Amid signs that the non-fungible token (NFT) gravy train is starting to run out of steam, help may be on hand from a familiar champion – with the American gaming retailer GameStop indicating that it may be ready to take the NFT plunge.
The company late last week posted a new job vacancy to its careers page, for a Texas-based security analyst.
Although the posting specified that programming skills, app security testing, and incident response were the main preferred skills for the role, the HR managers specified that “additional skills and experience” in the “blockchain, cryptocurrency or non-fungible tokens” sector would be advantageous.
The hiring drive completes a massive turnaround for GameStop (GME), which just months ago looked destined for doom before a large group of retail investors converged on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets sub and collectively agreed to buy up shares, driving prices skywards – seen as a major coup for the retail sector over larger institutional rivals.
The buyup saw GME stock rise from double figures to the cusp of USD 400. And for GameStop, which looked set to go under, has returned with bullish zeal, as its possible NFT business expansion would appear to indicate.
GME price chart:
But the NFT craze appears to have flagged in recent days.
After its heady days of Elon Musk endorsements, record-breaking art sales and SNL-themed sketches, the NFT market is now in a lull, with daily sales down from an all-time high of just under 180,000 on March 25 shrinking to just under 150,000 in the past few days, per NonFungible.com data.
The value of the market has fallen, too. The same data shows that the NFT market saw over USD 255m worth of sales take place on March 18. On April 10, sales volumes retreated to below USD 200m.
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Google Tends data also indicted that NFT-related Google search queries were down from a March 12 peak, and that a brief March 28 revival proved short-lived.