$200 Million Allocation: SharpLink Expands Ethereum Staking Strategy via Lido

SharpLink Gaming has announced plans to allocate $200 million in Ethereum through Lido, expanding its staking strategy for crypto treasury returns. The allocation will be converted into wrapped staked ETH (wstETH), which represents staked Ethereum and the associated staking rewards. SharpLink stated that the wstETH will be held in custody with Anchorage Digital.

Lido is the largest liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, with roughly $16.5 billion in ETH staked on the platform. Its wstETH token is integrated across more than 100 protocols and has around $10 billion in active use as collateral. Unlike directly staked ETH, wstETH can be deployed across Ethereum-based DeFi applications while the underlying ETH continues to earn staking rewards.

SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom said, 'This is an exciting expansion in making our ETH even more productive, leveraging wstETH's composability while maintaining institutional-grade risk standards.'

The move adds Lido to SharpLink's existing staking and restaking strategy as the company looks to increase the productivity of its Ethereum holdings. Through wstETH, SharpLink will be able to deploy its staked ETH across supported DeFi protocols while maintaining exposure to Ethereum staking rewards.