jakiro
Jessy, bitchain vision
On May 27, sports betting operator SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET) announced that it has received $425 million in private equity investment, and the funds raised this time will purchase Ethereum as the company’s main vault reserve asset.
The lead investor of this private equity is Consensys Software Inc., and the participating investors include ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, etc.The transaction is expected to be completed on May 29. After the transaction is completed, Ethereum co-founder and founder and CEO of Consensys will serve as chairman of the board of directors of SharpLink and will serve as a strategic consultant to assist the company in developing its core business.
After the news was announced, SharpLink’s stock price rose by more than 650% in a single day, with a cumulative increase of 17.56 times in three days. The current market value of its stock is US$25 million, and the book value of the 425 million raised has reached US$2.5 billion.
Enterprises reserve crypto assets as vault reserves, and were originally focused on Bitcoin. SharpLink Gaming’s move is also the first time that Ethereum is used as a core reserve target among listed US stock companies.Will SharpLink Gaming set off a wave of equipment competition for Ethereum reserve among listed companies?
SharpLink Gaming, a bookmaker that has lost money for years
SharpLink Gaming is an online technology company that operates in the sports betting and online casino gaming sectors. It was founded on December 27, 1995 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
The company’s specific business is to connect sports fans with licensed online sports betting operators through proprietary smart online conversion technology to provide sports fans with personalized betting offers.The company also operates affiliate marketing websites to provide high-quality traffic and player acquisition, retention and conversion services to sports betting and online casino operators around the world.Additionally, SharpLink specializes in helping sports media companies develop strategies, products and innovative solutions to drive deep customer engagement through highly interactive sports games and mobile applications.
The company’s operating conditions are not ideal. In 2023, the company’s total revenue was US$4.95 million, its net profit was -14.2432 million, its total revenue in 2024 was US$3.66 million, and its net profit was -4.5712 million.
The company’s overall operating conditions are poor, first of all, due to its high operating costs. Judging from the third quarter of 2024 financial report, the proportion of costs to revenue reached 80.4%, mainly due to the increase in casino spending.At the same time, the company’s operations also involve many expenses such as employee salary, technical maintenance, and marketing promotion.
Similarly, the third quarter 2024 financial report showed that the company’s revenue decline was mainly due to weak market conditions and customer churn.The gambling industry is fiercely competitive, and if you are not careful, you will be squeezed by your competitors.
Enterprise ETH reserve trends
SharpLink Gaming is not the first company to reserve Ethereum, but it is the first US-listed company to raise a lot of money by selling private equity to build an Ethereum vault.
During the last cycle, Ethereum was the second most popular crypto asset held by major companies.During this cycle, major listed companies led by micro-strategy have set off a wave of Bitcoin reserves, but some companies still silently hold Ethereum. Here are some listed companies that hold Ethereum:
Boya Interactive: A Hong Kong-listed company, as of November 12, 2024, held 15,445 ETH.However, at the end of 2024, it replaced Ethereum with Bitcoin.
BTCS: A US listed company with a total holding of approximately 12,500 Ethereum as of May.In May 2025, it was announced that it had reached an agreement with ATW Partners to raise funds by issuing convertible notes, with a total financing of up to US$57.8 million. It is reported that all the funds raised will be used to purchase Ethereum to expand its verification node operation scale on the Ethereum network.
Blueport Interactive: A Hong Kong-listed company disclosed in its 2024 interim performance report that the company holds 848.386 Ethereum.
Remixpoint: Japanese listed company, as of May 27, 2025, the company held a variety of mainstream crypto assets, including Ethereum.
Intchains Group: A Nasdaq-listed altcoin mining product development company, holding approximately 7023 ETH as of March 31, 2025.
Not just for the Polymarket on Ethereum
For SharpLink Gaming, the most direct impact of announcing the acquisition of Ethereum is that its stock has become a crypto concept stock.After the news was announced, SharpLink’s stock price rose by more than 650% in a single day, with a cumulative increase of 17.56 times in three days.
This company, which has been losing money for years, seems to usher in a major turning point in its development because of embracing encryption.
This purchase of Ethereum also seems to indicate a long-term transformation and development path for the company in the future.It is reported that as a major investor, Consensys will provide SharpLink with technical and resource support for the Ethereum ecosystem, and explore innovative scenarios such as on-chain gambling and smart contract integration.SharpLink CEO Rob Phythian said the move aims to “deeply bind the company’s balance sheet to the growth of the crypto economy” and promote the transformation of traditional gaming businesses to Web3.
However, the direction SharpLink wants to transform is not just to become a polymarket on the Ethereum chain.而是做以太坊版的微策略。
The significance of SharpLink’s massive purchase of Ethereum has certain iconic significance for the crypto industry, which seems to indicate that corporate treasury assets are expanding from a single Bitcoin to diversified crypto assets, and ETH will also be more popular due to its smart contracts and staking functions.
More realistically, this private equity financing is dominated by Consensys, which is highly related to Ethereum. Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and founder and CEO of Consensys, will also serve as chairman of the board of directors of SharpLink.Ethereum stakeholders took over a traditional company and vigorously promoted Ethereum strategic reserves at the company level, which seemed to be to set a benchmark and example around the world, so that major companies could follow suit and use Ethereum as a vault reserve.Continuously improve the acceptance of traditional finance for Ethereum.Overall, Ethereum will eventually be the ultimate beneficiary.
