SharpLink Gaming deploys $170M in Ethereum to layer-2 network Linea

SharpLink Gaming has transferred $170 million of Ethereum to Linea, a Layer 2 scaling network designed to speed up and reduce the cost of Ethereum blockchain usage. 

The publicly traded company, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, announced on Thursday as part of a broader strategy to optimize its large Ethereum holdings.  Holding one of the largest ETH treasuries among public companies, SharpLink earlier revealed plans to invest up to $200 million in Ethereum over the coming years.

“Now is a pivotal moment for public companies to engage with DeFi,” said Matt Sheffield, SharpLink’s Chief Investment Officer. This initiative includes several industry firsts, such as liquid staking, bridging, and advanced custody solutions.

Sheffield argues that making Ethereum productive at an institutional scale helps propel the broader cryptocurrency industry forward.

How SharpLink plans to earn higher rewards

Sharp-Link aims to help shareholders maximize the rewards from their large Ethereum portfolios. All of its ETH is pledged to Figure Ethereum Staking Rewards, ensuring its security and retaining some rights of participation in the company. 

Sheffield didn’t say how much each incentive pays, but he said the company is poised to negotiate “many more deals of this kind”, as long as they are in the interests of stockholders. The stock market reacted modestly. Shares of SharpLink (SBET) ended at $10.28 on Thursday, up about 1.4 per cent for the day. 

However, the price had already decreased by more than 33% compared to its initial report on the staking roadmap in October, as investor expectations evolved.

SharpLink currently remains the custodian of 864,840 ETH, which is around $2.7 billion in value at today’s market rate. All of this Ethereum is already staked. At present, the company is the second-largest publicly traded holder of Ethereum treasuries.

Earlier in September, SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom stated that the company needed to support “Ethereum-aligned products” because the firm’s long-term thesis hinges on Ethereum becoming more widely adopted in real-world finance. The company sees Ethereum as a foundation for future global markets, not just a digital asset.

Why Linea matters now and what SharpLink plans next

Linea is part of a growing sector of Layer-2 networks built on Ethereum. These networks process transactions off the main Ethereum chain to make things faster and less expensive. Linea also has strong ties to Ethereum’s founding ecosystem. SharpLink’s chairman, Joseph Lubin, who also co-founded Ethereum, is the founder and CEO of Consensys, the software firm that incubated Linea.

SharpLink is also a member of the Linea Consortium, which is responsible for managing the governance and token distribution of the Linea network. Linea introduced its own token in September. After launch, network activity surged and then cooled. 

The data indicate that the total value locked (TVL) on Linea peaked at approximately $1.64 billion, about two weeks after the token went live. Since then, TVL has fallen approximately 89% to around $185.74 million, according to DefiLlama. 

Although the percentage has decreased, SharpLink still believes that creating decentralized finance (DeFi) systems for institutions can yield long-term benefits. The company also plans to provide an example of how public corporations can fully and securely utilize blockchain technology in their treasury operations.

Sheffield called the update a “new on-chain paradigm” for capital markets and noted that SharpLink is still working on making its Ethereum treasury. 

As of press time, Ether (ETH) has fallen by just 1% in the past 24 hours, trading at approximately $3,115, which remains 37% below its peak of $4,946.

Sheffield said the Linea deployment is not a one-off event. SharpLink wants to structure more deals that layer extra yields on top of staking rewards, as long as they remain safe and beneficial for shareholders.

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