SharpLink makes $425M Ethereum treasury plunge with Joseph Lubin’s guidance

SharpLink Gaming plans to establish a $425 million Ethereum (ETH) treasury under the guidance of Consensys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, the company announced on May 27.

The sports-betting technology company entered into securities purchase agreements for a private investment in public equity. The company will issue 69.1 million shares at $6.15 each, or $6.72 for management participants. 

Expectations are that the May 29 closing will bring gross proceeds of roughly $425 million before fees. Additionally, SharpLink signaled that the ETH reserve will stand alongside its operating business rather than replace it.

Consensys acted as lead investor, joined by crypto-focused funds such as ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, and Galaxy Digital. CEO Rob Phythian and CFO Robert DeLucia also took part.

The company intends to convert the entire raise into ETH and treat the asset as its primary treasury reserve while monitoring its working capital needs. 

Furthermore, Lubin will join SharpLink’s board and advise on the treasury program and core business initiatives. He called the partnership “an opportunity to bring the Ethereum story to public markets” and said Consensys will provide strategic advice after the treasury build begins.

SharpLink did not disclose a purchase schedule or staking provider.

Strategy playbook for Ethereum

Former Ethereum core developer Eric Conner called the plan an “ETH edition” of Strategy’s Bitcoin (BTC) strategy in a May 27 post on social media.

He outlined a flywheel in which SharpLink raises cash below net asset value, buys and stakes ETH, and then sells new shares if the stock trades above the value of its ETH per share.

Conner estimated that the approach would move the amount in ETH into long-term staking and create a public-market proxy for investors that cannot hold tokens directly.

He added watch points for traders, such as the premium versus ETH’s net asset value, potential follow-on offerings if a premium emerges, and whether other micro-cap companies replicate the model. 

Conner framed supply compression and a simple equity wrapper as “bullish” for Ether’s acceptance on corporate balance sheets.

Based on CryptoSlate data, Ethereum was trading at $2,564.72 as of press time, up 4.5% on the day and outpacing the average gains of other large-cap altcoins.

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