Inside Ethereum's Quiet $25M Deal With SharpLink

The discreet transfer of 10,000 ETH by the Ethereum Foundation to SharpLink Gaming, at a price below the market, raises questions. This private deal, concluded before a price jump above $3,000, calls into question the strategic management of Ethereum reserves. In the context of record inflows into Ether ETFs, this operation may mark a turning point : ether is no longer a speculative asset; it becomes a financial lever integrated into the treasuries of influential companies.

The Ethereum Foundation sells 10,000 ETH at a discount just before a rally

On Friday, July 11, the Ethereum Foundation announced on X (formerly Twitter) that it had finalized the sale of 10,000 ETH to SharpLink Gaming via an over-the-counter transaction. The average sale price was set at $2,572.37, while the asset just crossed $3,000 supported by institutional momentum.

0/ Earlier this week, the EF finalized the terms of a 10,000 ETH sale at an average price of $2,572.37 via OTC.

For this sale, our OTC counterparty was @SharpLinkGaming.

— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) July 11, 2025

According to Nansen platform data, ETH was trading at the time of the transaction in a range from $2,759 to $2,981, up to 16 % higher than the granted price.

“Our OTC counterparty was SharpLink Gaming“, the Foundation specified in its post. The agreement, concluded the previous Thursday, was formalized as Ether temporarily crossed the symbolic $3,000 threshold, even reaching $3,028 during the day.

The conditions surrounding this transaction raise several points for factual analysis :

• The total amount paid by SharpLink Gaming exceeds $25 million, according to their own statement ;

• The sale happened just before a crypto price peak, allowing SharpLink to buy at a notable discount to market value at execution ;

• Spot Ether ETFs recorded $383.1 million in net inflows that day, their second biggest day since launch ;

• The Foundation gave no explicit justification for the timing or choice of partner, fueling speculation about a strategic rather than operational intent ;

• The market immediately reacted upward, suggesting that this sale did not have a notable bearish effect on the price, quite the opposite.

On the surface, this operation might appear as a cash management act. However, given the context—bull rally, massive influx into crypto ETFs, absence of detailed public justification—the timing is intriguing and raises questions about the underlying logic motivating this one-off disengagement by the Foundation.

An institutionalization strategy around SharpLink

The sale cannot be dissociated from the strategic shift taken by SharpLink Gaming, a publicly listed player in the sports betting sector. At the end of May, the company announced the launch of a treasury strategy based on Ethereum crypto and the appointment of Joseph Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and founder of Consensys, as chairman of its board of directors.

This direction was made possible by a Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) financing operation of $425 million, in which Consensys actively participated. In a statement, Lubin explains : “There is a lot of ETH in circulation, but too little activity to really use it“.

According to Lubin, his involvement with SharpLink aims to catalyze better use of ETH in practical applications to rebalance supply and demand dynamics. “This is a critical step to resize ETH mechanisms as we build more and more applications“, he added.

In this context, acquiring 10,000 ETH takes on a whole different meaning. It is not a mere speculative investment but a functional integration of ETH within a company strategy. This evolution fits within a broader context: a technological transition of Ethereum towards zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs), mentioned by Sophia Gold, a member of the Ethereum Foundation.

This alliance between a listed company and a historic Ethereum crypto figure could thus signal increased institutionalization of ETH, no longer as a financial asset, but as a governance or usage instrument in specific sector environments, such as gaming or sports betting. If this logic is confirmed, other partnerships of this kind could emerge, outlining a new maturation phase for Ethereum, where traditional players play a leading role, as evidenced by the explosion of ETFs.