Sharplink CEO: Ethereum treasuries favor staking

At Consensus in Miami last week, Joseph Chalom, chief executive of Sharplink, told attendees many public Ethereum treasury firms are favoring staking income and simpler balance sheets instead of leverage strategies modeled on Michael Saylor.

Sharplink holds 868,699 ETH, worth about $1.96 billion, making it the second-largest public Ethereum treasury after Bitmine, which holds 5,180,131 ETH.

Chalom said staking yields allow treasuries to earn returns directly from ether holdings rather than relying on leverage or complex financing. He contrasted that approach with what he described as Strategy's “amazing financial engineering.”

Only a handful of treasury companies remained intact through the recent market downturn, he said. Sharplink and Bitmine, chaired by Tom Lee, reached what Chalom described as “exit velocity” during that period.

Chalom noted several other treasuries issued preferred shares or convertible debt too early, and their market-cap-to-net-asset-value ratios have contracted sharply since 2025 peaks. Sharplink focused on equity raises and staking income while keeping its balance sheet straightforward.

Sharplink's stock remains roughly 91% below its 2025 high, Chalom acknowledged.

He pointed to developments he expects will push tokenization and stablecoin use in traditional finance: plans for 24/7 trading at major U.S. exchanges, work by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation on tokenized collateral, and Bullish's acquisition of Equiniti, which he called “massively bullish” for onchain public equities.

Chalom said he has been surprised that bitcoin and ether traded more like risk-on assets over the past 18 months, showing tighter correlations with technology stocks and sensitivity to geopolitical events.

Looking ahead, he expects ether to diverge more from bitcoin as stablecoins, tokenized assets, decentralized finance and AI-related applications expand on Ethereum. He said those use cases could create distinct treasury utility for firms that rely on staking and onchain activity rather than layered financing structures.