Sharplink stakes $200M in ETH through Lido to boost treasury yield

Sharplink (Nasdaq: SBET) will stake $200 million of ETH through Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, receiving wstETH held in custody with Anchorage Digital.

"Adding a staking protocol of Lido's caliber deepens the diversification of our treasury strategy and gives us access to one of the most liquid and widely integrated assets in Ethereum DeFi," Joseph Chalom, chief executive officer of Sharplink, said.

Lido accounts for a majority of all liquid staked ETH, with roughly $16.5 billion of ETH staked through the protocol. Its wstETH token is integrated across more than 100 protocols, with roughly $10 billion in active-use as collateral. wstETH can be used across Ethereum DeFi while the underlying ETH continues to earn staking rewards.

The allocation continues Sharplink's effort this year to make its ETH treasury maximally productive for shareholders and adds Lido to its existing staking and restaking strategy. The move follows a broader institutional push into staking, with Fidelity filing a pre-effective amendment to let its spot Ethereum ETF stake up to 100 percent of holdings and Grayscale already paying staking rewards to holders.

"I'm excited to see Sharplink increasing the use of Ethereum native staking protocols and the DeFi ecosystem. Being bullish ETH is being bullish on major Ethereum-based applications," Vasiliy Shapovalov, executive director at Lido Labs Foundation, said.

"We are seeing a clear shift in how institutions hold Ethereum, and Sharplink's allocation is a strong example," Kean Gilbert, head of institutional relations at Lido Institutional, said. "Treasuries want their ETH working for them without losing liquidity, and Lido has become the standard for doing it at scale."

Sharplink, founded in 2019 and headquartered in Miami, describes itself as an institutional-grade Ethereum treasury platform designed to give public market investors exposure to ETH. The company is one of the world's largest corporate holders of Ether.

The staking allocation comes as institutional interest in Ethereum yield generation accelerates. Fidelity's proposed staking amendment for its spot Ethereum ETF would allow the fund to stake up to 100 percent of its ETH holdings, retaining 85 percent of gross staking rewards. The SEC has also acknowledged BlackRock's proposal to add staking to its ETHA fund.

For Sharplink, the wstETH position provides direct exposure to ETH plus access to additional on-chain yield through DeFi protocols that accept wstETH as collateral. The token's composability across Ethereum DeFi gives the treasury flexibility while the underlying ETH continues earning staking rewards.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.