Sharplink, listed on Nasdaq under the ticker SBET, said it is putting $200 million of its Ether treasury into staking through the Lido protocol. In exchange, the company will receive wstETH, while the staked position will remain in custody with Anchorage Digital.
The move adds a staking layer to Sharplink’s ETH treasury strategy rather than leaving the holdings idle. It also builds on Anchorage Digital’s recent integration of wstETH, which opened access to Lido’s liquid staking model for institutions using the federally chartered US crypto bank for custody.
Treasury strategy expands beyond holding ETH
Sharplink described the allocation as part of a broader effort to make its Ether holdings more productive for shareholders. The company is already known as one of the world’s largest corporate ETH holders, and the new deployment signals a shift from simple balance-sheet exposure toward yield-generating onchain activity.
Chief executive Joseph Chalom said the company sees the step as a way to increase the usefulness of its ETH while maintaining what he called institutional-grade risk standards. He also said using Lido adds diversification to Sharplink’s treasury approach and gives the company exposure to one of the most liquid and broadly integrated assets in Ethereum-based decentralized finance.
Why wstETH is central to the structure
Under the arrangement, Sharplink stakes ETH through Lido and receives wstETH, the wrapped version of Lido’s staked Ether token. The source article says staking through Lido allows rewards to begin accruing from day one, while the resulting wstETH can later be redeemed through Lido’s withdrawal process, sold, or used as collateral.
That flexibility appears to be a key part of the appeal for institutional holders. Lido’s institutional team said treasuries increasingly want their ETH to remain productive without giving up liquidity, and presented Sharplink’s allocation as an example of that trend at scale.
Institutional access and market backdrop
The announcement comes after Anchorage Digital integrated wstETH, a step that Lido said expanded access to liquid staking for institutions that custody assets with the bank. Because Sharplink will keep custody with Anchorage Digital, the structure pairs onchain staking exposure with a regulated institutional custody setup.
Lido framed the deal as part of a wider shift among public companies from merely holding Ether to staking it. According to the source article, more than one-third of all ETH is now staked, underscoring how staking has become a central part of Ethereum ownership for many participants rather than a niche strategy.
Lido highlights scale, usage, and risk review
To support the institutional case, Lido pointed to its own scale and integrations. The protocol reports about $16.5 billion of ETH staked, with stETH integrated across more than 100 protocols and roughly $10 billion in active use as collateral.
The source article also said institutions need to be able to move large positions, use staked assets in multiple venues, and rely on independent risk assessment. Lido cited A+ ratings from Staking Rewards and Credora, and said it is Web3SOC certified by Cantina after a review covering governance, financial resilience, security, and compliance.
What is confirmed next
What has been confirmed so far is the initial $200 million allocation from Sharplink’s ETH treasury to Lido staking, the receipt of wstETH, and custody through Anchorage Digital. Lido executives and affiliates described the arrangement as a sign of growing institutional use of Ethereum-native staking protocols and DeFi-linked treasury management.
No additional timetable or follow-on allocations were detailed in the source material. For now, the announced next step is the deployment itself and the holding of the resulting wstETH within Sharplink’s institutional custody framework.
Source: blog.lido.fi