Sharplink Allocates $200m of ETH to Lido Staking

Sharplink, a publicly listed company with significant digital asset reserves, has allocated $200 million of its Ether (ETH) holdings to staking through the Lido protocol. This move allows the company to earn a native yield denominated in ETH, rather than holding the asset passively. The resulting wrapped staked ETH (wstETH) will be held on Sharplink's balance sheet, with custody managed by Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States.

According to Joseph Chalom, CEO of Sharplink, the allocation leverages wstETH's composability while maintaining institutional-grade risk standards. This decision is part of a trend among publicly listed companies to make their digital asset reserves more productive for shareholders. Bitmine, for example, has reported that roughly 87% of its total ETH holdings are now in staked form.

The regulatory picture for institutional liquid staking remains in formation, particularly in the United States. The SEC has not issued definitive guidance on whether staking-as-a-service or liquid staking tokens constitute securities. Anchorage Digital's federal charter provides some structural cover, but the legal characterisation of wstETH is not yet settled.