SharpLink to Invest $200 Million in ETH on Consensys’ Linea — Could This Signal a New Era for Institutional DeFi and AI-Driven Returns?

SharpLink Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBET), recognized as one of the largest corporate holders of Ethereum globally, has revealed its intention to allocate $200 million in ETH from its corporate treasury to Linea, the Ethereum Layer-2 network created by Consensys.

NEW: SharpLink plans to deploy $200M of $ETH on @LineaBuild through a collaboration with @ether_fi, @eigenlayer, and @Anchorage.
Through this partnership, SharpLink will now access enhanced $ETH-denominated yield from:
– Native staking yield
– Direct incentives from Linea and… pic.twitter.com/1bRXO1vZ6l

— SharpLink (SBET) (@SharpLinkGaming) October 28, 2025

This initiative signifies a significant collaboration among SharpLink, ether.fi, EigenCloud, and Anchorage Digital Bank, illustrating a new institutional approach to on-chain yield generation utilizing DeFi infrastructure.

Institutional Treasury Meets DeFi Innovation

SharpLink’s ETH will be allocated via Anchorage Digital Bank, its certified custodian, and invested in a mix of staking, restaking, and AI-yield strategies based on Linea’s zkEVM framework.

The approach integrates Ethereum staking rewards, EigenCloud restaking incentives, and native Linea yield initiatives, providing the company with diversified ETH-denominated returns.

Joseph Chalom, Co-CEO of SharpLink, characterizes this initiative as a pivotal moment in the management of institutional crypto treasuries. “As one of the largest public holders of ETH, we manage our treasury with institutional rigor. This deployment allows us to access Ethereum’s best staking and DeFi yields, while maintaining the security and compliance expected by our stockholders,” he stated.

Chalom further mentioned that the partnership embodies SharpLink’s broader strategy to responsibly enhance yield and unlock scalable treasury performance while promoting Ethereum’s global adoption.

Linea: Building Ethereum’s Institutional Layer

Linea, developed by Consensys, the company behind MetaMask and Infura, is designed as Ethereum’s high-performance, zkEVM Layer-2 tailored for enterprises and institutions.

Joseph Lubin, Founder and CEO of Consensys (and co-founder of Ethereum), noted that Linea is part of a long-term vision to make ETH more “productive” for institutional investments. “Through this collaboration, SharpLink’s ETH will earn enhanced native yield through Linea’s ecosystem partners, ether.fi and EigenCloud. It’s a model we believe other institutions will adopt,” Lubin remarked.

AI-Powered Yields and Verifiable Infrastructure

Sreeram Kannan, Founder and CEO of Eigen Labs, highlighted that this partnership establishes the foundation for a new “verifiable economy” where AI, DeFi, and trustless infrastructure converge.

“SharpLink’s commitment positions them at the foundation of a verifiable economy — one that supports AI workloads, insured DeFi, and trustless infrastructure secured by ETH,” Kannan observed.

By utilizing EigenCloud’s Autonomous Verifiable Services (AVSs), SharpLink’s deployed ETH will not only generate staking returns but also secure decentralized AI models and computational tasks.

Paving the Way for Institutional DeFi

Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital, framed the collaboration as the beginning of Ethereum’s “institutional era.” — “At Anchorage Digital, we’re proud to power SharpLink’s staking solution on Linea — demonstrating that innovation and compliance can progress together,” he stated.

This $200 million ETH deployment is anticipated to be the initial phase of a multi-year commitment, with SharpLink and Consensys planning to co-create programmable liquidity tools, tokenized equity models, and institutional-grade DeFi products.

The message is clear: Ethereum’s next growth phase is not solely decentralized — it is institutional, verifiable, and driven by AI.

The post SharpLink to Deploy $200M in ETH on Consensys’ Linea — Is This the Future of Institutional DeFi and AI-Powered Yields? appeared first on Cryptonews.