SharpLink purchased $463 million of ETH: Ethereum becomes a reserve asset

SharpLink is building a treasury on Ethereum. The sports lottery company SharpLink has adopted a counter-trend strategy by establishing reserves on Ethereum. In fact, currently, corporate funds mainly use Bitcoin as a reserve. Michael Saylor's strategy is undoubtedly the most famous example of this trend. In contrast to these companies, SharpLink financed its funds reserves by purchasing 176,271 ETH, equivalent to $463 million, through a stock sale in May.

This is a turning point for SharpLink and for publicly traded companies adopting digital assets.

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SharpLink has staked 95% of its ETH in staking and liquid staking. SharpLink is the first company to be listed on NASDAQ and use Ethereum as a reserve asset.

Who are the largest holders of Ethereum?

Although SharpLink's acquisition makes it one of the largest holders of Ethereum, the company is not the largest holder. The largest holder is the Ethereum Foundation, which holds 214,129 ETH. Of course, followed by asset management funds that hold the ETH of clients investing in Ethereum ETFs. Thus, BlackRock holds 1.7 million ETH, worth $4.5 billion.

We should also not forget cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Kraken, which hold 4.4 million and 1.7 million ETH, respectively. These exchanges also hold ETH on behalf of their clients. Therefore, we see that, aside from the Ethereum Foundation (and Vitalik Buterin himself), SharpLink is the largest holder of ETH.

Can ETH be considered a reserve asset?

SharpLink's decision to use Ethereum as a reserve asset is surprising. However, the stock market reacted positively to this decision. After announcing this decision on May 27, SharpLink's stock price rose by 400%. Subsequently, due to misunderstandings regarding transactions between the company's wallets, concerns about a rapid sell-off of Ethereum arose, causing its stock price to drop by 73%.

Despite the market's enthusiasm for this decision, we must remember that SharpLink's chairman is none other than Joseph Lubin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum. Therefore, it is not surprising that his company chose Ethereum as a reserve asset.