SharpLink Secures $425 Million in Financing and Initiates Ethereum Reserve Strategy, Plans to Raise an Additional $1 Billion

SharpLink Gaming Completes $425 Million Private Equity Financing

On Monday, SharpLink Gaming, a US online gaming marketing company, announced the completion of a $425 million private equity financing led by Consensys, the developer of the renowned cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask. The company plans to use the raised funds to initiate its Ethereum (ETH) reserve strategy, becoming one of the first NASDAQ-listed companies to take this step.

Following the completion of this transaction, Joseph Lubin, CEO of Consensys and co-founder of Ethereum, became the chairman of SharpLink. Lubin stated in a press release:

The fundraising attracted participation from many well-known investment institutions and cryptocurrency companies, including ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Arrington Capital, Galaxy Digital, Ondo, White Star Capital, GSR, Hivemind Capital, Hypersphere, Primitive Ventures, and Republic Digital. SharpLink’s CEO Rob Phythian and CFO Robert DeLucia were also involved.

SharpLink stated that this transaction allows the company to adopt the native asset of the Ethereum blockchain, ETH, as its primary financial reserve asset, while continuing to focus on its core business operations. SharpLink also plans to utilize its held ETH to participate in protocol-level activities such as staking and decentralized finance (DeFi) mechanisms.

Additionally, documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 30 indicate that SharpLink plans to raise another $1 billion, stating that “the vast majority” of these funds will be used to purchase Ethereum.

Recently, SharpLink’s stock price (SBET) experienced a surge, rising from around $2.79 on May 22 to over $70, with an increase of up to 3600%. According to data from TradingView, SharpLink’s stock closed yesterday at $55.37.

While an increasing number of publicly listed companies are investing in Bitcoin, those choosing to incorporate Ethereum into their asset allocation remain relatively rare. KPMG in Canada, a division of the international accounting firm KPMG, is one such company that included both Bitcoin and Ethereum in its asset allocation as early as 2022.

In Asia, Hong Kong game development company Boyaa Interactive spent nearly $40 million purchasing Ethereum, but the company announced at the end of last year that it had exchanged its ETH for BTC. Hong Kong app developer Meitu also held a significant amount of ETH and BTC, but reports indicate that the company has sold these holdings.

The current price of Ethereum is approximately $2,600, having increased by 43% over the past month following the successful completion of the Pectra upgrade.