SharpLink Gaming’s newly appointed co-CEO is defending the company’s decision to hold large amounts of Ethereum, calling the strategy a potential “white swan event” that could accelerate institutional adoption rather than trigger market instability.
The publicly traded firm has accumulated 837,230 ETH (roughly 0.69% of circulating supply) — more than $3.7 billion at recent prices — prompting debate about whether such concentrated treasuries pose systemic risks.
Joseph Chalom told Decrypt SharpLink is intentionally positioning ETH as a reserve asset for corporate treasuries. “We are not sellers of Ethereum. We are accumulators of Ethereum,” he said, adding that liquidity needs can be met via debt instruments or stock buybacks instead of selling holdings into the market.
Supporters say the approach mirrors Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin-first strategy at Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which used convertible debt to build large BTC reserves. Critics counter that heavy concentration in any single asset can create a single point of failure if multiple firms try to liquidate simultaneously.
Chalom pushed back, stressing that SharpLink’s status as a listed company brings disclosure obligations under SEC and Nasdaq rules — including weekly reports of holdings, purchase prices and accumulated staking rewards — which he contrasts with the opaque practices behind the FTX collapse.
Why it matters: if public companies can explain use cases such as stablecoins, tokenization and programmable money to traditional finance, they may speed Ethereum treasury adoption among institutional players. That said, concentrated holdings carry market and liquidity risks, so investors and regulators will be watching how firms balance accumulation, disclosure and risk management.
Source: Decrypt. Read the original coverage for full details.