SharpLink Gaming, the Nasdaq-listed affiliate marketing and gaming software firm-turned ETH treasury company, plans to become the first public company to natively issue its common stock directly on the Ethereum blockchain.
SharpLink has appointed Superstate as its digital transfer agent, according to a statement on Thursday, using its Opening Bell onchain issuance solution to tokenize SBET equity in a legally compliant way. The firm said it aims to demonstrate how public companies can use blockchain infrastructure to create shareholder value, improve market efficiency, and drive forward the next generation of capital markets.
The two companies also plan to explore compliant ways for tokenized equities to trade on automated market makers and other DeFi protocols, following the Securities and Exchange Commission's Project Crypto initiative to modernize securities regulation for digital assets and onchain markets.
"SharpLink will be the first public company to tokenize their shares on Ethereum using Superstate's Opening Bell, a milestone worthy of such an important Ethereum-aligned company," Superstate CEO Robert Leshner said. "We're very pleased to be partnering with SharpLink as they build the ecosystem for tokenized equity on Ethereum and beyond."
SharpLink joins other public firms such as the recently-formed Solana treasury company Forward Industries and crypto asset manager Galaxy Digital in leveraging Superstate's Opening Bell for stock tokenization, albeit on the Solana blockchain in their case. Robinhood, xStocks, and Coinbase are also pursuing onchain solutions for public equities as the tokenization trend gains traction.
SharpLink's Ethereum treasury strategy
Chaired by Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joe Lubin, SharpLink embarked on its Ethereum treasury strategy in June and has since accumulated more than 830,000 ETH ($3.3 billion) and generated over 3,815 ETH ($15.3 million) in staking rewards. It is currently the second-largest corporate Ethereum holder behind Tom Lee's BitMine, according to SER data.
"We're proud to have been the first public company to become a Digital Asset Treasury company on Ethereum, onboarding traditional finance to Ethereum. And now we are excited to raise the floodgates further by onboarding TradFi to composable DeFi on Ethereum," Lubin said Thursday. "As one of the largest corporate holders of ETH, this major step forward reinforces SharpLink's conviction that Ethereum is the foundation upon which the next generation of financial infrastructure will be built."
SBET is trading down 5% in Thursday trading, according to The Block's SharpLink price page, echoing a broader correction across the crypto market.
