Ethereum Treasury Race Heats Up as Sharplink and Galaxy Launch $125 Million Onchain Yield Fund

Ethereum News

Digital asset firm Galaxy and Ethereum treasury platform Sharplink are joining forces to launch the Galaxy Sharplink Onchain Yield Fund, a private vehicle targeting institutional capital with $125 million in initial commitments. Sharplink will contribute $100 million from its staked Ether reserves, while Galaxy adds $25 million and assumes the manager role. The fund will allocate capital across liquidity protocols and onchain yield strategies, marking a clear push to extract returns beyond standard staking. Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz framed the structure as institutional-grade DeFi infrastructure, offering yield and risk controls that mirror traditional finance frameworks while keeping Ethereum exposure intact.

Sharplink reported a first-quarter net loss of $685.6 million, or $3.25 per diluted share, with roughly $506.7 million tied to unrealized markdowns on its Ether holdings as prices retreated from January highs near $3,354 to $2,104 by quarter-end. Revenue, however, surged to $12.1 million from just $700,000 a year earlier, driven by staking income from its treasury operation. The Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin-chaired firm now holds more than 868,000 ETH and has accumulated roughly 18,800 ETH in cumulative staking rewards since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025, ending Q1 with $16.9 million in cash reserves.

Crypto platform Kraken's parent company Payward is raising fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation as it accelerates acquisitions ahead of a planned public listing. The exchange recently agreed to acquire stablecoin payments firm Reap for $600 million and derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million, building on its landmark $1.5 billion NinjaTrader takeover in 2025. Payward confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the SEC in November, and co-CEO Arjun Sethi indicated the firm is 80% ready to go public. Deutsche Börse separately took a $200 million stake earlier this year, underscoring institutional appetite for regulated crypto exchange equity.

Tom Lee-chaired BitMine Immersion Technologies dialed back its aggressive Ether accumulation pace, adding only 26,659 ETH worth roughly $62 million last week — a sharp drop from its prior tempo of more than 100,000 ETH weekly. The treasury firm now controls over 5.2 million ETH valued near $12.1 billion, representing roughly 4.31% of the circulating supply. Lee explained the slowdown reflects a strategic recalibration toward the company's late-2026 target of capturing 5% of supply, rather than rushing the milestone to mid-July. BitMine has crossed 86% of its acquisition goal since launching its Ethereum treasury initiative earlier this year.

BitMine's staking footprint has expanded alongside its balance sheet, with more than 4.7 million ETH — over 90% of total holdings — currently generating staking rewards worth approximately $11.1 billion in deployed value. The firm's MAVAN staking platform, launched earlier this year and aimed at institutional clients, is projected to generate $352 million annually in staking revenue at full scale, based on the current 2.86% seven-day yield. Lee declared that crypto spring has commenced, citing tokenization tailwinds from Wall Street and agentic AI as the principal forward catalysts. A monthly close above $2,100 would mark a third consecutive gain — unprecedented during a bear market.

The Ethereum Foundation is reorganizing its core Protocol cluster as longtime developers Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko prepare to depart while Alex Stokes takes a sabbatical. Will Corcoran, Kev Wedderburn, and Fredrik have been named co-leads of the cluster, which was formerly known as Protocol R&D and remains responsible for designing and developing the Ethereum base layer. Fredrik oversees security research including the Trillion Dollar Security initiative, Wedderburn leads the zkEVM team, and Corcoran focuses on post-quantum security efforts. The shakeup continues a multi-quarter transformation effort aimed at sharpening the foundation's competitive position across scaling, privacy, and quantum-resilience research.

ETH trades near $2,338, down 1.76% over 24 hours, holding above immediate support at $2,320 with deeper buffers at $2,236 and $2,147. Resistance sits at $2,344, followed by $2,392 and $2,447. The RSI at 54.29 indicates neutral-to-mild bullish momentum, but the bearish MACD signal warns of waning upside conviction within a sideways structure. A clean reclaim of $2,392 with rising volume would open a path toward the $2,447 ceiling, validating the crypto spring thesis. Conversely, a daily close below $2,320 invalidates the bullish setup and exposes the $2,147 zone as the next high-conviction demand pocket for buyers.