Why GameStop Put $315 Million in Bitcoin Into a Covered Call Options Strategy

Video game retailer GameStop disclosed this week that it moved all but 1 BTC worth of its Bitcoin treasury holdings into a covered call options strategy on Coinbase Prime.

By doing so, the 4,709 BTC stash—worth about $315 million as of this writing—has become a receivable rather than an intangible asset on the company’s balance sheet. The reclassification matters, because it’ll change how Bitcoin gains and losses flow through GameStop’s quarterly earnings.

Bitcoin treasury companies have been relatively quiet since the start of the year. The price of BTC started the year around $87,000, but has struggled to stay above $70,000 since February. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was changing hands for about $67,000 after having dropped 5% in the past week, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko.

The heightened volatility has put companies with BTC on their balance sheets under strain. GameStop, which originally spent more than $500 million buying its BTC last May, has seen the value of its holdings drop substantially in recent months.

GameStop noted in its report that the terms of the collateral agreement mean that Coinbase Prime has the right to “rehypothecate, commingle, or unilaterally sell” the retailer’s Bitcoin.

That means GameStop didn’t sell its Bitcoin—but it could be sold.

“Although the classification of these assets has changed, our economic exposure is consistent with direct ownership of the underlying Bitcoin,” the company said in its 10-K annual report with the SEC.

In a covered call strategy, an investor who holds an asset—in this case, Bitcoin—sells a call option to a counterparty. The option gives the counterparty the right to buy the asset at a predetermined price, called the strike price, within a set timeframe. In exchange, the holder receives a premium upfront, generating income on an asset that would otherwise just sit on a balance sheet.

If Bitcoin’s price rises above the strike price, then the counterparty can exercise the option and acquire the Bitcoin at the lower agreed-upon price, capping the holder’s upside. If Bitcoin stays below the strike price, then the option expires worthless and GameStop keeps the premium—plus its Bitcoin.

By pledging nearly all of its BTC as collateral for the strategy through Coinbase Prime, GameStop is essentially betting that Bitcoin won’t rally sharply enough to trigger the options—collecting yield in the interim.

The company originally purchased the Bitcoin in May 2025 after completing a $1.5 billion offering of convertible senior notes to investors the month before.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen had hinted at the foray into acquiring Bitcoin by posing next to Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor in a photo on X. Strategy pioneered the Bitcoin treasury model, and remains the biggest corporate holder by far with approximately $51 billion worth of BTC as of this writing.

Since Strategy first classified Bitcoin as a treasury asset in August 2020, many companies have followed its lead—raising capital through ATM equity programs, convertible notes, and preferred stock issuances, then deploying it into Bitcoin. Strategy has used all three.

But there have been recent questions about the company’s BTC conviction.

In February 2026, GameStop’s Cohen was asked by CNBC if the company was considering selling its Bitcoin stash. Cohen declined to say, but alluded to the company’s acquisition ambitions as “way more compelling than Bitcoin.”