Author: Cubone Wu on Blockchain

This article does not constitute any investment advice. Readers are advised to strictly comply with the laws and regulations of their location and not to participate in illegal financial activities.

Since 2025, four U.S. stock companies represented by SharpLink Gaming, Bitmine Immersion Tech, Bit Digital, and BTCS Inc. have built a set of "ETH Micro Strategy" distinct from MicroStrategy's holding paradigm by purchasing ETH in large quantities and engaging in on-chain staking. This strategy not only reshapes the structure of corporate balance sheets but also promotes a narrative leap for Ethereum in the capital markets. This article systematically organizes the core logic of the four companies regarding funding paths, on-chain deployment, strategic motivations, and risk governance around ten key questions.

Question 1: Which U.S. listed companies currently hold the most ETH? How much do they each hold?

As of July 2025, SharpLink Gaming, Bitmine Immersion Tech, Bit Digital, and BTCS Inc. are among the companies with the largest ETH holdings in the U.S. stock market. SharpLink Gaming holds approximately 358K ETH, followed closely by Bitmine with about 300.7K ETH; Bit Digital holds around 120.3K ETH, and BTCS Inc. has disclosed a holding of 31.9K ETH. Although Coinbase, as a trading platform, holds about 137.3K ETH, it is primarily for operational needs and not a strategic holding, so it is typically not included in the "Micro Strategy" category. The aforementioned four companies represent the current trend of Ethereum "micro-strategization" in the U.S. stock market.

Question 2: What are the main businesses of these four companies? Who is leading their Ethereum micro-strategy?

These four companies have different original business backgrounds, and the current Ethereum micro-strategy is led by the current CEO or core board members of each company:

SharpLink Gaming (SBET): Originally a provider of sports prediction and interactive gaming technology, SharpLink Gaming has gradually increased its ETH holdings through PIPE and ATM financing methods since 2025, positioning it as a core asset on its balance sheet. The related financing is led by Consensys Software Inc., with participation from well-known crypto capitals such as Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, ParaFi Capital, and Galaxy Digital. Board Chairman Joseph Lubin (co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Consensys) is seen as a key driver of this strategic transformation, providing directional support for the company's introduction of Ethereum reserves due to his deep background in the blockchain field.

Bitmine Immersion Tech (BMNR): Originally a blockchain infrastructure company, Bitmine primarily operated Bitcoin mining sites and sold liquid cooling hardware, with business coverage in low-cost energy regions such as Texas and Trinidad. In June 2025, the company raised approximately $250 million through a private placement of 55.6 million shares at $4.50 per share to expand its ETH reserves. Crypto capitals such as Founders Fund and Pantera Capital participated in this round. Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat, was appointed as the board chairman to lead the ETH strategic path.

Bit Digital (BTBT): Originally a Bitcoin mining company, it has recently transformed into a digital asset infrastructure platform, focusing on expanding ETH validator deployment and staking yield strategies. Current CEO Samir Tabar, with a background at Merrill Lynch and BitMEX, has led the company to gradually accumulate and stake ETH since 2022, generating income through operating Ethereum validators. As of March 31, 2025, institutional shareholders include BlackRock, Invesco, and VanEck, holding 3.53%, 2.12%, and 1.61% of the company, respectively.

BTCS Inc. (BTCS): Since 2014, the company has focused on building blockchain infrastructure, and since 2021, it has concentrated on the Ethereum ecosystem, laying out validator nodes and block construction business, and launched the Builder+ block optimization tool in 2024 to explore Ethereum staking and block yield opportunities. The ETH strategy is led by CEO Charles W. Allen, reflecting the company's ongoing investment in the long-term development of blockchain.

Question 3: What are the main sources of funding for these companies' large-scale ETH purchases?

The four companies did not rely on operational cash flow to purchase coins but instead provided funding support for the ETH micro-strategy through diversified paths such as PIPE, ATM issuance, convertible bonds, DeFi lending, and monetizing BTC assets, reflecting a common strategy of "leveraging the balance sheet to drive on-chain yields."

SharpLink Gaming primarily built its financing platform through a combination of PIPE and ATM. In May 2025, the company completed approximately $420 million in PIPE financing; on July 17, it submitted a revised document to the U.S. SEC, increasing the original ATM financing limit from $1 billion to $6 billion and incorporating the PIPE portion into a unified registration scope. The company has clearly stated in multiple announcements that these funds will be used to build ETH strategic reserves and execute on-chain staking.

Bitmine Immersion Tech completed a $250 million private placement in July 2025 and brought in Founders Fund to obtain a 9.1% strategic stake. The company stated that it plans to use all financing to build ETH reserves, including subsequent staking yield construction, but has not yet disclosed a public path for on-chain staking deployment.

Bit Digital adopted a combined financing strategy of "BTC monetization + public issuance." In July 2025, the company raised approximately $172 million through public issuance and the sale of BTC (approximately 280 coins) specifically for purchasing ETH and building an on-chain staking yield model. Subsequently, on July 15, it announced another fundraising of approximately $67.3 million through a directed issuance of common stock to continue expanding its ETH strategic allocation.

BTCS Inc. has continuously built its ETH holdings through three paths: "ATM issuance + convertible bonds + DeFi lending," and has raised its target financing scale to $225 million, emphasizing achieving compounding growth of ETH per share with minimal shareholder dilution.

Question 4: Why did these companies choose to bet on ETH instead of BTC?

Compared to BTC as a "non-yielding reserve asset," ETH, after transitioning to PoS, has the characteristics of being stakable and generating stable on-chain yields, making it a digital asset tool similar to "yield-bearing government bonds." At the same time, the Ethereum ecosystem is still in a distributed narrative stage, lacking a leading monopolist like MSTR for BTC, which provides greater narrative marginal space, stronger price elasticity, and benefits small and medium-sized enterprises to enter through financing + staking. Additionally, ETH has broader on-chain use cases, allowing companies to participate in the validator network, re-staking ecosystem, and even modular security collaborative mechanisms.

Question 5: Are these companies' ETH holdings participating in staking? What are the differences in staking paths?

SharpLink: Has staked almost all of its ETH holdings, with an annualized yield range of about 3%–4%. As of July 2025, it has accumulated over 415 ETH in staking rewards.

Bit Digital: Actively promotes native staking, with approximately 21,568 ETH participating in validation by the end of the first quarter, accounting for nearly 88% of its holdings during that period, generating about $600,000 in revenue for the quarter.

BTCS: Takes a diversified approach, having staked about 10,460 ETH through Rocket Pool and solo staking, with another approximately 4,382 ETH in the queue. Additionally, the company has also collateralized some ETH to Aave for lending income, building a diversified on-chain revenue path.

Bitmine: Although it has not disclosed its staking execution status, it has publicly stated multiple times that it will initiate its ETH staking plan after completing financing.

The four companies exhibit different trade-offs and technical paths in terms of staking methods, node control, and on-chain operational strategies.

Question 6: Have the companies disclosed their ETH profit and loss situation? Are the on-chain addresses transparent?

SharpLink: Is currently the only company that publicly tracks ETH addresses, and its fund flows and staking paths can be fully verified through platforms like Arkham. The company also disclosed that the average purchase price of ETH was $2,825, and as of July 2025, it has realized an unrealized profit of approximately $260 million.

Bit Digital: Has not disclosed its on-chain addresses but continuously updates key data such as ETH holdings and staking rewards through financial reports, providing basic transparency.

BTCS: Similarly has not disclosed its addresses, but detailed the configuration structure of ETH in Rocket Pool, solo staking, and Aave lending on its official website and SEC filings, with a clear asset path.

Bitmine: Recently disclosed holdings of 300,657 ETH, with a total market value exceeding $1 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $3,461.89, with funds coming from a private placement completed in early July; however, its on-chain addresses and staking details have not yet been made public.

Overall, SharpLink has the most complete disclosure in terms of profit and loss and on-chain transparency, while the other three companies, although not disclosing addresses, have provided key information in their financial reports, forming a basic traceable framework.

Question 7: What proportion does ETH occupy in these companies' asset structures? Has it become a core reserve?

According to the latest data, as of July 2025, the current market values of ETH for SharpLink, Bitmine, Bit Digital, and BTCS (calculated at a unit price of approximately $3,573) are approximately $1.278 billion, $1.074 billion, $429 million, and $114 million, respectively. Compared to the latest estimated market values of each company (approximately $2.9 billion, $3.4 billion, $1.23 billion, and $153 million), the proportion of ETH assets is approximately:

• SharpLink: About 44%

• Bitmine: About 32%

• Bit Digital: About 35%

• BTCS: About 74%

It should be noted that the rapid increase in the proportion of ETH for these companies may be influenced by the popularity of on-chain narratives, with market behaviors leveraging topic effects to drive valuations. In the absence of stable operational cash flow support, the sustainability of such strategies and the risks they entail still rely on further observation of their financial reports' cash flow status, financing rhythm, and staking deployment progress.

Question 8: Has this type of ETH micro-strategy driven stock price increases? What has been the market response?

As of July 18, 2025, the stock prices of the four U.S. companies implementing ETH micro-strategies have experienced significant increases, but they have also been accompanied by sharp declines, resulting in overall high volatility:

SharpLink Gaming (SBET): The stock price started at approximately $2.58 at the end of May, peaked at $124.12 in early June, and then fell sharply, closing at $28.98 on July 18, representing a drawdown of 92.5%. Although it has recently risen again, it remains well below its peak level.

BitMine Immersion Tech (BMNR): After going public in June, the stock soared to $161.00 in a short period, but as of July 18, it has fallen back to $42.35, a drawdown of about 73.7%, indicating a strong speculative reaction from the market regarding its ETH strategy.

BTCS Inc. (BTCS): The stock rose from a low of $1.35 in April to a high of $8.49, an increase of over 528%. It currently stands at $6.57, still relatively high, although it has experienced a rapid adjustment of over 20% in between.

Bit Digital (BTBT): The stock price rose from $1.69 to $4.49 before retreating to $3.84, with a cumulative increase of about 127%. It has undergone multiple pullbacks during this period, showing significant overall volatility.

Overall, the "ETH micro-strategy" has indeed become the core catalyst for the short-term surge in stock prices of these companies. However, due to the generally small size of these enterprises, the on-chain assets have a prominent role in supporting valuations, making market trading extremely sensitive. SharpLink and BitMine have both experienced over 70% deep drawdowns in a short period, highlighting the clear characteristics of high risk and high volatility, with the dramatic fluctuations caused by concentrated capital inflows and outflows becoming a typical market response to this strategy.

Question 9: What are the main risks of this type of strategy? Is it sustainable?

This type of ETH micro-strategy carries multiple risks, primarily including the following aspects:

First is the price and liquidity risk. The price of ETH itself is highly volatile, and if the market experiences a deep correction, it will directly impact the company's book valuation, especially under staking conditions where assets are illiquid in the short term, exacerbating liquidity pressure.

Second is the on-chain risk and uncertainty of re-staking. To enhance the yield of ETH holdings, companies may participate in on-chain staking or re-staking with some of their assets. Although this can improve capital efficiency in the short term, it also introduces risks such as smart contract failures, penalty mechanisms, and validator node errors. If a systemic issue occurs in the on-chain ecosystem, it could lead to a rapid devaluation or unavailability of staked assets, affecting financial stability.

Third is the financing structure risk. Currently, most companies rely on at-the-market (ATM) issuance mechanisms to provide funding for purchasing ETH. This type of continuous equity financing will face efficiency declines or even interruptions during market downturns, while also diluting existing shareholders' equity.

Additionally, as the number of validators increases, downward pressure on PoS yields is gradually becoming apparent. If on-chain yields continue to decline while the company's finances have not achieved positive cash flow, it will be difficult to maintain the yield coverage of the ETH strategy.

Ultimately, whether a company possesses dynamic rebalancing capabilities, a robust financial scheduling mechanism, and the ability to control the rhythm between on-chain and off-chain operations will determine whether this strategy can truly achieve long-term stable operation.

Question 10: Do these companies have the opportunity to become the "Ethereum version of MicroStrategy"? Why has a leading pattern not yet formed?

Currently, SharpLink and Bitmine have initially formed market recognition as representative companies of the "ETH micro-strategy," but they are still far from truly establishing a global pricing anchor effect similar to MicroStrategy in the Bitcoin market. The main reasons include:

First, the asset attributes of ETH are more complex. Unlike BTC, which is a fixed supply, non-stakable "value reserve asset," ETH has yield attributes and a dynamically adjusted supply mechanism, making it more like a composite financial instrument rather than a pure reserve asset. This multiple positioning makes it difficult for companies to build a single narrative anchor around ETH.

Second, there are high barriers to executing on-chain strategies. ETH micro-strategies often require companies to operate or manage staking nodes or participate in more complex on-chain yield deployments. The technical complexity and security risks are much higher than simple asset allocation, making it difficult for most companies to replicate on a large scale.

Third, the current market capitalization of related companies is generally small, and financing tools are limited. They have not yet formed a collaborative mechanism similar to MSTR's "valuation premium + convertible bonds + media narrative," nor have they established a financial flywheel that can drive secondary market sentiment resonance.

Finally, the ETH market currently lacks a "representative enterprise" with high consensus, broad coverage, and strong leverage capabilities. To become a true "Ethereum version of MicroStrategy," it requires not only continuous accumulation of ETH but also the formation of a closed loop in multiple dimensions such as financing capability, on-chain deployment, narrative control, and valuation transmission.

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