SharpLink Gaming Stock Plummets 70% After Ethereum Treasury Plan and SEC Filing Sparks Confusion

SharpLink Stock Crashes After SEC Filing

SharpLink Gaming’s stock took a nosedive late Thursday, dropping more than 70% in after-hours trading. The plunge came right after the company filed an S-3 shelf prospectus with the SEC—a move that often signals plans to sell securities.

Just a couple weeks ago, SharpLink had been riding high. The Minneapolis-based online gambling marketer saw its shares spike after announcing a $425 million private investment to build an Ethereum treasury. But by Thursday night, the stock was hovering around $10.35, down from a closing price of $32.53 earlier in the day. At one point, it even dipped below $8.

Confusion Over the Filing

Part of the SEC filing seemed to suggest that investors involved in SharpLink’s recent PIPE deal had already cashed out. But Joseph Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and SharpLink’s board chair, pushed back on that idea. In a post on X, he called it a “misinterpretation.”

Lubin clarified that the filing simply registered shares for *possible* resale by earlier investors. The numbers listed weren’t actual sales—just hypothetical scenarios. “This is standard post-PIPE procedure,” he wrote, adding that neither he nor Consensys had sold any shares.

Still, the market reaction was brutal. SharpLink had been on a wild run, hitting nearly $80 a share in late May after the Ethereum treasury news broke. Now, it’s lost most of those gains in a matter of days.

Why the Sudden Shift?

PIPE deals—private investments in public equity—let companies raise money fast by selling shares to big investors instead of going public with an offering. For SharpLink, the $425 million injection was supposed to fuel its crypto treasury plans.

But lately, the whole “corporate crypto treasury” trend has been shaky. Companies like MicroStrategy (now just called Strategy) made headlines by stockpiling Bitcoin. Others followed, betting on altcoins like Solana or XRP. SharpLink went all-in on Ethereum—a move that initially won cheers from investors.

Problem is, crypto markets are volatile. Ethereum’s price was down about 4% over 24 hours when this all went down, trading around $2,640. That kind of swing doesn’t help when your entire strategy hinges on crypto holdings.

SharpLink hasn’t commented yet. Neither has the SEC. For now, traders seem to be reacting first and asking questions later. Whether this is a temporary panic or something worse—well, we’ll have to wait and see.