Ethereum Foundation offloads $25.7m ETH to a public company in rare deal

When the Ethereum Foundation offloads ETH, markets flinch. But this time, they handpicked SharpLink as the buyer. Behind the $25.7 million transaction lies a deeper narrative about staking, institutional alignment, and Ethereum’s next phase.

On July 11, Minneapolis-based iGaming giant SharpLink Gaming announced it had closed a direct on-chain purchase of 10,000 Ether (ETH) tokens from the Ethereum Foundation, marking one of the largest peer-to-peer mainnet transfers between a protocol steward and a public company to date.

The $25.7 million acquisition, executed at $2,572.37 per ETH, was finalized on July 10 without any intermediaries or custodial bridges. It’s a move that not only expands SharpLink’s crypto-heavy treasury strategy but also signals a rare, deliberate handoff of assets from the core of Ethereum’s development body to a listed entity aligned with the network’s long-term goals.

The purchase, following another $19.2 million ETH acquisition last week, solidifies SharpLink’s position as the second-largest corporate holder of Ethereum, trailing only the foundation itself.

A strategic alliance with Ethereum’s future at stake

The Ethereum Foundation’s decision to sell directly to SharpLink, rather than through open markets, speaks volumes. Historically, large ETH transfers from the Foundation have sparked sell-off fears, but this transaction was structured to avoid market disruption.

It also aligns with the Foundation’s revised treasury strategy, which now focuses on strategic liquidity management rather than outright divestment. For SharpLink, locking in a sub-market price for 10,000 ETH provides more than just a discount. The move establishes a direct relationship with Ethereum’s core developers, potentially giving the company early insights into protocol upgrades and DeFi integrations.

According to Joseph Lubin, who chairs SharpLink and also co-founded Ethereum, the transaction reflects more than balance sheet maneuvering.

SharpLink also views this deal as “the start of something bigger.” In Lubin’s words, the company hopes to model how public entities can “advance our ecosystem’s shared goals of decentralization, economic empowerment, and protocol-native finance.”

Internally, the firm has engineered its ETH holdings into a transparent metric: the ETH Concentration score, which tracks tokens per 1,000 diluted shares. That level of visibility is rare in crypto-heavy firms and speaks to SharpLink’s intent to set benchmarks, not chase trends.

At the same time, SharpLink said it’s undertaking a full-scale overhaul of its legacy iGaming business, tapping Ethereum’s smart contract infrastructure to build a more dynamic, trustless betting ecosystem.