Key Takeaways
- Before Consensys invested $425 million in Sharplink, SBET was a little-heard-of tech stock with limited revenue potential.
- In the first quarter of 2025, the firm’s revenue declined 24% year-over-year.
- Now, Joseph Lubin is trying to turn SharpLink into Ethereum’s MicroStrategy.
After its revenues declined by 24% in the year to March, SharpLink’s latest business strategy—hoarding ETH as a treasury asset—has transformed how investors view the company.
Plans to establish the sports betting and iGaming firm as Ethereum’s MicroStrategy have been spearheaded by Joseph Lubin, who was appointed as Board Chairman in May.
SharpLink’s Technology Business flounders
Founded in 2019, SharpLink Gaming offers AI-powered marketing and conversion tools for sports media, leagues, and betting sites.
The company’s revenue has fluctuated significantly, peaking at $4.95 million in 2023, before declining 26.1% to around $3.7 million in 2024.
2025 didn’t get off to a good start either, with first-quarter revenue down 24% year-over-year.
Against this backdrop, in May, Consensys invested $425 million in SharpLink to fund an ETH treasury strategy that will see SharpLink diversify away from its struggling marketing technology business.
SharpLink’s Crypto Pivot
As part of the investment deal, Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin was appointed as SharpLink’s board chairman.
At the time, he said Consensys “looks forward to partnering with SharpLink to explore and develop an Ethereum treasury strategy,” and that he was “delighted to work with [SharpLink CEO Rob Phythian] and the team to bring the Ethereum opportunity to public markets.”
SharpLink disclosed its first acquisition of 176,271 ETH for $463 million on June 13, followed by an additional 12,207 ETH for $30,674,829 on June 24.
Mirroring the journey of Bitcoin treasury companies like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Metaplanet, SharpLink’s ETH holdings have quickly overshadowed its traditional business operations.
For SharpLink’s founders, the new direction offers a lifeline to a company whose revenue was in decline.
Meanwhile, for Consensys, creating a publicly listed Ethereum treasury company unlocks new opportunities and market access that wouldn’t be available if it simply invested the money in ETH directly.
Stock Market Reacts
SharpLink’s share price has been volatile since the company announced its Ethereum strategy in May.
The initial announcement of Consensys’s investment sparked a major rally, but dilution concerns prompted a sharp pullback in the following days.
Since then, SBET has traded according to the plan, essentially acting as a public market proxy for ETH with some divergence based on other factors.
If SharpLink is to follow the Strategy playbook, it will need to outperform ETH in order to raise additional capital for further purchases.
If anything, Ethereum’s proof-of-stake model could make it an even more profitable treasury asset. Not only will SharpLink’s acquisitions increase demand, creating crucial price support, but by staking its ETH, the very act of holding will also grow the size of its overall pot.
James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
