Ethereum surges 5% as SharpLink eyes $425m ETH treasury

• Ethereum
  price
  climbed
  5%
  to
  break
  to
  highs
  of
  $2,680
  and
  rank
  among
  the
  top
  gainers
  on
  the
  day.
• The
  gains
  came
  as
  SharpLink
  Gaming
  announced
  plans
  to
  buy
  $425
  million
  worth
  of
  ETH.
• SharpLink
  is
  adopting
  ETH
  as
  its
  primary
  treasury
  strategy.

Ethereum
price
rose
more
than
5%
on
Tuesday
as
the
top
altcoin
benefited
from
an
upside
spark
triggered
by
SharpLink
Gaming’s
announcement
that
it
would
be
buying
$425
million
worth
of
ETH
as
part
of
its
treasury
strategy.

The
price
of
ETH,
which
hovered
below
$2,530
earlier
in
the
day,
rose
to
above
$2,680,
with
the
price
surging
more
than
5%
amid
market
reaction.

Per
CoinMarketCap,
the
uptick
also
saw
Ethereum’s
daily
volume
spike,
reaching
$23
billion
after
surging
81%.

ETH
price
going
up
also
came
as
Standard
Chartered
shared
insights
suggesting
the
altcoin
will
outpace
Solana
(SOL)
in
2025.

Notably,
SOL
price
hovered
around
$177,
largely
flat
on
the
day
and
just
6.8%
up
in
the
past
week.

Comparatively,
Ethereum
has
gained
8%
in
the
week,
not
up
by
much
as
Bitcoin
continued
to
accumulate
around
the
$110k
level.

SharpLink
Gaming
to
buy
$425
million
of
ETH

On
Tuesday,
as
Trump
Media
announced
it
was
raising

$2.5
billion
to
buy
Bitcoin,
SharpLink
Gaming,
a
Nasdaq-listed
company,
dropped
its
own
huge

announcement.

The
company
is
looking
to
raise
$425
million
to
buy
Ethereum,
with
its
funding
coming
from
the
offer
of
a
private
investment
in
public
equity
(PIPE)
round.

The
offer,
backed
by
Ethereum
development
studio
Consensys,
seeks
to
offer
69,100,313
shares
of
its
common
stock
at
the
price
of
$6.15
per
share.

Aggregate
proceeds
of
the
raise,
which
will
close
on
May
29,
subject
to
closing
conditions,
will
go
into
ETH
as
the
company’s
primary
treasury
asset.

“Consensys
looks
forward
to
partnering
with
SharpLink
to
explore
and
develop
an
Ethereum
Treasury
Strategy
and
to
work
with
them
in
their
core
business
as
a
strategic
advisor.
This
is
an
exciting
time
for
the
Ethereum
community,
and
I
am
delighted
to
work
with
Rob
and
the
team
to
bring
the
Ethereum
opportunity
to
public
markets,”
said
Joseph
Lubin,
founder
and
chief
executive
officer
of
Consensys.

Lubin
is
also
a
co-founder
of
Ethereum.
Consensys’
involvement
in
the
deal
was
as
a
lead
investor.

Meanwhile,
top
crypto
venture
capital
firms
and
ecosystem
players
joined
the
initiative,
with
participants
including
Pantera
Capital,
ParaFi
Capital,
Electric
Capital,
Arrington
Capital,
and
Galaxy
Digital.

Others
are
crypto
platform
Ondo,
VCs
White
Star
Capital,
GSR,
Hivemind
Capital,
Hypersphere,
and
Primitive
Ventures.

“This
is
a
significant
milestone
in
SharpLink’s
journey
and
marks
an
expansion
beyond
our
core
business.
On
closing,
we
look
forward
to
working
with
Consensys
and
welcoming
Joseph
to
the
Board,”
Rob
Phythian,
founder
and
CEO
of
SharpLink,
said
in
a
statement.

Ethereum
traded
around
$2,675
at
the
time
of
writing,
with
the
price
about
45%
off
its
all-time
high
of
$4,891
reached
in
November
2021.