ETH version of micro strategy is here, US stock SharpLink has received more than 400 million financing from Ethereum supporters and is on the verge of delisting

Author: Nancy, PANews

SharpLink Gaming, a small U.S. stock company that was originally rarely interested and had its share price hovering on the verge of delisting, suddenly became the focus of attention in the crypto market.

On May 27, SharpLink announced that it had completed a private equity financing of about $425 million and would purchase ETH as its main reserve asset. This crypto bet sparked heated discussions in the community, and many even called it "Ethereum version of Strategy."

Betting on ETH as a reserve asset for the treasury, and obtaining 425

million yuan in financing with a market value of 2 million

According to an announcement released by SharpLink, the company has signed a securities purchase agreement that will raise approximately US$425 million through public corporate private equity investment (PIPE). Under the agreement, the company will issue approximately 69.1 million common shares (or equivalent securities) at a price of $6.15 per share, with the subscription price of members of the management team at $6.72 per share.

This round of financing lineup is luxurious, led by Ethereum infrastructure developer ConsenSys, and the participating institutions include ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Ondo, GSR and Republic Digital. In addition, SharpLink CEO Rob Phythian and Chief Financial Officer Robert DeLucia also participated in the subscription. However, these participating institutions have not promoted and distributed any relevant news on Twitter or official websites.

According to the company's announcement, the financing proceeds will be mainly used to purchase ETH, and ETH will become SharpLink's main treasury reserve asset in the future. Some of the funds will be used for daily operations and other general corporate purposes.

The transaction is expected to be completed around May 29, 2025. The most iconic step is the joining of Ethereum co-founder and CEO of ConsenSys. He will serve as chairman of the board of directors of SharpLink and assist the company in developing its core business as a strategic consultant. ConsenSys plays an important role in the Ethereum ecosystem and is behind the core tools such as Infura and MetaMask. Lubin's addition is not only an endorsement of identity, but also a deep strategic binding.

On the day the financing news was announced, SharpLink's stock price soared to $50, a record high since May 2023. SharpLink's valuation has jumped to $2.5 billion. You know, a week ago, it was just a marginal stock with a daily turnover of only tens of thousands of dollars and a stock price hovering for several dollars, with a market value of less than $2 million.

Deep in financial difficulties for many years, and once on the verge of

delisting

Behind SharpLink’s transformation to the crypto market is a carefully planned in-depth reconstruction of business and identity.

SharpLink is an online technology company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, focusing on delivering performance-driven marketing solutions to the sports betting and iGaming (online betting) industries. The company helps the world's leading sports betting and online casino operators to attract, acquire and retain players through its iGaming affiliate marketing network PAS.net . Additionally, SharpLink operates a range of directly-facing, state-specific affiliate marketing sites designed to direct local sports betting and online casino traffic to its partners.

SharpLink has been facing the dual pressure of a decline in revenue and a deterioration in financial deterioration over the past few years, and it was not until last year that it turned net income into profits. According to SharpLink's full-year financial data for 2024, annual revenue fell by 26.1% year-on-year, achieving only US$3.662 million in revenue for the whole year. Although the tax revenue generated by the termination of the business brought about $10.09 million in net profit, this did not conceal its main business fatigue. Not only that, as of the end of 2024, SharpLink's cash reserves were approximately US$1.436 million, down 42.2% from US$2.487 million at the end of 2023. Faced with financial tightness, SharpLink raised about $1.83 million through "market issuance" (ATM) in 2024.

In order to stop the bleeding, SharpLink sold its core assets in Fantasy Sports and Game Development in early 2024, recovering $22.5 million in cash, repaying about $19.4 million in debt, and moving its registered place from Israel to Delaware, laying the foundation for subsequent compliance and capital operations. Rob Phythian said at the time that "selling Fantasy Sports and SHGN businesses and paying off debts is a turning point in SharpLink's history. The company has now completed its focus and slimming, and is able to focus on its affiliate marketing business and emerging growth directions."

In addition, in order to increase the trading price per share and avoid forced delisting of Nasdaq, SharpLink also implemented a 1-12-12-reverse share split in May 2025.

This series of strategic adjustments laid the foundation for SharpLink to transform into an Ethereum reserve company. In February 2025, SharpLink took the first step toward the crypto world, acquiring 10% of the equity of Armchair Enterprises Limited (parent company of CryptoCasino.com) for US$500,000 in cash and obtaining the right to acquire the future controlling stake. CryptoCasino.com is an online gambling platform based on blockchain, supports recharge and betting of more than 20 mainstream cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc., and provides more than 6,000 gambling games. The platform has also launched the native token $CASINO. Although this action did not boost the company's stock price at that time, it sent a signal of transformation to the outside world.

However, SharpLink's revenue scale is still small, its main business is still in its early stages of transformation, and its financial structure is still under pressure. Why do heavyweight crypto institutions such as ConsenSys still choose to join the market with a lot of money? The reason is that compared with crypto-native companies, building an on-chain treasury with a Nasdaq listed company is not only extremely convincing, but also triggering a larger-scale capital market linkage, which may change the capital market's imagination path for Ethereum. A arbitrage model similar to Strategy that puts Bitcoin into listed companies and uses the capital market to amplify its value has achieved a stock price premium far exceeding the currency price itself. This model has been widely recognized by the market and attracted many followers.

Joseph Lubin also said of the investment, "After the transaction is completed, Consensys looks forward to working with SharpLink to jointly explore and develop the Ethereum treasury strategy and serve as a strategic consultant in its core business. This is an exciting time for the Ethereum community and I am very excited to work with Rob and his team to bring the potential of Ethereum into the public capital market."

However, whether the financial leverage effect brought by SharpLink's reliance on ETH reserves can withstand the test of market cycles and whether it can replicate the Strategy-style capital miracle remains to be tested.