Home Blog Page 988

Ethereum Treasury Sharplink Reports Growing ETH Holdings, Institutional Investment

0

In brief

  • Sharplink currently holds ~867K ETH ($1.68 billion) with 46% institutional ownership as of the end of 2025.
  • It stakes nearly 100% of its ETH for yield and emphasizes disciplined, focused management over aggressive accumulation.
  • Ethereum is down more than 60% since peaking last August, with ETH treasuries seeing sizable unrealized losses.

Sharplink, Inc., one of the largest corporate holders of Ethereum, said Thursday that its ETH holdings have grown and that it has attracted a growing portion of institutional investors—with the firm revealing a brand refresh following last year’s crypto pivot.

Previously known as Sharplink Gaming and focusing on gambling marketing, the firm is now known simply as Sharplink, and has adopted the tagline, “Ethereum with an edge.” The publicly traded company said that the brand refresh and website overhaul better reflect its positioning in the treasury space.

“This evolution reflects alignment between Sharplink’s brand and our mission to be the most productive and durable Ethereum vehicle available to investors,” said Sharplink CMO Mandy Campbell, in a release. “Sharplink has and will remain focused on transparency, measurable results, and Ethereum advocacy. Our brand now reflects that focus and alignment with both our institutional and retail investors.”

In a new 13F filing with the SEC, the company said that institutional ownership of SBET stock has risen to 46% as of December 31, 2025, with about 60 additional institutional investors adding positions during the period.

“This record level of institutional ownership confirms that sophisticated investors want disciplined execution and institutional-grade risk management,” Sharplink CEO Joseph Chalom said, in a statement. “Many of these investors are choosing Sharplink because of our focus on productivity—Sharplink stakes nearly 100% of its ETH holdings and has staked our holdings since the beginning.”

“Even during volatile markets, we continue growing our ETH concentration per share,” he added. “No matter the price of the underlying asset, institutions know they can trust us to keep generating long-term value for our stockholders.”

Sharplink reported total ETH holdings of 867,798 ETH, worth about $1.68 billion as of this writing. That tally is up slightly since the last reported sum in December, thanks to staking rewards that provide a steady stream of yield on its holdings.

Sharplink ranks second in Ethereum treasuries based on total holdings, substantially behind leader BitMine Immersion Technologies with its roughly $8.5 billion stash.

The price of Ethereum has fallen dramatically in the last few months, recently trading at $1,939—a more than 60% drop since peaking at $4,946 last August.

That plunge has put every major Ethereum treasury company underwater with unrealized losses, with Sharplink nursing an estimated $1.39 billion paper loss according to data from DropsTab. But BitMine’s estimated paper loss is even larger in terms of percentage, sitting just shy of $8.1 billion.

Sharplink stock is up about 1% on the day, recently trading at $6.66. SBET has fallen over 39% in the last month as crypto prices have cratered, with Ethereum itself marking a 35% dip during the same span.

Chalom recently told Decrypt that Sharplink aims to set itself apart in 2026 by focusing on growing its Ethereum holdings when prudent, but not putting constant ETH accumulation above all—and not making unrelated investments as some other treasury firms have done in recent months.

“We’re not going to be the people who are prioritizing accumulation over everything,” he said. “2026 is really differentiating ourselves from the pack, and being viewed as the focused, disciplined digital asset treasury.”

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Airwallex Becomes the Giants’ Official Jersey Patch Partner

0

The San Francisco Giants and Airwallex, a leading global financial platform for modern businesses, today announced a multi-year partnership, bringing together two organizations driving innovation from the heart of San Francisco to a global stage. As part of the agreement, Airwallex will become the Giants’ official jersey patch partner, debuting across Giants uniforms this season. Airwallex will also serve as the Giants’ Official Financial Software Partner. 

Founded in Australia in 2015, Airwallex has expanded rapidly in the U.S. — and in the Bay Area, in particular — to meet the soaring global demand for borderless financial tools. To anchor this growth, Airwallex recently established its global headquarters in San Francisco, operating a dual-HQ model alongside Singapore. The move follows a milestone year in which the company surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue, and marks the start of a massive new chapter for the company: a planned $1 billion investment into the U.S. market over the next three years, including doubling its San Francisco headcount to power its accelerating global momentum. 

As baseball continues to grow, the Giants are tapping Airwallex to help bridge the gap between their local roots and international reach. Through the integration of Airwallex — including VISA corporate cards, related expense capabilities, and future payment processing solutions — the Giants are enhancing how they manage executive travel and expense spend, as well as select high-value transactions such as season suite sales and private events at Oracle Park. This partnership supports the Giants’ continued investment in modern, global-ready financial infrastructure — ensuring that their operations are built for speed, flexibility, and scale. 

“This partnership evolved in a shared commitment to San Francisco, a passion for innovation, and a vision to connect people on both a local and global scale,” said Larry Baer, President and CEO of the San Francisco Giants. “Airwallex’s loyalty to the city makes them a natural jersey patch partner, and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the Giants family.” 

“San Francisco is our home in the U.S., and the Giants are one of the city’s most iconic institutions,” said Jack Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO of Airwallex. “We’ve been building here quietly for years, but this partnership marks our bold commitment to the city’s future. Featuring Airwallex on the Giants’ jersey is a meaningful way to further establish our presence here, connect with the community, and share our story with a wider audience.” 

Through this partnership, the Giants and Airwallex will also highlight the role of global connection — both in business and in sport. Baseball has long been a game that brings people, cultures, and generations together, and the Giants continue to support Major League Baseball’s ongoing efforts to grow the game internationally. In parallel, Airwallex enables companies, customers, and partners to hire internationally through modern financial tools, including global payment processing and spend management. 

Susquehanna-backed Blockfills seek sale after millions in lending losses

0

Blockfills, the crypto lender backed by trading giant Susquehanna, has incurred losses of around $75 million during the recent market downturn, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Blockfills is now looking for a buyer, one of the people said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

Asked about the losses, Blockfills declined to comment.

Chicago-based Blockfills suspended deposits and withdrawals last week. The firm’s management said in a press release on Feb. 11 that it was working with investors and clients to achieve a swift resolution and restore liquidity to the platform.

“Clients have been able to continue trading with BlockFills for the purpose of opening and closing positions in spot and derivatives trading and select other circumstances,” the firm said.

The company said it transacted over $60 billion in trading volumes in 2025, a 28% increase from 2024 and is one of the most active institutional lending and borrowing desks in the crypto industry. The liquidity provider services around 2,000 institutional clients, including hedge funds, asset managers and mining companies.

Bear market woes

Blockfill’s sudden halting of withdrawals recalls memories of 2022’s crypto winter, when a cascade of firms such as Celsius, BlockFi and Genesis halted customer withdrawals as markets unraveled.

The crypto market has struggled to regain momentum in early 2026, with flagship assets trading well below recent peaks amid cautious investor sentiment. Bitcoin has languished under $70,000 following a sharp selloff from late-2025 highs, while ether (ETH) sits below $2,000 amid broader weakness across digital assets.

Broader market indicators, including slumping crypto-focused funds and declines in related equities, underscore lingering volatility and risk aversion, even as periodic rallies and profit-taking drive short-term price swings

Blockfills closed a $37 million Series A round in January 2022, led by institutional investors including Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, CME Ventures, Simplex Ventures, C6E and Nexo Inc. The raise marked the company’s second multimillion-dollar funding round since its 2018 founding, bringing total capital raised to $44 million.

Read more: Institutional crypto platform BlockFills said to halt withdrawals, restrict trading

Eric Trump reitrates claim bitcoin (BTC) is just getting started on its road to $1 million

0

Eric Trump doubled down on his $1 million price prediction for bitcoin and said he has never been more bullish during the World Financial Forum that took place in Mar-a-Lago.

President Donald Trump’s younger son doubled down on his long-term optimism for bitcoin, calling it “one of the greatest performing asset classes” of the last decade in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.

“I’m a huge proponent because I do think it hits $1 million dollars,” Trump said. “Go back two years. Bitcoin was at $16,000. Where is it at right now, $70,000?”

In August of 2025, Eric Trump, who described himself as a “bitcoin maxi, said bitcoin would reach $175,000 before the end of the year and, eventually climb to $1 million.

BTC closed 2025 at about $88,750, having fallen sharply from an all-time high of more than $126,000 in early October, according to CoinDesk data.

Trump also said that over the past 10 years, bitcoin has climbed roughly 70% annually on average, challenging viewers to “name an asset class that has performed better than Bitcoin.”

While acknowledging the asset’s volatility, Trump framed it as a trade-off for upside potential. “You’re going to have volatility with something that has tremendous upside,” he said. “But I’ve never been more bullish on bitcoin in my life. I’ve never been more bullish on cryptocurrency in my life.”

The post comes as bitcoin trades just below $67,000, after failing to reclaim the $70,000, a level it has not visited since Feb. 15.

The World Liberty Financial forum, held Wednesday at Mar-a-Lago, is tied to World Liberty Financial, a crypto-focused venture backed by the Trump family.

Ripple CEO Confirms White House Meeting between Crypto, Banking Reps

0

Update (Feb. 19 at 7:21 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from the Crypto Council for Innovation.

The White House has held another meeting between representatives from the cryptocurrency and banking industries on a market structure bill under consideration in the US Senate, seeking to iron-out differences on stablecoin yield provisions, among other issues.

In a Thursday Fox News interview, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that the company’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, attended the meeting with White House officials earlier in the day. The CEO’s comments came after unconfirmed reports that the Trump administration would follow its Feb. 10 meeting on the CLARITY Act, a bill to establish digital asset market structure. That meeting did not result in a deal on stablecoins. 

Passed by the US House of Representatives in July, the CLARITY Act has seen several delays while moving through the Senate and its relevant committees. These included two government shutdowns — the longest one in the country’s history spanned 43 days in 2025 — concerns from Democratic lawmakers on conflicts of interest, and groups pushing for provisions on decentralized finance, tokenized equities and stablecoin yield.

The meeting occurred a day after policymakers, including CFTC Chair Michael Selig and two US senators, and representatives from the crypto industry met at US President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club to attend a forum hosted by World Liberty Financial, the company founded by the president’s sons and others. Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno said at the event that he expected the CLARITY Act to make it through Congress and be ready to be signed into law “by April.”

Related: US CLARITY Act to pass ‘hopefully by April’: Senator Bernie Moreno

Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple for comment on Alderoty’s presence at the meeting, but had not received a response at the time of publication. White House crypto advisers Patrick Witt and David Sacks had not publicly commented on the event at the time of publication.

In a statement shared with Cointelegraph, Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim said the Thursday discussion “built upon previous meetings to establish a framework that serves American consumers while reinforcing US competitiveness,” describing it as “constructive.”

Market structure bill awaits markup by Senate Banking panel

Although the Senate Agriculture Committee voted to advance its version of a digital asset market structure bill in January, another committee crucial to the legislation’s passage has stalled following stated opposition from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Armstrong has objected to provisions that would restrict rewards paid on stablecoin holdings and warned the bill could weaken the CFTC’s role in favor of broader SEC authority.

The Senate Banking Committee had been scheduled to mark up its market structure bill in January, but delayed the event indefinitely after Armstrong said the exchange could not support the legislation as written, citing concerns about tokenized equities. As of Thursday, the committee had not rescheduled the markup.