Good morning and welcome to the Hodl Report
SharpLink just rage-quit sports betting and respawned as crypto’s newest leviathan, shoveling 280 k ETH into its treasury and leap-frogging the Ethereum Foundation itself—bullish doesn’t even begin to cover it. Toss in Capitol Hill’s likely green light for a dollar-pegged stablecoin law this week and record-breaking inflows into ETH ETFs as the market rips higher, and midsummer suddenly feels like a rerun of the 2021 melt-up. In today’s Hodl Report, I’ll unpack why SharpLink’s pivot could be the spark that keeps sending.
Today’s Report
SharpLink’s $840 Million Ethereum Play
Remember SharpLink Gaming? The sleepy sports‑betting‑tech outfit that traded like an abandoned penny stock? On June 2, 2025 the company yanked hard on the wheel, ditched parlays, and announced it would pivot into an Ethereum‑first treasury vehicle. I grabbed shares at $9 and the move has already up 4x. But the story isn’t finished. Let’s unpack the pivot, the upside, and why I thought it was a good bet.
From coupon‑code widgets to ETH whale 🐳
Aggressive accumulation: In six short weeks SharpLink has hoovered up 280,706 ETH—worth about $840 million—overtaking even the Ethereum Foundation in raw coin count.
Capital cannon: Management tapped an at‑the‑market (ATM) share program to raise $413 million between July 7‑11 alone, rerouting nearly all proceeds straight into Ether.
OTC coup: They even bought 10,000 ETH directly from the EF—a flex that signals real backstage access, not meme‑stock theatrics.
Yield kicker: Staking has already earned 415 ETH in rewards since launch.
Why this is (still) bullish
Synthetic ETH ETF
MicroStrategy turned itself into a leveraged Bitcoin tracker and ran up 8,000 %. SharpLink is replaying the playbook with Ethereum—only this time there’s native yield from staking.Float shortage & squeeze dynamics
The June ATM diluted the pool, but SBET’s tradable float is still under 3 million shares. A surging crypto narrative plus tight supply equals popcorn‑worthy volatility (already a 1,078 % pop since pivotStaking + Re‑Staking Flywheel
ETH earns ~2‑3% base yield. Pipe it through EigenLayer or LRTs and you gain even more yield. Compounded over a corporate balance sheet, that’s a self‑funded buy‑back machine.Regulatory arbitrage
Most U.S. institutions still don’t hold spot crypto. Buying SBET stock is the compliance‑friendly workaround—much like buying gold miners instead of bullion in 1974.Narrative optionality
ETH 2.0, restaking, and RWAs mean fresh headlines every quarter. Each new buzzword gives SharpLInk another excuse to raise at higher prices and buy yet more Ether.
Risks
Dilution addiction: Those ATM raises cut both ways. If management mainlines share issuance without discipline dilution can eat up gains. However, this risk can be managed as we’ve seen with MSTR.
Single‑asset concentration: A 100 % Ether treasury is thrilling—right up until ETH drops 40 % in a weekend. As long as we are bullish on ETH, this should outperform the udnerlying asset. However, I wouldn’t hold through the next bear market. Volatility cuts both ways.
My playbook
I’m sitting on a near 4× from my entry, but I’m not peeling chips yet. Instead:
Covered OTM calls to earn yield.
Trailing stop just south of the 20‑day EMA in case ETH revisits the basement.
A small lottery‑ticket tranche left naked—because if ETH screams past $5 k, SBET could do its best MicroStrategy cosplay. As long as the market is bullish and SBET keeps buying ETH I am going to let this run. However, I will pull my principle out at 5x.
Want more off‑the‑radar moonshots?
SharpLink isn’t the only mispriced crypto proxy out there. If you like catching narrative shifts before they hit CNBC’s ticker tape, Check out Alpha List—my private feed of early calls.
Today’s Top News
Headlines
DEA & FBI Seize $10 M in Crypto From Sinaloa Cartel — The joint U.S. operation unmasked cross-chain laundering networks while confiscating fentanyl, meth labs and millions in digital assets. Officials say crypto tracing is now “central” to cartel takedowns, hinting at broader terror-financing designations. Compliance desks should expect fresh blacklists tied to cartel wallets.
Tornado Cash Developer Faces Jury Over ‘Dirty-Money Laundromat’ Claims — Opening arguments pit privacy rights against prosecutors who say Roman Storm knowingly enabled North Korea’s Lazarus Group. A conviction could redefine liability for open-source code and mixer protocols worldwide. DeFi privacy tokens dropped on the news.
Secret Service Quietly Builds $400 M Crypto War-Chest — A decade of pig-butchering and romance-scam busts has left the agency with one of the world’s largest cold wallets. Analysts revealed sleuthing tactics that include VPN slip-ups and domain forensics, warning scammers that UTXO trails never die. The stash underscores U.S. plans to repatriate funds to victims at scale.
Arcadia Finance Hit for $3.5 M After Rebalancer Exploit on Base — Hackers abused arbitrary swapData parameters, bridged loot to Ethereum and now sit behind fresh addresses. Cyvers says poor contract validation and fragmented risk checks opened the door; users are urged to revoke permissions. Total Q3 DeFi losses now top $800 M
Market Trendline
Price Action
Total crypto market cap is flirting with $4 T as liquidity sloshes back into altcoins; Glassnode warns the market has “just entered a near-term overheated condition,” but, hey, when has that stopped anyone?
Notable Movers
Ethereum (ETH): +9% to ~$3.44 K after bulls punched through the $3.3 K ceiling. Options desks flag a spike in call buying as devs tease the Prague upgrade timeline.
XRP: +10% in 24 h (34% on the week) and eyeing its 2018 ATH. Futures open interest blew past $10 B—leverage junkies are back in force.
Dogecoin (DOGE): Up 6 % with a 12 % intraday whipsaw as whales rotate profits from the XRP pop into meme-land. Still no sign of Musk, but the crowd loves a nostalgia play.
Solana (SOL): Hovering above $175; ETF chatter plus surging DeFi inflows have analysts whispering $300 targets if bulls keep the bid.
Macro View
Stablecoin clarity from Congress + growing institutional treasuries on-chain are fueling the risk-on mood. Yet funding rates are creeping into nosebleed territory, and Glassnode’s “hot” warning says we’re one liquidation cascade away from a reality check.
Bottom Line
The market looks euphoric, but leverage is piling up faster than a Solana TPS benchmark. Enjoy the green candles—just keep one eye on the exit before the overheated engine throws a rod. If Congress actually signs that bill, dips may stay shallow; if not, brace for fireworks.
Today’s Top Tweet
Crypto Twitter Never Sleeps
Bitcoin just did something it couldn’t in 2017, 2021, or even earlier this year.
It broke an 8-year resistance line.
This isn’t just another breakout, this is the kind that starts parabolas.
Price discovery is in full effect now.
And when that happens... alts go wild.Your
— #Gordon (#@AltcoinGordon)
3:18 PM • Jul 12, 2025
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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.