SharpLink launches ETH treasury and appoints Joseph Lubin as chair

Betting firm SharpLink Gaming has launched an Ethereum-based corporate treasury strategy and nominated Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin as chairman of its board of directors, the company announced May 27.
According to the announcement, SharpLink Gaming, a publicly traded company on Nasdaq, entered into a securities purchase agreement for a private investment in public equity worth $425 million. Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys was among the investors.
“On close, Consensys looks forward to partnering with SharpLink to explore and develop an Ethereum Treasury Strategy and to work with them in their core business as a strategic advisor,” Consensys founder and CEO Lubin said.
SharpLink Gaming’s stock is up approximately 400% at the time of writing, changing hands at nearly $33.50. Trading today started at over $30 on the market after closing under $ 7 the day before.
A Consensys representative told Cointelegraph that the firm will not provide further commentary until the deal is closed. Still, they confirmed Consensys’ investment in SharpLink Gaming.
Related: Bitcoin treasury companies will hold ‘way more’ than Bitcoiners expect: Exec
Major investors took part in the deal
Alongside Consensys, the investors included venture capital firms ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Arrington Capital, Galaxy Digital, Ondo, White Star Capital, GSR, Hivemind Capital, Hypersphere and Primitive Ventures. SharpLink CEO Rob Phythian and the firm’s CEO Robert DeLucia also participated.
The deal is expected to close “on or about May 29” if the customary closing conditions are satisfied. SharpLink Gaming intends to use the newly raised funds to jumpstart its Ether (ETH) treasury and for other general corporate purposes:
“ETH will serve as the Company’s primary treasury reserve asset.”
Related: Trump Media Group denies it’s raising $3B for crypto buys: Report
The rise of corporate crypto treasuries
Corporate crypto treasuries are on the rise, but most of them are focused on Bitcoin (BTC). One exception was Meitu, the developer of popular Photoshop-like apps, but the firm has since liquidated its 940 Bitcoin and 31,000 Ether at the end of last year.
Other notable examples include the Canadian subsidiary of Big Four auditor KPMG adding Ether to its treasury alongside Bitcoin in February 2022. Also, Hong Kong-based gaming firm Boyaa Interactive International held ETH, but at the end of 2024, it replaced Ether with Bitcoin.
Social media giant Reddit also acquired both Bitcoin and Ethereum, but the company was reported to have offloaded most of its holdings in late 2024. Publicly traded company BTCS also announced a $57.8 million financing agreement to purchase Ether earlier this month.
Magazine: Bitcoin bears eye $69K, CZ denies WLF ‘fixer’ rumors: Hodler’s Digest, May 18 – 24
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 117,909.00
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,556.24
XRP (XRP) $ 3.43
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00
BNB (BNB) $ 730.64
Solana (SOL) $ 177.24
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999848
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.241391
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,547.52
TRON (TRX) $ 0.320151
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.824594
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 117,766.00
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 44.58
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,292.84
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.463191
Sui (SUI) $ 3.78
Chainlink (LINK) $ 18.19
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.266313
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 24.29
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 505.78
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,807.39
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000015
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.99
WETH (WETH) $ 3,554.57
Litecoin (LTC) $ 103.83
Toncoin (TON) $ 3.18
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999897
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 1.00
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.29
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 44.13
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 117,983.00
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.06
Monero (XMR) $ 325.52
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.88
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000013
Aave (AAVE) $ 315.50
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.121373
Bittensor (TAO) $ 411.58
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 23.42
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.86
Ethena Staked USDe (SUSDE) $ 1.18
Aptos (APT) $ 5.21
Pi Network (PI) $ 0.440804
Ondo (ONDO) $ 1.02
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.66
OKB (OKB) $ 48.61
Jito Staked SOL (JITOSOL) $ 215.41
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.801074
Ethena (ENA) $ 0.413802
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) $ 1.00
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000033
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.287599
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.092546
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.453527
VeChain (VET) $ 0.026990
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 4.91
USD1 (USD1) $ 1.00
Binance-Peg WETH (WETH) $ 3,559.64
Render (RENDER) $ 4.10
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.235520
Gate (GT) $ 17.01
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 10.05
Sei (SEI) $ 0.347603
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 0.764820
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 1.13
Fasttoken (FTN) $ 4.51
Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) $ 0.030070
Filecoin (FIL) $ 2.74
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.06
Sky (SKY) $ 0.082712
Binance Staked SOL (BNSOL) $ 187.98
Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) $ 118,011.00
Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (RSETH) $ 3,722.32
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 4,053.16
SPX6900 (SPX) $ 1.76
Quant (QNT) $ 112.17
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.535632
Jupiter Perpetuals Liquidity Provider Token (JLP) $ 4.94
KuCoin (KCS) $ 11.90
XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.091558
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.997794
USDtb (USDTB) $ 0.999669
Pump.fun (PUMP) $ 0.004096
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) $ 1.45
Flare (FLR) $ 0.020131
Celestia (TIA) $ 1.94
USDT0 (USDT0) $ 1.00
Injective (INJ) $ 13.94
Story (IP) $ 4.60
StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH) $ 3,735.18
NEXO (NEXO) $ 1.34
Curve DAO (CRV) $ 0.966827
Mantle Staked Ether (METH) $ 3,811.05
Stacks (STX) $ 0.825930
FLOKI (FLOKI) $ 0.000135
Optimism (OP) $ 0.739629
Liquid Staked ETH (LSETH) $ 3,842.13
Sonic (S) $ 0.379246