Investors watched MicroStrategy (MSTR) transform into a Digital Asset Trust (DAT), proving that capital markets can be harnessed to accumulate digital assets while compounding per-share value. Under Michael Saylor, MSTR became the definitive Bitcoin treasury company, growing its BTC holdings to over 638,000 coins and delivering extraordinary shareholder returns.
Now, Sharplink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET) is setting up to run the same playbook — but with Ethereum.
Digital Asset Trusts (DATs) bridge traditional equity markets with crypto adoption, allowing investors to gain exposure to blockchain assets without handling wallets, private keys, or self-custody risks. The DAT model has proven successful through MicroStrategy’s transformation into a Bitcoin treasury company. As the digital economy expands, DATs are becoming a scalable and regulated pathway for institutions and individuals to integrate crypto into traditional portfolios.
Three players matter today:
BitMiner (BMNR): Diversified DAT holding BTC, ETH, and SOL.
Ether Machine (ETHM): Smaller, ETH-first competitor.
Sharplink (SBET): Ethereum-focused DAT with an aggressive per-share growth model.
MicroStrategy, now doing business as Strategy (Ticker: MSTR), lead by Michael Saylor has become the poster child for how a public company can build a digital asset trust via a Bitcoin treasury strategy. Over the past 12–24 months, MicroStrategy has delivered extraordinary returns, both from Bitcoin’s own price appreciation and from increasing the number of Bitcoins held per share (often called “BTC per share” or “Bitcoin yield”). For example, in Q2 2025 the company reported a year-to-date BTC yield of 25 %, ahead of its original targets. Their operating income in that same quarter rose to $14 billion, largely driven by unrealized gains on their Bitcoin holdings, and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $32.60 were also cited.
https://x.com/Strategy/status/1966117018567954705
Over a broader timeframe, shareholders have benefited from both Bitcoin’s rally and from MicroStrategy’s active deployment of capital markets tools—issuing equity, preferred stock, debt, or convertible securities—to finance further Bitcoin purchases. This has allowed the firm not just to ride Bitcoin’s price move, but to amplify exposure via growing the Bitcoin base itself. As reported, MicroStrategy owns over 638,000 BTC as of September 2025, at an average cost basis in the mid-$60,000s per coin. Because of this scale, even holding periods when Bitcoin is flat can produce returns for MSTR if BTC per share increases. And when Bitcoin rallies, those returns magnify.
First, it shows that public companies can internalize crypto risk in a regulated setting, while still using predictable financial engineering to grow per-share exposure.
Second, it opens the possibility for investors (including in retirement accounts) to access Bitcoin-like upside without needing to directly hold or manage crypto themselves.
Finally, it establishes a playbook: accumulate the digital asset, manage it transparently, and use equity / debt / capital markets tools to grow the holdings — all while keeping an eye on not over-diluting existing shareholders in terms of the underlying asset per share. This is the foundation that SBET is now applying to Ethereum.
Bitcoin is digital gold, with a ~$13T TAM tied to global gold markets. Ethereum, by contrast, is the internet of value — powering decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenized assets, NFTs, gaming, and enterprise applications.
ARK Investments projects Ethereum could reach a $20 trillion market cap by 2032, implying $166,000 per ETH, thanks to its role in financial infrastructure, tokenization, and Web3 adoption. Compared to Bitcoin’s narrower TAM, Ethereum offers broader and more diversified growth potential.
Primarily a store of value and digital gold.
Addresses monetary debasement and global hedging needs.
TAM largely tied to global gold market (~$13 trillion).
Ethereum extends far beyond Bitcoin’s store-of-value thesis with a ~$20T TAM. Its TAM includes:
Traditional Finance (TradFi): Settlement infrastructure for tokenized assets, bonds, and securities.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Lending, borrowing, stablecoins, and decentralized exchanges.
Web3 Applications: NFTs, gaming, and digital identity.
Enterprise and Verification: On-chain proofs for supply chain, real estate, and intellectual property.
According to ARK Investments’ Research: Ethereum’s valuation potential could exceed Bitcoin’s by acting as both digital money and a settlement layer for the internet of value.
ARK Investments projects Ethereum could reach a $20 trillion market cap by 2032, implying $166,000 per ETH, thanks to its role in financial infrastructure, tokenization, and Web3 adoption. Compared to Bitcoin’s narrower TAM, Ethereum offers broader and more diversified growth potential.
Ethereum’s multi-vertical TAM positions it as the higher-growth digital asset compared to Bitcoin. For equity investors, SBET provides direct exposure to this larger market opportunity.
BitMiner (BMNR), under Thomas Lee, already controls over 2 million ETH and has argued ETH could hit $60,000 within five years. ARK Investments validated the DAT model by purchasing $476M of BMNR shares, underscoring institutional demand for ETH-first equity exposure.
Recent public disclosures show BMNR has exceeded 2 million ETH in its treasury holdings — as of early September 2025 it held 2,069,443 ETH plus additional crypto and cash, making its crypto + cash holdings exceed $9.2 billion. Thomas Lee has stated that BMNR is actively pursuing a goal of acquiring and staking 5 % of Ethereum’s total supply, reinforcing the ambition and scale of its strategy.
On the valuation side, Lee has made several bold predictions about Ethereum’s future price. In multiple forums, he has said that ETH could reach $60,000 in the next five years, driven by institutional adoption, stablecoin growth, tokenization of traditional financial assets (“real-world assets”), deployment of financial rails onto blockchain, and innovations in AI as they intersect with ETH’s smart contract capabilities. He has also argued that Ethereum has at least a 50 % chance to “flip” Bitcoin in total network value over time—based on its multiple verticals of utility, staking yield, and regulatory tailwinds.
Institutionally, ARK Investments (Cathie Wood) has now put $476 million into BMNR common shares (9.6 million shares) across its funds. ARK has increased its exposure to BMNR. This institutional backing both validates the thesis and provides capital for BMNR to continue executing its accumulation + staking + ETH per share growth strategy.
MicroStrategy showed that digital asset treasuries can thrive even in flat markets by growing BTC per share through disciplined treasury management. When BTC rallies, returns multiply. SBET is applying this proven formula to Ethereum — which may have an even larger TAM and higher upside potential.
While BMNR offers broad-based exposure to Ethereum through its DAT, SBET has greater potential upside because it is directly focused on maximizing ETH per share via staking, buybacks, and treasury optimization. This active strategy allows SBET to compound Ethereum holdings more efficiently than BMNR’s passive structure, positioning it to outperform as ETH adoption accelerates.
Sharplink is “The world’s largest publicly traded company to adopt Ethereum as its primary treasury reserve asset. The asset is $ETH. The ticker is $SBET.”
Joseph Chalom brings Wall Street credibility and financial structuring expertise.
Joe Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and ConsenSys founder (MetaMask, Infura, Linea), offers unparalleled influence within the Ethereum ecosystem.
This combination ensures SBET isn’t just a passive treasury — it’s an Ethereum-native institution aligned with the protocol’s growth.
Joseph Chalom’s logic on how to value Ethereum:
https://x.com/joechalom/status/1963621073540583666.
Joe Lubin - has been instrumental in scaling investment and products within the Ethereum ecosystem like MetaMask and Infura, two unicorn companies that today underpin billions of dollars in decentralized finance and NFT activity. His track record of turning Ethereum from an experimental blockchain into the foundation for a new internet of value lends SBET both legitimacy and strategic advantage.
SBET’s focus is maximizing ETH per share through:
ETH Treasury Growth – Direct ETH accumulation on balance sheet.
ETH Staking – Generates recurring yield and compounds NAV.
Stock Buybacks – Opportunistically repurchasing shares when the market undervalues SBET relative to its NAV.
These three strategies combined will be a powerful combination of revenue streams for Sharplink to increase it’s ETH holdings in risk optimized strategies that benefit the owners and save a lot of time from backend requirements to participate in all of these different strategies individually. See Sharplink Gaming’s Asset Dashboard for summary NAV reporting.
Earlier this week, SBET’s NAV of ETH exceeded the stock’s trading price.
SBET announced a share buyback to increase ETH per share, directly benefiting long-term shareholders (press release).
Add on Top SBET’s current ETH holdings were acquired before recent ETH price appreciation so they’re sitting on ~$892M in unrealized profit already.
This disciplined treasury strategy mirrors MicroStrategy’s conviction but is applied to Ethereum’s broader value thesis.
Here’s why I believe SBET merits consideration for long-term investors, aka 401k retirement accounts and investors looking to take advantage of the trend into crypto adoption with traditional finance moving to on-chain transparent finance on the blockchain:
Regulated Exposure: Equity-based ETH access through NASDAQ listing.
Ethereum-First Focus: Unique versus Bitcoin-centric peers.
NAV Arbitrage Opportunities: Buybacks accrete value when stock trades below ETH NAV.
Yield Optimization: Staking ETH compounds returns over time. Ethereum is an internet bond with a baseline dividend if staked. Now average investors can take advantage of this opportunity.
SBET is to Ethereum what MicroStrategy is to Bitcoin — but with a bigger TAM, staking yield, and an Ethereum co-founder at the helm.
Sharplink (SBET) offers investors a next-generation DAT strategy, focused on Ethereum’s asymmetric upside. By leveraging ETH’s role as the internet bond — producing yield, powering decentralized finance, and underpinning digital value transfer — SBET is positioned to replicate MicroStrategy’s success for the Ethereum ecosystem. BMNR is also a good bet, but it’s already priced over it’s NAV so you’re paying a premium compared to what’s available with SBET.
For long-term investors, Sharplink offers the clearest way to participate in Ethereum’s multi-trillion-dollar future through a NASDAQ-listed equity. Do your own research and buckle up for the great things ahead!
Thanks for reading!