Sumit Roy
2 min read
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The iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) saw $32 million of inflows on Tuesday as Ether prices rallied to three-month highs.
The surge came after Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming Inc. (SBET) announced plans to raise $425 million to purchase Ether, with Consensys Software Inc. and other crypto-focused investors participating in the deal. Ether jumped 4% on the news, while shares of SharpLink soared 433%, closing at $35.83. That’s more than five times the $6.15 per share price of the capital raise.
SharpLink’s rally evoked comparisons to MicroStrategy Inc., now rebranded as Strategy Inc. (MSTR), which famously transformed itself into a de facto Bitcoin holding company in 2020.
Like Strategy, SharpLink’s core business has nothing to do with crypto. It operates as a marketing partner for sportsbook and online casino gaming platforms. In 2024, the company was unprofitable and had less than $4 million in revenue. Prior to Tuesday, its market cap was only $15 million.
But crypto bulls are betting that SharpLink could play a similar role for Ether that Strategy did for Bitcoin. In 2020, Strategy’s first Bitcoin purchases came when it had a market cap under $1.5 billion. Today, it’s worth more than $100 billion—more than the value of the Bitcoin it holds—thanks to investors piling in and the company leveraging that enthusiasm to raise even more capital for Bitcoin buys.
It’s a bold blueprint that other firms have tried to mimic, though none have yet had the same success. Still, the mere possibility of a “Strategy for Ether” narrative has some investors intrigued. If SharpLink can spark a similar flywheel—raising money to buy Ether, fueling a stock surge, enabling more fundraising and ultimately more Ether purchases—it could become a meaningful catalyst for the second-largest cryptocurrency, which has lagged significantly behind Bitcoin this cycle.
As of Tuesday, Bitcoin was trading near $110,000, roughly 62% above its 2021 peak. Ether, meanwhile, hovered around $2,700, still 44% below its all-time high. Some of the underperformance reflects concerns about Ether’s role in the smart contract space, with newer blockchains like Solana nipping at its heels.
ETF flows tell the story, too. Since the start of 2025, spot Bitcoin ETFs have attracted nearly $10 billion, while Ether ETFs have seen just $100 million in inflows. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) now has $72.4 billion in assets, compared to just $3.6 billion for ETHA.
Whether SharpLink can change that remains to be seen. But in a crypto market starved for Ether-specific catalysts, Tuesday’s fireworks were more than welcome.
