Jessy, Golden Finance
On May 27, sports betting operator SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET) announced that it had received $425 million in private equity investment, and the funds raised will be used to purchase Ethereum as the company's main treasury reserve asset.
The lead investor in this private equity investment 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, Consensys founder and CEO Joseph Lubin will serve as chairman of the board of directors of SharpLink and will serve as a strategic advisor to assist the company in developing its core business.
After the announcement of the news, SharpLink's stock price rose by more than 650% in a single day, and the cumulative increase in three days reached 17.56 times. The current market value of its stock is 25 million US dollars, and the current book value of the 425 million US dollars raised has reached 2.5 billion US dollars.
Enterprises reserve crypto assets as treasury reserves, originally focusing on Bitcoin. SharpLink Gaming's move is also the first time that Ethereum is used as a core reserve target among US-listed companies. Will SharpLink Gaming set off a wave of equipment competition for Ethereum reserves among listed companies?
SharpLink Gaming, a gambling company that has been losing money for years
SharpLink Gaming is an online technology company operating in the fields of sports betting and online casino games. The company 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 intelligent 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. In addition, 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 and its net profit was -US$14.2432 million. In 2024, the total revenue was US$3.66 million and its net profit was -US$4.5712 million.
The company's overall operating conditions are not good. First of all, the operating costs are high. Judging from the third quarter of 2024, the cost accounted for a high proportion of revenue, reaching 80.4%, mainly due to increased casino expenses. At the same time, the company's operations also involve a number of expenses such as employee salaries, technical maintenance, and marketing promotion.
Similarly, the third quarter financial report of 2024 showed that the company's revenue decline was mainly due to weak market conditions and customer loss. The gaming industry is highly competitive, and competitors will squeeze it if you are not careful.
Corporate ETH reserve trend
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.
In the last cycle, Ethereum was the second most popular crypto asset held by major companies. In this cycle, major listed companies led by MicroStrategy have set off a wave of Bitcoin reserves, but there are still some companies that quietly hold Ethereum. The following are some listed companies holding Ethereum:
Boya Interactive: A Hong Kong-listed company, as of November 12, 2024, it holds 15,445 ETH. However, at the end of 2024, it replaced Ethereum with Bitcoin.
BTCS: A US-listed company, with a total Ethereum holding of approximately 12,500 as of May. In May 2025, it announced an agreement with ATW Partners to raise funds by issuing convertible notes, with a total financing amount 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, it disclosed in its 2024 interim performance report that the company holds 848.386 Ethereum.
Remixpoint: A Japanese-listed company, as of May 27, 2025, the company holds a variety of mainstream crypto assets including Ethereum.
Intchains Group: A Nasdaq-listed altcoin mining product development company, as of March 31, 2025, it holds approximately 7,023 ETH.
Not just for the purpose of being a Polymarket on Ethereum
For SharpLink Gaming, the most direct impact of announcing the purchase of Ethereum is that its company's stock has become a crypto-concept stock. After the announcement, SharpLink's stock price rose by more than 650% in a single day, and the cumulative increase in three days reached 17.56 times.
This company, which has been losing money for years, seems to be ushering in a major turning point in its development by embracing encryption.
And the purchase of Ethereum also seems to indicate a long-term transformation and development path for the company in the future. It is reported that Consensys, as a major investor, 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 that the move aims to "deeply bind the company's balance sheet to the growth of the crypto economy" and promote the transformation of traditional gambling business to Web3.
It seems that the direction that SharpLink wants to transform is to become a polymarket on the Ethereum chain.
The significance of SharpLink's large-scale purchase of Ethereum is also of certain symbolic significance to the crypto industry. This seems to indicate that corporate treasury assets are expanding from single Bitcoin to diversified crypto assets, and ETH will be more popular due to its smart contracts and pledge functions.
But the more realistic point is that the private equity financing is led by Consensys, which is highly associated with Ethereum. Ethereum co-founder, Consensys founder and CEO Joseph Lubin will also serve as chairman of the board of directors of SharpLink. Ethereum stakeholders have taken over a traditional company and vigorously promoted the company-level strategic reserve of Ethereum, which seems to be to set a benchmark and example for the world, so that major companies will follow suit and use Ethereum as a treasury reserve. Continuously improve the acceptance of Ethereum by traditional finance. Overall, Ethereum will be the ultimate beneficiary.
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