Meme stocks have come full circle, just over a year after their birth. GameStop (NYSE:GME), which led the new wave of retail investing, has gone from struggling video-game retailer propped up by determined investors to launching the flagship product of its turnaround campaign. And while the news is working wonders for GME share prices, it’s also bringing Loopring (LRC-USD) prices along with it. The LRC crypto is booming today on the company’s blockbuster announcement.
Since GME stock flew from $18 to over $300 in early 2021, the company has been determined to make a pivot toward a new model. It made headlines when it brought in Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) co-founder Ryan Cohen to lead the charge. Rumors have swirled for months as to what the company would do to win back broader investor trust — evolving from meme stock to growth play once more.
One of the biggest rumors, and the first to come true, theorized that GameStop would lean into the growing non-fungible token (NFT) industry. Loopring came to the forefront of the crypto industry with these rumors; sleuths posited that it would provide the underlying infrastructure for a GameStop NFT marketplace.
The Ethereum (ETH-USD)-based Loopring network is a layer-2 scaling protocol meant to help users streamline transactions on the Ethereum chain. Rumors suggested GameStop would use Loopring as a way to build on Ethereum without having to sacrifice transaction speed due to Ethereum’s low scaling.
LRC Crypto Flies High With GameStop Partnership Underway
As 2021 turned into 2022, GameStop confirmed its plans to create an NFT marketplace. But with this good news came some detriment to the LRC crypto; GameStop announced Immutable X (IMX-USD) as its development partner. The news initially caused turmoil for LRC prices, but the company did make known that it was going to also be working with Loopring after Immutable X provides the infrastructure for the platform.
And today, the Loopring partnership is confirmed for good. GameStop is launching the beta version of its NFT marketplace today, and it’s doing so on Loopring’s layer-2. Loopring’s head of growth, Adam Browman, announced in a blog post this morning that the beta is live. Browman gives details into the early access launch, telling investors that they can now sign up and create profiles for the platform in anticipation of the broader launch.
In the midst of this news, LRC crypto prices are skyrocketing. The token is gaining 33% as the news makes its rounds. Investors are also flooding into LRC trades, with trading volume surging to $1.9 billion. This volume represents a near 500% volume growth in the last 24 hours alone.
