SharpLink Gaming (SBET), the public firm pivoting to a crypto treasury strategy focused on Ethereum, revealed on Friday it acquired 176,271 ether
for nearly $463 million.
The purchase makes the firm the largest ETH holder among publicly traded companies, SharpLink said in a press release.
The company tapped its $1 billion at-the-market (ATM) common stock share facility for $79 million to help fund the ETH acquisition.
The ETH purchase announcement came on the heels of a Thursday regulatory filing that potentially enabled investors in the firm’s private placement round to sell shares, sending stock prices down 70% after market hours. Some speculated that the firm might have leaned more heavily into the ATM to announce a bigger larger crypto purchase. Shares remain lower by 66% in Friday action.
SharpLink in one of the growing roster of public companies that recently pivoted to add cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets. It raised $450 million earlier this month through a private round from a wide range of investors, including ConsenSys, Galaxy, and Pantera Capital, to buy ETH. Ethereum co-founder and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin also joined the firm as board chairman.
Shares exploded 4,300% higher in a bit more than a week following the firm’s crypto strategy in May, but have given back more than 90% of the rally this month.
After the massive price swings and today’s decline, shares still trade around 500% higher than before the treasury pivot.
Read more: Ethereum Treasury Firm SharpLink Gaming Plunges 70% – But There May Be a Twist