Nasdaq-listed SharpLink is expanding its Ethereum treasury strategy by planning to allocate $200 million worth of ETH to Lido’s liquid staking platform, with the resulting wrapped staked ETH (wstETH) set to be held in custody by Anchorage Digital.
The move represents another step in SharpLink’s effort to generate additional returns from its large corporate Ethereum holdings rather than simply holding the asset on its balance sheet.
SharpLink announced the planned allocation on August 13 but did not provide a transaction hash or confirm that the entire $200 million deployment had already been completed.
SharpLink to Stake Existing ETH Through Lido
The planned transaction involves SharpLink’s existing Ethereum treasury, rather than a new $200 million purchase of ETH.
Under the structure, SharpLink will deposit ETH through Lido and receive wstETH, an ERC-20 token representing ETH staked through the protocol.
The company will then place the resulting wstETH under custody with Anchorage Digital.
SharpLink’s latest quarterly filing showed that it held approximately 888,938 ETH and ETH equivalents as of August 3, highlighting the scale of the treasury that the company is attempting to put to work through staking and related strategies.
Staking has already become an important component of SharpLink’s business. During the second quarter, the company generated approximately $11.2 million of its $11.5 million in revenue from staking activities.
The Lido allocation therefore represents an extension of an existing strategy rather than a fundamental change in direction.
Why SharpLink Is Using wstETH
Lido’s wstETH is designed differently from its standard stETH token.
While stETH uses a rebasing mechanism in which the token balance changes as staking rewards accumulate, wstETH maintains a relatively stable token balance while its exchange value against stETH increases over time.
That structure makes wstETH easier to integrate with decentralized finance applications that do not support rebasing assets.
Lido currently reports approximately $16.5 billion of ETH staked through its protocol, while its liquid staking assets are integrated across more than 100 protocols.
The company also reports roughly $10 billion of liquid staking assets being used as collateral or in other applications.
For SharpLink, this creates the possibility of combining staking rewards with additional DeFi utility.
However, the company has not disclosed where it intends to deploy the new wstETH after receiving it.
Anchorage Digital Provides Institutional Custody
Anchorage Digital will provide custody for SharpLink’s wstETH.
The arrangement adds an institutional custody layer to SharpLink’s increasingly sophisticated Ethereum treasury strategy.
Anchorage previously integrated Lido’s infrastructure, allowing institutional clients to mint and redeem wstETH while keeping assets within its custody platform.
Anchorage Digital Bank is an OCC-chartered national trust bank, giving SharpLink access to a regulated custody structure for its liquid staking assets.
The partnership also reflects the broader institutionalization of Ethereum staking, where companies are increasingly combining traditional custody arrangements with onchain yield-generating strategies.
SharpLink Is Building a Multi-Layer Ethereum Treasury Strategy
The $200 million Lido allocation is not SharpLink’s first attempt to generate additional returns from its Ethereum holdings.
The company has already pursued several forms of staking, liquid staking and restaking.
SharpLink previously allocated $200 million of ETH to Linea-related restaking programs involving ether.fi and EigenCloud.
It also committed $100 million to a Galaxy-managed onchain yield fund targeting approximately $125 million in capital.
The strategy effectively transforms SharpLink’s Ethereum treasury from a passive asset holding into an actively managed financial portfolio.
Instead of simply relying on ETH price appreciation, the company is attempting to generate additional yield through staking and other onchain opportunities.
SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom said the Lido allocation would make the company’s ETH holdings more productive while providing access to wstETH’s broader DeFi integrations.
However, those additional returns are not guaranteed.
Lido’s documentation highlights several risks associated with staking and liquid staking, including smart-contract vulnerabilities, slashing, withdrawal constraints, liquidity risks and fluctuations in the underlying market.
Regulatory Environment Provides Some Clarity
The transaction also comes as U.S. regulators have provided greater clarity around certain forms of liquid staking.
In August 2025, SEC Corporation Finance staff stated that some liquid staking arrangements, depending on their specific structure and circumstances, may not constitute securities transactions.
The guidance was issued by SEC staff rather than through a formal Commission rule, meaning it does not automatically cover every liquid staking arrangement.
For institutional companies such as SharpLink, the distinction remains important.
The regulatory treatment of a particular staking or liquid staking structure can depend on how the arrangement is designed, how assets are managed and what services are being provided.
SharpLink therefore remains exposed not only to market and protocol risks but also to evolving regulatory and accounting requirements.
Accounting Risks Remain a Consideration
SharpLink’s growing use of liquid staking assets also creates accounting considerations.
During the second quarter, the company recorded approximately $76.1 million in impairment charges related to existing LsETH and weETH positions.
Those charges contributed to SharpLink’s reported $394.3 million second-quarter net loss.
The company has not yet disclosed how the newly planned wstETH position will be classified in its financial statements.
That will be an important consideration for investors because accounting treatment can significantly affect reported earnings even when the underlying crypto assets remain part of the company’s long-term treasury strategy.
What Happens Next
The immediate milestone is the actual execution of SharpLink’s planned $200 million deployment.
The company has not disclosed the precise timetable for moving the ETH into Lido, the expected staking yield or whether the resulting wstETH will eventually be deployed into additional DeFi strategies.
SharpLink shares closed around $6.32 on August 13, while ETH traded near $1,625 after hours. The movements occurred around the announcement but do not establish that the staking plan directly caused either price move.
The broader significance of the transaction is SharpLink’s evolving approach to corporate crypto treasuries.
Rather than treating ETH solely as a balance-sheet asset, the company is attempting to build a layered strategy combining staking, liquid staking, restaking, DeFi exposure and institutional custody.
If successful, the approach could allow SharpLink to generate additional economic activity from its Ethereum holdings without selling the underlying asset.
But the strategy also introduces additional layers of smart-contract, liquidity, regulatory, accounting and market risk.
For SharpLink, the next test is no longer simply how much ETH it can accumulate. It is whether the company can generate sustainable returns from that treasury while managing the risks that come with putting billions of dollars of digital assets to work.
