SharpLink Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: SBET), one of the world’s largest corporate holders of Ethereum (ETH), announced a plan to deploy $200 million worth of ETH onto Linea, a Layer-2 blockchain network built by Consensys.
This is expected to roll over a multi-year period, with the aim to make the company’s ETH holdings more productive through different routes and decentralized finance (DeFi) activities while keeping its operations secure and well-managed.
According to the press release, SharpLink will use Linea’s zkEVM Layer-2 infrastructure to unlock competitive ETH-based returns and also use Anchorage Digital Bank, its qualified custodian, to ensure that the deployment meets institutional safety standards.
The investment strategy will help SharpLink earn from several sources, including Ethereum’s native yield, restaking rewards from EigenCloud, and partner incentives from ether.fi and Linea.
“This deployment enables us to access the best of Ethereum’s staking, restaking, and DeFi yield, while maintaining the institutional safeguards our stockholders expect.” Co-CEO Joseph Chalom said in the release.
This collaboration will bring together several names in the blockchain world, including Consensys, Eigen Labs, ether.fi, and Anchorage Digital.
Joseph Lubin, Founder and CEO of Consensys, and Co-Founder of Ethereum, explained why this partnership is important. “Ethereum is becoming the programmable foundation for a new generation of financial markets,” he said. He added that SharpLink’s ETH will earn enhanced returns through Linea’s partners and could inspire other institutions to follow the same path.
Mike Silagadze, CEO of ether.fi, said his company is proud to provide staking services for SharpLink’s treasury. He explained that large ETH holders need trusted and efficient platforms to put their digital assets to work safely.
