- SharpLink becomes the first Nasdaq firm to tokenize common stock directly on Ethereum.
- The firm holds over 830,000 ETH worth $3.3B, ranking second among public Ethereum holders.
- SharpLink and Superstate plan compliant DeFi trading for tokenized SBET shares.
SharpLink Gaming, a Nasdaq-listed affiliate marketing and gaming software company, has announced that it will tokenize its common stock, SBET, on the Ethereum blockchain. The company announced the project in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming it has worked with the financial technology company, Superstate, to conduct the process.
Superstate will serve as SharpLink’s digital transfer agent, enabling tokenized equity issuance through its Open Bell platform. This move will allow shareholders to hold SBET stock directly on Ethereum in a legally compliant manner. According to SharpLink, tokenized shares will remain equivalent to traditional book-entry equity but can be stored in self-custodied wallets and integrated with digital financial products.
SharpLink stated that it will be the first publicly traded company to tokenize its shares directly on Ethereum using Superstate’s technology. Superstate CEO Robert Leshner stated that the partnership was a key step towards tokenized equity and its alignment with Ethereum’s role in financial infrastructure development.
Strategic Role of Ethereum Treasury
Founded in 2019, SharpLink began its journey as an iGaming and sports betting marketing company and later evolved to become a digital asset treasury company. In June 2025, the company started accumulating an Ethereum reserve, and as of now, it has become the second-largest publicly traded Ether holder after BitMine Immersion Technologies.
Market data shows SharpLink owns over 830,000 ETH, worth about $3.3 billion and earns over $15 million from staking rewards. Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin, who was appointed chairman of SharpLink in May, highlighted the company’s strategy.
Lubin said the tokenization effort demonstrates how traditional finance can integrate with decentralized finance (DeFi) on Ethereum. SharpLink views the initiative as an extension of its commitment to Ethereum and a step toward reshaping capital markets with blockchain-based infrastructure.
The company also said that its decision to tokenize stock also aligns with the SEC’s Project Crypto initiative, which aims to modernize U.S. securities regulations to accommodate digital assets and blockchain markets.
Furthermore, SEC Chair Paul Atkins has recently emphasized that regulators are investigating an “innovation exemption” for particular digital assets. This initiative aims to clarify the regulatory framework pertaining to compliant tokenization efforts.
Future Trading on DeFi Platforms
SharpLink and Superstate also plan to pursue compliant methods for trading tokenized equities on decentralized finance platforms. Their strategy involves integrating SBET shares with automated market makers (AMMs) and other DeFi protocols. AMMs, common on decentralized exchanges, use smart contracts and liquidity pools to enable continuous, permissionless trading without depending on traditional systems intermediaries.
The companies highlighted that allowing stock trading via blockchain systems could boost efficiency and liquidity while staying compliant with regulations. Through this approach, SharpLink seeks to show how publicly traded companies can utilize blockchain technology to improve shareholder value and streamline capital markets operations.
Other companies like Galaxy Digital and Forward Industries, have started using Superstate’s Open Bell platform to tokenize stocks on various blockchains like Solana. Nevertheless, SharpLink’s initiative marks the first time a Nasdaq-listed equity is directly issued on Ethereum, underscoring the increasing trend toward blockchain-based securities.
As of Thursday trading, SBET stock was priced at $16.34, reflecting a 7% decline on the day, in line with a broader downturn in the cryptocurrency market. Ethereum itself traded at about $3,968, down nearly 5% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.
