Ethereum’s price jumped more than 5% on Tuesday after the leading altcoin benefited from a bullish spark triggered by Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming’s disclosure that it intends to purchase $425 million in ETH as part of its treasury strategy.
Earlier in the day ETH traded below $2,530 before climbing above $2,680, reflecting a market move that pushed the token higher by over 5%.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the rally coincided with a daily volume spike for Ethereum, which reached $23 billion after an 81% increase.
The move higher also came as Standard Chartered published analysis suggesting Ethereum could overtake Solana (SOL) by 2025.
Solana’s price remained around $177, largely flat through the day and up just 6.8% over the past week.
By comparison, Ethereum has risen about 8% this week — a modest gain as Bitcoin continued accumulation around the $110,000 level.
SharpLink Gaming to Buy $425 Million of ETH
On Tuesday, following news that Trump Media plans to raise $2.5 billion to buy Bitcoin, Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming revealed its own sizable financing to initiate an Ethereum treasury strategy.
The company aims to raise $425 million to purchase Ethereum via a private investment in public equity (PIPE) offering.
Backed by Ethereum development firm ConsenSys, the offering proposes to issue 69,100,313 common shares at $6.15 per share.
Proceeds from the offering, subject to closing conditions and expected to complete by May 29, will be used to acquire ETH for the company’s primary treasury reserve.
“ConsenSys looks forward to working with SharpLink to explore and develop an Ethereum treasury strategy and to serve as a strategic advisor to their core business. This is an exciting time for the Ethereum community, and I’m pleased to work with Robin and the team to bring the Ethereum opportunity to public markets,” said ConsenSys founder and CEO Joseph Lubin.
Lubin, who is also one of Ethereum’s co-founders, participated in the transaction as a lead investor through ConsenSys.
The funding round attracted a number of prominent crypto-focused venture firms and ecosystem participants, including Pantera Capital, ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Arrington Capital and Galaxy Digital.
Other participants included crypto platform Ondo and venture investors such as White Star Capital, GSR, Hivemind Capital, Hypersphere and Primitive Ventures.
“This is an important milestone in SharpLink’s journey and represents an expansion beyond our core business. We look forward to working with ConsenSys and welcome Joseph to the board,” SharpLink founder and CEO Rob Phythian said in a statement.
At the time of writing, Ethereum traded near $2,675, roughly 45% below its all-time high of $4,891 reached in November 2021.