Beyond Bitcoin: Ethereum as a Corporate Treasury Asset
Michael Saylor’s innovative approach at Strategy (MSTR, formerly MicroStrategy), leveraging financial engineering to gain substantial bitcoin (BTC) exposure, has inspired a wave of corporate adoption. More than 50 companies have since followed his bitcoin-centric treasury strategy, and that number continues to grow. However, a distinct group of companies is now charting a new path, one that aligns not just with crypto exposure but with the economic engine of Ethereum itself.
In this report, we'll explore the first four publicly traded U.S. companies to establish Ethereum reserves, diving deeply into their capital raises, evaluating their "ETH concentration" (Ethereum held per share), and analyzing the market premium investors assign to their Ethereum-backed treasuries. Alongside these metrics, we consider the broader implications for Ethereum’s network health, staking ecosystem, and DeFi infrastructure, highlighting how these treasury strategies not only reshape corporate balance sheets, but also contribute capital directly into the core of Ethereum’s decentralized economy.
SharpLink Gaming (SBET)
Company Background
Founded in 2019, SharkLink Gaming Ltd. (Nasdaq: SBET) is an online technology company that converts sports fans into bettors by pairing them with timely sports betting and interactive gaming offered through its proprietary platform. The firm also makes free-to-play games, mobile apps, and marketing services for sports media outlets, leagues, teams, and sportsbooks to deepen fan engagement. In addition, SharpLink operates real-money fantasy sports and simulation games that reach more than 2 million users who spend nearly $40 million per year, and it holds approvals to operate in every U.S. state where fantasy sports and online betting are legal.
Last month, SharpLink began amassing ETH on its balance sheet, financing these purchases through a combination of private investments in public equity (PIPEs) and at-the-market (ATM) offerings. SharpLink's management team explained this strategic pivot as a reflection of their strong conviction in ETH’s future as a yield-bearing, programmable digital asset, enabling the company to benefit from staking and related yield opportunities. Despite this novel financial strategy, SharpLink remains fully committed to its flagship gaming and interactive betting business, with the Ethereum treasury strategy complementing rather than replacing its core operations.
Raises and ETH Acquisitions
ETH Deployment and Staking
SharpLink has staked its entire ETH reserve and earned 100 ETH in rewards from June 28 to July 4, lifting cumulative staking gains to 322 ETH since the program began on June 2.
Takeaways
SharpLink Gaming's strategic move into Ethereum positions it as the publicly traded company holding the largest amount of ETH in its treasury to date. Through multiple equity raises, including a significant $425 million PIPE and subsequent ATM offerings, the company rapidly built the most substantial Ethereum position among its peers. While this treasury strategy introduces risks, including exposure to ETH price fluctuations, it also creates the potential for meaningful staking yields, underscoring the allure of proof-of-stake digital assets as treasury holdings. By staking 100% of its ETH reserves, SharpLink not only earns yield but also directly contributes to the security and stability of the Ethereum network, diversifying validator participation and aligning corporate capital with protocol health.
BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR)
Company Background
BitMine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE-American: BMNR) is a Las Vegas-based blockchain infrastructure company that operates industrial-scale Bitcoin mining sites, sells immersion cooling hardware, and hosts third-party mining equipment in low-cost energy regions such as Texas and Trinidad.
On June 30, the firm raised roughly $250 million via a private placement of 55.6 million shares priced at $4.50 each to scale its Ethereum treasury. As part of the transaction, Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee was appointed chairman of BitMine’s board, adding a high-profile crypto strategist to guide its expanded ETH allocation.
Raises and ETH Acquisitions
ETH Deployment and Staking
BMNR holds a significant ETH treasury, but as of this writing, there is no public information confirming whether any portion has been actively staked or otherwise deployed onchain.
Takeaways
BitMine's $250 million raise added roughly 81,380 ETH to its balance sheet, bringing total holdings to over 163,000 ETH. To fund this accumulation, BitMine expanded its diluted share count to more than 56 million, an increase of roughly 13x. This level of dilution highlights the significant equity issuance required to underwrite a large-scale Ethereum treasury strategy and the capital-intensive nature of public ETH accumulation.
Bit Digital (BTBT)
Company Background
Bit Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: BTBT) is a New York-based digital asset platform founded in 2015 that originally operated industrial bitcoin mining farms in the United States, Canada, and Iceland.
In June 2025, the company executed a fully underwritten public follow-on offering that raised roughly $172 million and, together with proceeds from selling 280 BTC, redeployed the capital into Ethereum, amassing about 100,603 ETH and completing its pivot to an Ethereum staking and treasury model under CEO and crypto veteran Sam Tabar.
Raises and ETH Acquisitions
ETH Deployment and Staking
As of March 31, Bit Digital held approximately 24,434 ETH, with 21,568 ETH actively staked, and reported an average annual percentage yield of 3.2% from its ETH staking activities for 2024.
Following a strategic shift, Bit Digital significantly expanded its ETH treasury through a public offering and the sale of BTC, increasing its total holdings to 100,603 ETH. While the company has not disclosed specific figures regarding the amount of ETH staked or the expected yield following the transition, its prior activities suggest a continued focus on generating yield through Ethereum staking.
Takeaways
Bit Digital’s treasury pivot is particularly notable because it combined a traditional public equity raise with the unconventional step of liquidating its BTC holdings to purchase ETH. This strategy positions Bit Digital as a maverick among publicly traded crypto firms, signaling strong confidence in ETH's yield-generating capabilities relative to BTC's passive balance-sheet role.
GameSquare (GAME)
Company Background
GameSquare Holdings (Nasdaq: GAME) is a Texas-based gaming media group, parent of brands including FaZe Clan, Stream Hatchet, and GCN, that builds creator-led marketing and content for global advertisers targeting Gen Z gamers. In July, it raised about $8 million in a follow-on equity offering and partnered with crypto firm Dialectic to launch an Ethereum treasury program that could deploy up to $100 million in ETH, aiming for 8% to 14% yields.
Raises and ETH Acquisitions
ETH Deployment and Staking
GameSquare has made its first Ethereum purchase, acquiring $5 million worth of ETH as part of its broader digital asset treasury strategy. The move marks the company's entry into crypto reserves, aimed at diversifying assets and supporting long-term innovation.
Takeaways
GameSquare’s pivot to an Ethereum treasury strategy represents an ambitious expansion beyond its core gaming-media business. By partnering with Dialectic and leveraging its Medici platform, GameSquare aims to achieve significantly higher yields (8% to 14%) than standard Ethereum staking rates (typically around 3% to 4%) by putting the money to work in decentralized finance (DeFi) and exploring innovative digital lending solutions. If executed effectively, this approach could contribute directly to the stability and growth of the broader Ethereum ecosystem by deepening liquidity in key DeFi protocols and diversifying validator participation, strengthening the foundations of DeFi infrastructure through active corporate engagement.
ETH Concentration
The ETH Concentration metric, initially established by SharpLink Gaming, provides investors with a clear, comparative measure of Ethereum exposure among publicly traded companies building ETH-backed treasuries. It represents the total amount of ETH a company holds per 1,000 assumed diluted shares outstanding, factoring in all potential share dilution from warrants, stock options, and convertible instruments. The ETH holdings shown were either directly reported by the companies or estimated based on full deployment of their announced equity raises into Ethereum. Diluted share counts were sourced from company filings, Bloomberg, SEC documents, and financial databases, ensuring consistency and accuracy across the different companies. This metric offers investors a straightforward tool to evaluate relative ETH exposure on a per-share basis.
Market Premium vs. ETH Treasury Book Value
The chart above shows each company’s market capitalization relative to the book value of its Ethereum holdings, calculated as total ETH owned multiplied by a $2,600 per-coin cost basis. A higher multiple implies investors are pricing in strategic optionality or future yield well beyond the underlying ETH balance. GameSquare (GAME) leads at roughly a 13.8x premium, underscoring outsized bullishness around its early-stage ETH buildup, while BitMine (BMNR) sits at about 5x after deploying its latest $250 million raise. Bit Digital (BTBT) and SharpLink (SBET) trade at more modest premiums, signaling relatively tempered market expectations. As with any crypto-treasury strategy, however, elevated premiums can exacerbate downside if ETH undergoes a sharp pullback.
Takeaways
ETH vs Bitcoin Treasury Thesis
The emergence of ETH treasuries marks an important strategic evolution among publicly traded crypto-focused companies. While Bitcoin's thesis has largely been about passive, digital gold-like reserves that preserve or gain value, Ethereum offers the additional appeal of generating active yield through staking and decentralized finance strategies. All four of the companies highlighted above are explicitly embracing ETH as a yield-bearing treasury asset. SharpLink and BitMine have committed (or intend) to stake 100% of their ETH holdings, maximizing yield directly from protocol-level staking rewards. GameSquare, meanwhile, has taken the strategy further by collaborating with Dialectic to pursue enhanced, risk-adjusted yields via more sophisticated DeFi strategies. This embrace of yield-generating Ethereum contrasts sharply with bitcoin treasuries’ non-yielding, passive model, signaling an evolution in corporate treasury management toward active balance-sheet growth rather than relying on price appreciation alone.
Unlike many Bitcoin treasury companies, which have relied heavily on convertible debt and leverage (as detailed in a recent Galaxy research paper), all four of the leading ETH treasury companies, SharpLink, BitMine, Bit Digital, and GameSquare, have funded their ETH reserves entirely through equity issuance. This means they carry no debt maturity overhang, no coupon obligations, and no default risk if crypto markets turn against them. The absence of leverage materially reduces systemic fragility and avoids the refinancing and dilution risk tied to deeply in-the-money convertibles.
Crucially, these Ethereum treasury strategies introduce something structurally different: productive capital. By staking their ETH, these companies not only earn protocol-native yield, typically in the 3% to 5% range, but also contribute to the underlying security and stability of the Ethereum network itself. The more ETH held by corporate treasuries and actively staked, the more predictable and resilient Ethereum’s validator set becomes, creating a long-term alignment between corporate capital and protocol health.
Indeed, the rise of ETH treasury companies is likely at least one reason why, as of July 9, Ethereum staking had reached all-time highs, with over 35 million ETH staked, representing more than 30% of total supply.
In the case of GameSquare, which plans to pursue enhanced yield strategies through partners like Dialectic, ETH reserves may also be deployed into DeFi-native primitives such as lending, liquidity provision (LPing), or restaking. This not only amplifies potential returns but also strengthens key Ethereum-based protocols by deepening liquidity and institutional participation in decentralized markets.
Who Faces the Most Dilution Risk?
Investors must carefully assess how equity raises, particularly PIPE transactions, introduce new shares into the market, diluting holders and weighing on stock prices. BitMine’s significant PIPE offering positions it as particularly vulnerable to substantial near-term dilution and volatility. SharpLink’s combination of PIPE and ATM methods creates immediate dilution with sustained incremental pressure. Conversely, Bit Digital and GameSquare’s more transparent, conventional public offerings offer dilution clarity and potentially lower market risk. Ultimately, companies choosing PIPE structures face higher initial market-impact risk, especially during volatile periods, compared to ATM and traditional public offerings, though all of these equity-focused strategies avoid the leverage-heavy convertibles characteristic of Michael Saylor's model at Strategy.
Conclusion
Superficially, the extreme volatility of Ethereum treasury stocks may resemble the speculative boom-and-bust cycles often associated with memecoins. But the strategies employed by this first cohort of ETH treasury companies are fundamentally different. Rather than relying on hype or passive asset exposure, these firms are deliberately positioning Ethereum as a productive reserve asset, staking it to earn native yield or, in some cases, deploying it into more advanced DeFi strategies. This sets them apart from Bitcoin treasury pioneers that followed a passive “digital gold” model and often financed their positions with leverage-heavy convertible debt. By contrast, the current ETH treasury firms, SharpLink, BitMine, Bit Digital, and GameSquare, have all funded their strategies with equity, avoiding the structural fragility that accompanies debt servicing and maturity cliffs.
Importantly, this capital isn't sitting idly. By staking ETH, these companies actively contribute to the network’s validator security and protocol-level stability. In cases like GameSquare, where DeFi-native yield strategies are on the table, treasury capital may also support liquidity provision, lending markets, and other foundational Ethereum infrastructure. While risks such as dilution, smart contract exposure, and price volatility remain, investors can use tools like dilution impact analysis and premium-to-book valuation to evaluate both downside risks and the potential for income-driven upside. Ultimately, this first wave of ETH treasuries offers a more engaged, capital-productive model, one that may strengthen Ethereum’s ecosystem even as it introduces a new category of market-exposed, on-chain corporate treasuries.
DISCLOSURE: An affiliated entity of Galaxy Digital currently invests in BitMine and SharpLink Gaming as of the date of preparation.
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