GameStop would be working on an NFT market while Discord is suspending its integration

GameStop has hired a team to build an NFT market and establish cryptocurrency partnerships, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The market will be launched later this year

People familiar with the plans told the release that the game retailer has already hired more than 20 people to run the department, which is creating a digital hub for NFT and metaverse wearables. The market will be launched later this year, they said.

Additionally, the brand will soon close deals with two cryptocurrency companies to share technologies and develop blockchain games, and plans to invest tens of millions of dollars in similar deals with other cryptocurrency companies in the future.

The company's shares (NASDAQ shares - GME) jumped more than 22% following the news, according to CNBC. 

GameStop has seen a resurgence over the past year, largely thanks to Reddit's / wallstreetbets. The retailer's stock skyrocketed as forum members teamed up to increase its value, cementing its place as a meme headline.

The company quietly announced it was working on NFT in May and teased the new project through a website dedicated to the blockchain asset. It has also created its own GME token, although there have been no transactions yet.

Discord suspends NFT integration after backlash from the user community

Following widespread community reaction, Discord has decided to suspend its plans to integrate cryptocurrencies and NFTs into its platform.

The original announcement came from Discord CEO Jason Citron himself, who took to Twitter to post a screenshot of the company's app showing support for MetaMask and WalletConnect. Unfortunately, the post backfired against many users in the community who criticized the decision.

Reflecting the feelings of many, one user replied, “Dude, I can't wait to tell my friends that Discord is encouraging pyramid schemes at the great cost of the environment, and convincing them to cancel their Nitro subscriptions and use competing platforms. Thanks for the warning!"

Noticing this dismay from many of its users, Citron eventually backed off and said Discord has no plans to integrate NFT and cryptocurrencies yet despite its in-house build. In a statement to Engadget, the company released the following statement:

“We appreciate any prospects we've heard in response to the internal concept that you may have seen in a tweet earlier this week and we want to clarify that we have no plans to ship it right now. We are excited about the potential of web3 technology and the positive ways these communities are coming together on Discord, especially those organized around green and creator-centric projects. However, we also recognize that there are some problems we need to solve. For now we are focused on protecting users from spam, scams and fraud ”.