SharpLink Gaming (SBET), the Ethereum treasury backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, is joining the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indices later this month, potentially opening the stock to new institutional demand from index funds.
The inclusion will take effect after the close of trading on June 29 as part of the annual reconstitution of the FTSE Russell Index, the company announced on Tuesday.
Russell Indices are widely followed benchmarks for U.S. stocks, with approximately $12 trillion in assets linked to them through passive and active investment strategies, the press release said. Membership in the Russell 2000, the benchmark index for U.S. small-cap stocks, could increase trading volumes and institutional ownership.
SharpLink has become one of the largest public holders of Ether (ETH), part of a wave of companies that adopted crypto treasury strategies modeled after the Bitcoin Holder Strategy (MSTR) last year. Since then, most digital asset treasuries have shut down or decided to sell their assets as their stock prices crashed and crypto markets retreated.
The company held 872,984 ETH as of early May, according to its latest quarterly earnings report, making it the second-largest public ETH hoard, behind Bitmine’s 5.4 million ETH. SharpLink’s holdings are worth approximately $1.8 billion at current prices and have not reported any ETH purchases since October.
The stock is down about 95% from its peak speculative frenzy last May, when investors flocked to crypto cash companies amid a broader rally in digital assets. Despite this, shares remain more than double where they were before SharpLink switched to an Ethereum treasury strategy. The stock is down about 2% on Tuesday, similar to the price of ETH.
Inclusion in the index validates the company’s “institutional-grade ETH treasury strategy,” said SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom, adding that it can strengthen the company’s “access to capital markets.”
