The institutional coin hoarding trend escalates! SharpLink invests an additional $53.9 million to acquire 15,800 ETH, intensifying the battle for Ethereum corporate reserves.

On-chain data shows that SharpLink Gaming continues its aggressive Ethereum reserve strategy, spending 108.57 million USDC to purchase 30,755 ETH (average price of 3,530 USD) within two days in early August, with the latest purchase reaching 15,800 ETH (approximately 53.9 million USD). As a result, its total ETH holdings have surpassed 480,000, valued at 1.65 billion USD. Former BlackRock digital asset head Joseph Chalom has joined as co-CEO, while Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin serves as chairman of the board. Currently, 63 companies hold a total of 2.74 million ETH (9.71 billion USD), with Bitmine, backed by Peter Thiel, leading the ranks with 625,000 holdings. Enterprise-level ETH reserves are becoming a new narrative in the crypto market.

In two days, 30,000 ETH were purchased, SharpLink's Holdings exceeded 480,000 ETH On August 3rd, blockchain analysis firm Lookonchain disclosed that publicly traded company SharpLink Gaming continues to implement its aggressive Ethereum reserve strategy. In the past 48 hours, the company has used a total of 108.57 million USDC stablecoins to purchase 30,755 ETH at an average price of $3,530. The latest transaction shows that it has bought another 15,800 ETH (approximately $53.9 million). After this increase, SharpLink's total ETH reserves reached 480,031 ETH, valued at approximately $1.65 billion based on current market prices.

Imitating MicroStrategy's Bitcoin strategy, capital market financing builds an ETH fortress SharpLink clearly draws on MicroStrategy's Bitcoin reserve model, financing through the capital markets to accumulate ETH on a large scale. The core financing actions include: completing a $425 million private placement in May this year, and raising $413 million through a stock issuance in July. Huge amounts of funds are continuously being converted into on-chain ETH assets.

Top talent support, BlackRock executives parachute in as co-CEOs To support this strategy, SharpLink made a key personnel appointment on July 25: appointing former BlackRock digital asset strategy head Joseph Chalom as co-CEO. Chalom previously managed the $87 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the $10 billion Ether Trust. Notably, Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin serves as the chairman of the company’s board, highlighting the depth of resource integration.

The competition for corporate ETH reserves has intensified, with 63 companies holding $9.7 billion in assets SharpLink's coin hoarding action has triggered an enterprise-level Ethereum reserve race. On July 19, it briefly surpassed the Ethereum Foundation with a holding of 233,000 ETH, becoming the largest corporate holder. However, it was subsequently surpassed by Bitmine Immersion Technologies, supported by Peter Thiel (current holding of 625,000 ETH). Strategic ETH Reserve data shows that as of August 4, a total of 63 companies worldwide hold 2.74 million ETH, with a total value of up to $9.71 billion.

Analyst: ETH becomes a strategic reserve asset, valuation controversies emerge Analysts pointed out that SharpLink's continuous increase in holdings reflects Ethereum is becoming a core trend as a strategic reserve asset for enterprises. The underlying role of Ethereum in explosive areas such as stablecoin issuance (accounting for 90% market share) and real-world asset tokenization (RWA) is a key driving force behind its institutional favor. However, valuation controversies have arisen: Seeking Alpha analysts pointed out that SharpLink stock (SBET) is trading at a nearly 4 times premium relative to its ETH holdings net value, indicating speculative bubbles and overvaluation risks, and they suggest investors directly purchase ETH or ETFs to avoid the premium.

Conclusion: SharpLink's billion-dollar ETH accumulation plan marks a new phase in corporate asset allocation of crypto assets dominated by Ethereum. The joining of BlackRock executives and backing from the Ethereum founding team inject strong confidence into the "institutional ETH accumulation" narrative. Although short-term stock premiums raise concerns about bubbles, the corporate reserve race has significantly increased the on-chain locked amount of ETH. With the approval of ETH spot ETFs approaching and the explosion of the RWA track, corporate ETH reserve scale, on-chain staking yield, and L2 ecosystem TVL growth will become the golden triangle for observing Ethereum's value capture capability. The trend of traditional capital leveraging public companies to lay out ETH may continue to strengthen.