The Ethereum Foundation sold 10,000 ETH to SharpLink Gaming (SBET) through an over-the-counter deal at just $2,572.37 per token. That transaction totaled over $25 million—executed just before ETH ripped above $3,000. On-chain data shows Ether trading around $2,981 when the deal closed, making the sale a nearly 14% markdown.
Don’t Miss TipRanks’ Half-Year Sale
- Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
- Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week.
SharpLink Doubles Down on Ethereum Strategy
This isn’t SharpLink’s first Ethereum move, but it’s by far the biggest. The sports betting tech firm had already announced a full Ethereum-based corporate treasury pivot in May. That same month, they brought on Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin as chairman of the board and sealed a $425 million private equity deal with ConsenSys. This week’s 10,000 ETH purchase confirms they’re putting capital where their conviction is.
Joseph Lubin Frames ETH as Financial Infrastructure
Lubin, never one for small words, laid out the thesis bluntly. ETH may be widely held, he said, but it’s not widely put to use. That’s the gap SharpLink aims to fill. By creating demand from within the corporate treasury and betting markets, SharpLink isn’t just accumulating Ether — it’s injecting it into active economic cycles. And that, in Lubin’s view, is critical to ETH’s long-term value capture.
“It’s going to be critical to enable the supply-demand dynamics of Ether to right-size as we build more and more applications,” Lubin said earlier this week.
ETFs Pour in Fresh Fuel as Ether Reclaims $3K
Zoom out and the macro backdrop only adds momentum. Ethereum is riding shotgun to Bitcoin’s breakout, with both assets lifted by renewed ETF inflows. Thursday alone saw $383 million rush into Ether spot ETFs, marking one of the largest single-day tallies since launch.
That surge helped push ETH back above $3,000 for the first time since March. By Friday, it had touched $3,028 before cooling slightly, still holding strong in the $2,990s at press time.
Ethereum Upgrade Path Adds Long-Term Tailwind
If the price action looks bullish, the roadmap adds fuel to the fire. Ethereum developer Sophia Gold confirmed that the Foundation expects to transition to a full ZK-rollup execution model within a year. That means lower costs, faster throughput, and a significantly more scalable Layer 1.
Zero-knowledge proofs are expected to replace traditional block execution in stages, with the final phase delivering a network that’s more private, efficient, and enterprise-ready. And for a company like SharpLink, now directly tethered to ETH’s future, that evolution only strengthens the bet.
At the time of writing, ETH is sitting at $2,995.20.
