertainty of the crypto space”. This unexpected move could be a major obstacle in the growth of blockchain games in particular and crypto in general.
Gamestop once made headlines with the reveal of the NFT marketplace late last year and then launched its crypto wallets in May 2022. GameStop’s wallet app was designed similar to MetaMask, which allows users to store, send and receive cryptocurrencies/NFTs as well as use them on Ethereum-based decentralized applications, before expanding to Immutable X.
GameStop’s move to stop supporting crypto wallets seems predictable, right after GameStop started laying off employees, including its crypto wallet development team.
Since the beginning of this year, the crypto industry is struggling with strict regulations of regulators, especially US agencies. Ethereum is also one of the victims who are frequently targeted by regulators. For years, federal officials have often treated cryptocurrencies like a commodity but US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler considers Ethereum (ETH) a security. As a result, many projects built on Ethereum are also listed as unregistered securities. The most obvious example is KuCoin, which was sued by New York’s attorney general for failing to register with the state before letting investors buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform.