Publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm Sharplink reported a staggering net loss of $685.6 million for the first quarter of 2026, a dramatic increase from a loss of just $1 million a year earlier. The bulk of the loss—$506.7 million—stemmed from unrealized declines in its Ether (ETH) holdings, alongside a $191.7 million impairment on liquid staking tokens. Despite the paper loss, the firm stressed that its token count remains intact. Sharplink holds 872,984 ETH, worth approximately $1.7 billion as of early May, and has generated 18,800 ETH in staking rewards since launching its active treasury strategy in June 2025.
Quarterly revenue surged to $12.1 million from $0.7 million, driven almost entirely by that ETH yield strategy. Share metrics improved as well: ETH per share doubled from 2.0 to 4.02 since mid-2025, even though the firm’s market-to-net-asset-value (mNAV) sits at 0.79, indicating the stock trades below the value of its ETH. CEO Joseph Chalom, formerly of BlackRock, noted that Sharplink has "internalized the majority of our asset management platform and moved beyond foundational staking into a broader set of on-chain opportunities."
In a bold move amid one of DeFi’s rockiest periods, Sharplink and Galaxy Digital announced the Galaxy Sharplink Onchain Yield Fund, a $125 million vehicle seeded with $100 million from Sharplink’s staked ETH treasury and $25 million from Galaxy. The fund will target high-yield blockchain-based lending and liquidity strategies, with Galaxy serving as the investment manager overseeing protocol selection, position sizing, and risk controls. Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz said, “Institutional capital is moving on-chain, and the infrastructure to support it has matured.” The launch comes after April 2026 witnessed the highest monthly number of crypto hacks on record, including a $285 million theft from Drift Protocol. Chalom remains undeterred, saying that crises raise standards and that security-focused protocols would be prioritized.
