Rumors of GameStop issuing an NFT dividend have been rampant ever since this quote from their SEC filings started to get scrutiny.
“We may also offer securities through subscription rights distributed to our stockholders on a pro rata basis, which may or may not be transferable… Unless otherwise specified in the related prospectus supplement, each series of securities will be a new issue with no established trading market, other than shares of our common stock, which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE.”
Now a new issue of securities with no established trading market could very simply be type of preferred stock or a spinoff of a business or many other things which are not an NFT. But the speculation on this happening won’t go away.
The speculation on this was re-ignited today with this post on Reddit.
The core idea behind these rumors is that if GameStop issues an NFT as a Dividend, the short sellers would not be able to issue the NFT also. Therefore they would all be forced to buy the stock back, which would trigger a short squeeze, and possibly make the stock go higher.
There are other theories floating around that issuing an NFT dividend is a way to guarantee that all of the short sellers have to buy back the shares. I am not of any connection between brokerage houses, and NFT marketplaces so the validity of this claim that sellers would be “forced” to buy back really needs to be clarified.