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The 2019 Concordia Annual Summit - Day 2
Joseph Lubin (Riccardo Savi/Getty Images)

SharpLink Gaming’s plans to buy $1 billion worth of ethereum send shares tumbling

The company aims to be the Strategy of ethereum.

Just days after announcing a $425 million funding for an ethereum treasury strategy, sportsbook marketing firm SharpLink Gaming revealed it intends to offer “up to $1 billion” in shares of its common stock to buy ethereum.

“We intend to use substantially all of the proceeds from this offering to acquire Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain commonly referred to as ‘ETH,’” the May 30 SEC filing reads.

SharpLink shares were down more than 36% as of 10:30 a.m. ET.

The company also announced last week that Joseph Lubin, the founder and CEO of Consensys and cofounder of ethereum, “will become Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company effective upon the closing of the private placement.” 

Ethereum has been on an upward trajectory lately and is up 36% from a month ago, though it’s still far away from its all-time high of $4,878 on November 10, 2021.

Experts note several drivers that could further boost the asset, including that “increased acceptance and usage of DeFi will further increase demand for ETH as a credibly neutral and permissionless collateral,” according to Tim Lowe, Strategic Advisor, Bitwise Onchain Solutions.

Lowe also said that 30% of the ethereum supply is currently locked in staking, further increasing scarcity and demand for the coin.

“This is before potential approval of staked ETH ETFs by the SEC, which could further add momentum to this asset,” Lowe said.

Update (June 3, 2025): Corrected attribution of quote to Tim Lowe instead of John McLeod.

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New bitcoin AfterDark ETF will be bitcoin at night, Treasurys by day

Tidal Trust II submitted form N-1A with the SEC to register a bitcoin ETF designed to systemically capture the cryptocurrency’s overnight return profile, a time window that delivered a significant portion of bitcoin’s upside last year.

The Nicholas Bitcoin and Treasuries AfterDark ETF provides long bitcoin exposure during US overnight hours, from the closing bell until the following morning’s market open, when the fund intends to unwind its positions, according to a document filed with the SEC on Tuesday. 

To gain that exposure, the ETF may use a number of methods, including bitcoin futures contracts, US-listed ETFs, or exchange-traded options on such bitcoin underlying funds. When the market is open and daytime trading is active, the fund’s portfolio will consist of US Treasury securities and other cash equivalents. 

In 2024, most of bitcoin’s gains occurred after-hours, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported:

The AfterDark ETF filing comes as bitcoin crossed $94,000 on Tuesday, rising 4.5% in the last 24 hours. Even though spot bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $60.5 million in outflows on Monday, the investment vehicles have a cumulative net inflow of $57.6 billion, per SoSoValue.

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