In this episode of CoinGape’s Voice of Web3 podcast, Matt Sheffield, CIO of Sharplink, explains why the firm made a $2.6 billion allocation to Ethereum.
He calls it “not as a speculative trade, but as a long-term institutional strategy.”
Sheffield outlines Sharplink’s view that Ethereum is entering a new phase of maturity, evolving into what he describes as globalization-grade infrastructure. As institutions increasingly explore tokenization, onchain settlement, and programmable financial assets, Ethereum has emerged as the preferred base layer due to its decentralization, security-first design, and deep liquidity.
A central theme of the discussion is Ethereum’s role as a productive asset. Unlike passive holdings, ETH enables native yield through staking, restaking, and onchain deployment. Sheffield explains that Sharplink’s objective is not simply to hold ETH, but to actively compound value over time. This is for maximizing ETH per share rather than timing market cycles.
The conversation also explored the concept of Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs), which Sheffield positions as a new class of long-duration capital in crypto. With the ability to commit across market cycles, DATs can support liquidity in tokenized real-world assets. This is an area Sheffield believes will ultimately surpass money-market tokenization in scale, particularly as tokenized equities gain traction.
On regulation, Sheffield argues that upcoming U.S. crypto legislation represents a structural inflection point. Clearer rules, he notes, could transform crypto from a perceived career risk into a strategic necessity for institutions, accelerating adoption across banks, asset managers, and exchanges.
Rather than competing with DeFi, Sheffield suggests regulated institutions may ultimately bootstrap liquidity into public blockchains like Ethereum. Watch the full episode to learn Matt’s clearer takeaways.
