Ethereum Foundation Restructures Protocol Team as Sharplink, Galaxy Launch $125 Million Onchain Yield Fund

Ethereum News

Payward, the parent company of crypto platform Kraken, is raising fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation as it prepares the ground for a future public listing. The fundraising round arrives as the firm accelerates an acquisition push that recently included the $600 million purchase of stablecoin payments specialist Reap and the $550 million takeover of derivatives venue Bitnomial. Payward confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November, and co-CEO Arjun Sethi said at Consensus Miami last week that the exchange is roughly 80% ready to go public once market conditions improve.

Galaxy and Ethereum treasury firm Sharplink are preparing to launch the Galaxy Sharplink Onchain Yield Fund, a private vehicle with $125 million in initial commitments aimed at deploying staked Ether into decentralized finance strategies. Sharplink will contribute $100 million from its staked treasury, while Galaxy commits $25 million and serves as fund manager overseeing protocol selection and exposure sizing. CEO Mike Novogratz framed the structure as a response to growing institutional demand for blockchain-based yield products that mirror traditional finance risk tools. Sharplink already holds more than 868,000 ETH, one of the largest corporate Ethereum stashes worldwide.

The yield fund announcement landed alongside a sobering quarterly print from Sharplink, which posted a net loss of $685.6 million, or $3.25 per diluted share, after non-cash charges tied to Ether's price slide. Roughly $506.7 million of that loss stemmed from unrealized markdowns on its ETH holdings as the asset slipped from a January high near $3,354 to roughly $2,104 at quarter-end. Revenue, however, surged to $12.1 million from just $700,000 a year earlier, propelled by staking income. The firm has accumulated around 18,800 ETH in cumulative staking rewards since launching its treasury strategy in mid-2025.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies sharply throttled its weekly Ether buying last week, adding only 26,659 ETH worth about $62 million, a fraction of the more than 100,000 tokens it had been accumulating in prior weeks. Chairman Tom Lee said the slowdown was deliberate because the previous pace would have pushed the company past its 5% supply target by mid-July, ahead of its late-2026 timeline. Bitmine now holds over 5.2 million ETH valued near $12.1 billion, equivalent to roughly 4.31% of the circulating supply. Shares are down more than 43% over the trailing six months despite the aggressive treasury strategy.

Lee leaned into a bullish framing despite the slower pace, declaring that crypto spring has commenced and pointing to tokenization on Wall Street and agentic AI as the principal drivers of the next cycle. He argued that an Ether monthly close above $2,100 at the end of May would mark a third consecutive monthly gain, a pattern he says has never occurred during a bear market. Bitmine's staked Ether balance now sits at 4.71 million tokens, more than 90% of holdings, generating annualized staking revenues of roughly $319 million through its MAVAN platform aimed at institutional clients.

The Ethereum Foundation is reorganizing its Protocol cluster after the planned departures of long-time researchers Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko and a sabbatical from Alex Stokes. Will Corcoran, Kev Wedderburn, and Fredrik will step in as the new cluster co-leads. Fredrik oversees Protocol security research, including the Trillion Dollar Security project, while Wedderburn directs the zkEVM team and Corcoran focuses on post-quantum security. The transition unfolds against a broader period of internal turbulence at the foundation, with several senior figures exiting earlier in the year as priorities shift toward Glamsterdam, Hegotà, and the Strawmap roadmap items.

ETH trades near $2,344 with the daily structure pinned between immediate resistance at $2,344.33 and the next supply pocket at $2,391.51, while support sits at $2,320.39 and deeper buffers at $2,264.86 and $2,200.52. RSI at 54.14 reflects neutral-to-mildly-bullish momentum, yet the bearish MACD signal and broadly sideways trend argue against chasing strength. A daily close above $2,391 would open a path toward $2,446 and validate Lee's monthly-close thesis above $2,100. Conversely, a breakdown beneath $2,264 invalidates the recovery setup and exposes $2,200 as the structural line for bulls to defend.