jakiro
Deng Tong, Bitchain Vision
On May 27, 2025, sports betting operator SharpLink Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBET) announced that it had signed a securities purchase agreement to conduct a $425 million public corporate private equity investment (PIPE) with plans to issue approximately 69.1 million common shares (or equivalent securities) at a price of $6.15 per share ($6.72 per share for the company’s management team).Consensys Software Inc. is a leading investor, and the participants include well-known crypto venture capital institutions such as ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, and Galaxy Digital.
SharpLink uses the funds raised to purchase Ethereum (ETH) as the company’s main treasury reserve asset.After the transaction was completed, Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and founder and CEO of Consensys, served as chairman of the board of directors of SharpLink and assisted the company in developing its core business as a strategic consultant.
Since then, SharpLink has officially become an Ethereum treasury enterprise and is known as the “ETH version of micro strategy”.
Why does SharpLink transform into an Ethereum treasury enterprise?What are the important nodes on the road to ETH treasury strategy?What opportunities and challenges does SharpLink face after the transformation?
one,The predecessor of SharpLink
SharpLink was formerly MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd., founded in 1995, and initially focused on traditional communications businesses such as telecommunications fee management, call billing and contact center software.In 2019, it was renamed SharpLink Gaming, mainly engaged in gambling.But in recent years, it has been in serious difficulties: revenue in 2024 fell 26% year-on-year to $3.66 million, with net losses in continuing operations, and faced the risk of delisting due to the long-term stock price below the Nasdaq minimum standard.
2. Sorting the important time points of SharpLink ETH treasury strategy
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On May 27, it was announced that it had received a private equity investment of US$425 million, using ETH as a reserve asset for the treasury;
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On May 30, FormS-3ASR was submitted to the US SEC, intending to raise US$1 billion to increase its holdings in ETH;
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On June 2, a private equity financing of US$425 million was completed to increase its holdings in ETH;
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On June 13, it acquired 176,271 ETH for US$463 million;
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From June 18th to 21st, I purchased 6744 ETH again;
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On June 23, it was announced that it had obtained Nasdaq’s approval to initiate options trading under the standard rules and regulations formulated by Nasdaq and OCC, with the stock code “SBET”;
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On June 24, it was announced that it had increased its total ETH holdings to 188,478;
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On June 25, 5,989 ETH ($14.47 million) were bought through Galaxy Digital;
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On June 28, 1,989 ETH ($4.82 million) were purchased through OTC;
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On July 1, it increased its holdings of 4,951 ETH again, about US$12.4 million;
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On July 3, the holdings of 2,738 ETH were increased through OTC;
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On July 10, the holdings of 5,072 ETH were increased, worth about US$13.51 million; 10,000 ETH were purchased directly from the Ethereum Foundation, with a total amount of US$25.7237 million;
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On July 11, the holdings of 12,648 ETH were increased to US$35.31 million;
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On July 12, 21,487 ETH were purchased, worth approximately US$64.26 million;
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On July 14, 16,373 ETHs were bought through Galaxy, worth US$48.85 million, with a total holding of 270,000 ETHs, surpassing the Ethereum Foundation’s 242,500 ETHs, ranking first.
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On July 15, the holdings of 24,371 ETH were increased to US$73.21 million.
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On July 16, the holdings of 5,188 ETH were increased, worth approximately US$15.76 million.
three,What opportunities does SharpLink’s transformation bring?
1. Save the stock price
The most direct impact is reflected in the company’s stock price.After SharpLink officially announced that it became an Ethereum treasury company, its stock price started to soar.
Affected by the good news on May 27, SharpLink’s stock price soared on the same day, up more than 650%.The company’s market value soared from $2 million to $2.5 billion.SharpLink’s stock price was only $2.79 three trading days ago, up more than 17.56 times in three days, ending the continued sluggish trend and climbing to a high of $79.21 on May 29.As of press time, SharpLink shares are priced at $28.97.
2. Deeply bound to the Ethereum ecosystem
In May 2025, SharpLink was deeply bound to the Ethereum ecosystem when it raised funds – led by ConsenSys, and the participating investors include leading crypto institutions such as ParaFi and Pantera.
Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum, said: “After the transaction is completed, Consensys looks forward to working with SharpLink to explore and develop the Ethereum treasury strategy and serve as a strategic consultant in its core business. This is an exciting time for the Ethereum community and I am very excited to work with Rob and his team to bring the potential of Ethereum into the public capital market.”
3. Business scope expands from traditional gambling to encrypted gambling
SharpLink acquired a 10% stake in Armchair Enterprises, parent company of CryptoCasino.com, for $500,000 in cash in early 2025.This means that SharpLink has begun to get involved in the gambling market in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.
4. The future of SharpLink
1. Influenced by the crypto market and ETH trends
In the short term, SharpLink’s prospects will be highly bound to the crypto market.Since SharpLink holds a large amount of ETH, its stock price fluctuations are strongly related to the ETH price. In this round of market cycle, ETH price trend is ushering in a breakthrough due to factors such as net inflow of ETFs, stablecoin ecological development, institutions and giant whale entry.
In addition, more and more companies hold mainstream cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH as corporate treasury reserves, which will also affect the favor of these crypto assets in more traditional financial markets. The price trend of ETH will bring more surprises to investors, and will also drive SharpLink’s stock price to rise.
2. How to truly implement the application is still worth exploring
SharpLink used to do traditional sports betting business. After transforming into an Ethereum treasury company, how to achieve real application in the cryptocurrency field is an urgent issue.Although SharpLink acquires 10% of the equity of Armchair Enterprises, the parent company of CryptoCasino.com, it does not mean that SharpLink already has stable users and liquidity.Polymarket, the leader of the crypto forecasting market, has become popular with a series of political forecasting events and is in the limelight. How to get a piece of the pie is still a difficult problem that SharpLink needs to discuss.
3. Maybe face regulatory difficulties
The US CFTC regards the forecast market as binary options, and Polymarket faces compliance pressure due to 25% of US users.
Shao Shiwei, a lawyer at Mankun Law Firm, once posted: The crypto prediction market platform does provide a binary option product. Users have two options: “yes” or “no” for the results of the predicted events. This option is the option product obtained by users.Under the regulatory environment in the United States, over-the-counter binary options are completely banned, and only the two major exchanges, North American derivatives exchanges (Nadex) and Cantor Exchange, are allowed to provide legal binary options trading.In addition, the United States stipulates that brokers can only choose payment service providers in the United States to cooperate to regulate the whereabouts of funds.
Whether the gambling platform can ultimately operate under the compliance regulatory framework is not only a test that SharpLink needs to face, but also a dilemma that all gambling platforms need to face.
5. Summary
SharpLink’s current development momentum is eye-catching, but the label of ETH treasury reserve + gambling is obviously unable to maintain the narrative for a long time.In the short term, SharpLink has attracted attention due to the crypto market and treasury reserve boom.But in the long run, whether it can truly implement and apply, how to compete with giants in the same industry, and whether it can develop in compliance with regulatory frameworks are all difficulties that SharpLink needs to break through.
