NewsCryptoSharpLink to Stake $200 Million in Ethereum Through Lido, With Anchorage Digital as Custodian

SharpLink to Stake $200 Million in Ethereum Through Lido, With Anchorage Digital as Custodian

Author: Decrypt·

Key Takeaways

  • SharpLink is allocating $200 million of Ethereum, roughly 106,000 ETH, to liquid staking through Lido.
  • The staked amount represents about 12% of the approximately 889,000 ETH SharpLink held as of early August 2026.
  • SharpLink will receive wstETH receipt tokens, which will be held in custody by Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered U.S. digital asset bank.
  • wstETH is integrated across more than 100 protocols with about $10 billion in active-use collateral, while Lido accounts for roughly $16.5 billion in staked ETH.
  • The Lido allocation adds to SharpLink's existing staking and restaking positions amid broader corporate ETH accumulation, with Bitmine holding about $11 billion in Ethereum.
SharpLink to Stake $200 Million in Ethereum Through Lido, With Anchorage Digital as Custodian

Miami-based digital asset treasury company SharpLink said Thursday that it will stake $200 million of Ethereum through Lido, the largest liquid-staking protocol on Ethereum.

The allocation amounts to roughly 106,000 ETH—about 12% of the approximately 889,000 ETH SharpLink held as of early August. The tokens will be received as wrapped staked ETH (wstETH), a receipt token representing staked ETH plus its rewards, and Anchorage Digital—a federally chartered digital asset bank in the United States—will hold them in custody.

"This is an exciting expansion in making our ETH even more productive, leveraging wstETH's composability while maintaining institutional-grade risk standards," said Joseph Chalom, Chief Executive Officer of SharpLink, in a press release. "Adding a staking protocol of Lido's caliber deepens the diversification of our treasury strategy and gives us access to one of the most liquid and widely integrated assets in Ethereum DeFi. It reflects our commitment to working with the top Ethereum protocols."

On Ethereum, stakers lock ETH to help validate transactions and earn rewards, but native staking carries a 32-ETH minimum per validator and exit queues that can keep capital tied up. Because wstETH is a wrapped staking token, SharpLink can earn staking yield while remaining liquid and using the position across DeFi. The underlying ETH keeps accruing rewards, and the wrapper can be posted as collateral or traded without unstaking. According to the announcement, wstETH sits across more than 100 protocols with about $10 billion in active-use collateral, while Lido runs a majority of all liquid-staked ETH, with roughly $16.5 billion staked through the protocol.

SharpLink is one of the world's largest corporate Ethereum holders, and staking has been the through-line of its 2026 strategy. The firm grew its stack past 880,000 ETH—worth roughly $1.68 billion—earlier this year, and per its second-quarter disclosure it held 888,938 ETH as of August 3, 2026. The Lido leg adds to an existing staking and restaking book rather than replacing it, which leaves how the rest of that stack is spread across staking, restaking and custody as the deployment detail to watch in future disclosures.

"I'm excited to see SharpLink increasing the use of Ethereum native staking protocols and the DeFi ecosystem. Being bullish ETH is being bullish on major Ethereum-based applications," said Vasiliy Shapovalov, Executive Director, Lido Labs Foundation.

The pitch to other treasuries is yield without idle capital. "We are seeing a clear shift in how institutions hold Ethereum, and SharpLink's allocation is a strong example," said Kean Gilbert, Head of Institutional Relations, Lido Institutional. "Treasuries want their ETH working for them without losing liquidity, and Lido has become the standard for doing it at scale. With wstETH, a holder of SharpLink's size can stake while keeping the flexibility its deployment strategy demands."

The move lands as ETH treasury firms crowd the market. Last year, Standard Chartered reported that treasury companies bought 1% of all ETH in two months and could push that to 10%—a bid that lifts spot demand for the very asset SharpLink is now putting to work. Tom Lee's Bitmine, the largest Ethereum corporate treasury, holds about $11 billion worth of Ethereum with plans to eventually control at least 5% of ETH's total supply. As more corporate-held ETH shifts from static custody into staking and DeFi, how much of that supply ends up deployed—and through which protocols—is becoming the sector's next open question.