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Loopring’s LRC Up 34% on Beta Release of GameStop NFT Marketplace

GameStop’s GME stock was up 10% as well.

Updated May 11, 2023, 5:31 p.m. Published Mar 23, 2022, 3:18 p.m.

LRC, the native token of Ethereum scaling network Loopring, soared in digital-asset markets on Wednesday after the blockchain project shared an update on its partnership with GameStop (GME), the video game retailer whose volatile and sometimes coordinated price action in early 2021 made it a darling of meme stock traders.

The LRC token's price rose 34% over the past 24 hours to $1.14. The gain was the biggest of the day among cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of at least $1 billion, according to the data provider Messari.

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According to a blog post by Loopring's head of growth, Adam Browman, and published early Wednesday, "the GameStop NFT Marketplace has taken its first steps to welcome users, and it is built atop Loopring!"

The new project "has the potential to cement itself at the forefront of this new paradigm and become the destination for global digital economies," Browman wrote.

Users can get early access to the project now to set up usernames and profiles as well as making deposits, according to the post.

Loopring is classified as a layer 2 blockchain project, designed to handle speedy and low-cost transactions alongside the Ethereum network, which is categorized as a layer 1 blockchain.

"You can mint NFTs directly on Loopring [layer 2] for fractions of the costs of minting on [layer 1] (less than $1) while inheriting Ethereum L1 security," Browman wrote.

GameStop shares rose 10% to $135.50 in New York trading on Wednesday.

Loopring and GameStop

Rumors had been swirling since at least November that Loopring might be working with GameStop on a metaverse-related project, and the Wall Street Journal reported in January that GameStop was planning to build a new division focused on trading non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.

GameStop said in February that Immutable X would be its primary NFT partner, but hidden in the fine print was the possibility for more. Loopring was mentioned at the time.

When GameStop reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings last week, the company announced that it intended to launch an NFT marketplace by the end of July. The video game retailer said it had hired dozens of people in late 2021 with experience in blockchain gaming, e-commerce and technology.

GameStop Says It Plans to Launch NFT Marketplace by End of July

The struggling video game retailer recently partnered with Immutable X to build out its NFT initiative.

GameStop NFTs Ethereum lrc lrc price

Bradley Keoun

Bradley Keoun is CoinDesk's managing editor of tech & protocols, where he oversees a team of reporters covering blockchain technology, and previously ran the global crypto markets team. A two-time Loeb Awards finalist, he previously was chief global finance and economic correspondent for TheStreet and before that worked as an editor and reporter for Bloomberg News in New York and Mexico City, reporting on Wall Street, emerging markets and the energy industry. He started out as a police-beat reporter for the Gainesville Sun in Florida and later worked as a general-assignment reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he double-majored in electrical engineering and classical studies as an undergraduate at Duke University and later obtained a master's in journalism from the University of Florida. He is currently based in Austin, Texas, and in his spare time plays guitar, sings in a choir and hikes in the Texas Hill Country. He owns less than $1,000 each of several cryptocurrencies.