TheBlock
Joseph Chalom, CEO of Sharplink, said Ethereum-focused treasury companies are charting a different course from the Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) playbook — leaning on staking and simpler balance sheets rather than the convertible-debt and ATM-financed accumulation model that defined Strategy's Bitcoin bid.
Why it matters
The Strategy template — issue equity or debt at a premium, deploy proceeds into BTC, lever the multiple — relies on an asset with no native yield. ETH treasury firms can stake their holdings, earning a real return on the underlying while still maintaining the corporate treasury thesis. That changes the math on leverage, the cost of carry, and what a "clean" balance sheet even looks like for a crypto-native corporate treasury.
Chalom framed stablecoins and tokenization as the next leg of institutional Ethereum adoption, arguing both deepen the network's role as onchain financial infrastructure rather than just a settlement layer.
Market impact
A staking-led treasury model produces different cashflow dynamics than the Strategy template — recurring yield versus capital-appreciation-only exposure. For investors comparing ETH treasury plays, the distinction matters: it changes how each vehicle should be valued, how much leverage it can safely carry, and what signals a credible versus reckless deployment of corporate reserves looks like.
Frequently asked questions
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How is the Sharplink or ETH treasury model different from Strategy's?
Strategy financed Bitcoin accumulation with convertible debt and equity at a premium — workable because BTC has no native yield. ETH treasury firms can stake their holdings and earn yield on the underlying, so they don't need the same leverage structure to make the thesis pay.
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Why does staking change how an ETH treasury company should be valued?
Staking produces recurring onchain yield, which gives the vehicle cashflow the Strategy template never had. That shifts the valuation framework away from pure NAV multiple toward something closer to a yield-bearing corporate treasury.
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What did Chalom say about tokenization and stablecoins?
Chalom framed growing institutional adoption of stablecoins and tokenization as the next leg of Ethereum's institutional role — deepening the network as onchain financial infrastructure rather than just a settlement layer.
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Who is Joseph Chalom and what is Sharplink?
Joseph Chalom is the CEO of Sharplink, one of the publicly listed Ethereum-focused treasury companies building a corporate ETH balance sheet around staking rather than the Strategy debt-financing template.
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Does this mean ETH treasury firms won't use leverage at all?
No — Chalom's point is that the leverage math is different, not that ETH treasuries will run unlevered. Staking yield lowers the cost of carry and changes how much leverage a corporate ETH balance sheet can safely carry, but financing tools are still part of the toolkit.
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