On May 27, a little-known stock stirred up huge waves in the Nasdaq trading hall.

SharpLink Gaming (SBET), a small gambling company with a market value of only $10 million, announced that it has acquired approximately 163,000 Ethereum (ETH) through a $425 million private equity investment.

As soon as the news broke, SharpLink’s stock price skyrocketed, with an increase of over 500% at one point.

Buying coins may be becoming the new wealth code for publicly listed companies in the U.S. stock market to boost their stock prices.

The source of the story is naturally MicroStrategy (微策略, now renamed as Strategy, stock code MSTR), the company that first ignited the flames of war, which boldly bet on Bitcoin as early as 2020.

In five years, it has transformed from an ordinary tech company into a “Bitcoin investment pioneer.” In 2020, MicroStrategy’s stock price was just over $10; by 2025, the stock had soared to $370, with a market capitalization exceeding $100 billion.

Buying coins not only inflated MicroStrategy’s balance sheet but also made it a darling of the capital markets.

In 2025, this craze will become even more intense.

From tech companies to retail giants, and down to small gambling firms, US-listed companies are igniting a new engine of valuation with cryptocurrency.

What are the secrets behind building wealth through buying coins to increase market value?

MicroStrategy, the textbook on the fusion of coin and stock gameplay

It all started with MicroStrategy.

In 2020, this enterprise software company was the first to initiate the trend of buying coins on the US stock market. CEO Michael Saylor stated that Bitcoin is a “more reliable store of value than the US dollar.”

The faith in recharge is exciting, but what truly sets this company apart is its approach in the capital market.

MicroStrategy’s approach can be summed up as a combination of “convertible bonds + Bitcoin:”

First, the company raises funds by issuing low-interest convertible bonds.

Since 2020, MicroStrategy has issued such bonds multiple times, with interest rates as low as 0%, far below the market average. For example, in November 2024, it issued $2.6 billion in convertible bonds, with financing costs nearly zero.

These bonds allow investors to convert them into company stock at a fixed price in the future, equivalent to giving investors a call option while allowing the company to obtain cash at a very low cost.

Secondly, MicroStrategy will invest all the funds raised into Bitcoin. By continuously increasing its Bitcoin holdings through multiple rounds of financing, Bitcoin has become a core component of the company’s balance sheet.

Finally, MicroStrategy launched a “flywheel effect” taking advantage of the premium effect brought by the rise in Bitcoin prices.

As the price of Bitcoin climbed from $10,000 in 2020 to $100,000 in 2025, the value of the company’s assets significantly increased, attracting more investors to buy its stock. The rise in stock prices allowed MicroStrategy to issue bonds or stocks again at a higher valuation, raising more funds to continue purchasing Bitcoin, thus forming a self-reinforcing capital cycle.

The core of this model lies in the combination of low-cost financing and high-return assets. By borrowing money at nearly zero cost through convertible bonds, one can purchase Bitcoin, which is highly volatile but bullish in the long run, and then amplify the valuation by leveraging the market’s enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies.

This approach not only changed MicroStrategy’s asset structure but also provided a textbook example for other US stock companies.

SharpLink, the meaning of shelling is not in the wine.

SharpLink Gaming (SBET) optimized the above gameplay, using assets in Ethereum (ETH) instead of Bitcoin.

But behind this, there is a clever combination of the power of the coin circle and the capital market.

Its gameplay can also be summarized as “backdoor listing,” where the core lies in leveraging the “shell” of a publicly listed company and the crypto narrative to quickly amplify the valuation bubble.

SharpLink was originally a small company struggling on the brink of delisting from Nasdaq, with its stock price once falling below $1 and shareholders’ equity insufficient at $2.5 million, facing immense compliance pressure.

But it has a trump card - the listing status on NASDAQ.

This “shell” has attracted the attention of giants in the coin circle: ConsenSys, led by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.

In May 2025, ConsenSys, in collaboration with several venture capital firms in the cryptocurrency sector (such as ParaFi Capital and Pantera Capital), led the acquisition of SharpLink through a $425 million PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity).

They issued 69.1 million new shares (at $6.15 per share), quickly gaining over 90% control of SharpLink, avoiding the cumbersome processes of an IPO or SPAC. Joe Lubin was appointed as chairman of the board, and ConsenSys made it clear that it would collaborate with SharpLink to explore the “Ethereum treasury strategy.”

Some say this is the ETH version of MicroStrategy, but in reality, the gameplay is more sophisticated.

The true purpose of this transaction is not to improve the gambling business of SharpLink, but rather for it to become a bridgehead for the cryptocurrency industry to enter the capital market.

ConsenSys plans to purchase approximately 163,000 ETH with this $425 million, packaging it as the “Ethereum version of MicroStrategy,” and claims that ETH is a “digital reserve asset.”

The capital market is about “story premium”; this narrative not only attracts speculative funds but also provides an “open ETH proxy” for institutional investors who cannot hold ETH directly.

Buying coins is just the first step; the real “magic” of SharpLink lies in the flywheel effect. Its operation can be broken down into a three-step cycle:

The first step is low-cost fundraising.

SharpLink raised $425 million through PIPE at a price of $6.15 per share, which requires less cumbersome roadshows and regulatory processes than an IPO or SPAC, resulting in lower costs.

In the second step, market enthusiasm drives up stock prices.

Investors were ignited by the story of the “Ethereum version of MicroStrategy,” causing the stock price to soar rapidly. The market’s enthusiasm for SharpLink shares far exceeds its asset value, with investors willing to pay a price much higher than its net ETH holdings, leading to a rapid expansion of SharpLink’s market capitalization.

SharpLink also plans to stake these ETH coins, locking them in the Ethereum network, and can earn an annual yield of 3%-5%.

Step 3, cyclical refinancing. By issuing stocks again at a higher share price, SharpLink can theoretically raise more funds to buy more ETH, repeating the cycle, with the valuation snowballing larger and larger.

Behind this “capital magic,” lies the shadow of a bubble.

SharpLink’s core business - gambling marketing - is almost unnoticed, and the $425 million ETH investment plan is completely disconnected from its fundamentals. Its stock price has soared more due to speculative funds and crypto narratives.

The truth is that capital in the coin circle can also quickly inflate valuation bubbles through the “shell borrowing + buying coin” model, utilizing some small and medium-sized listed companies’ shells.

The intention of the drunken man is not in the wine; it’s fine if the listed company’s business is related, but if not, it doesn’t really matter.

Imitation is not infallible.

The strategy of buying coins seems to be the “wealth code” of U.S. listed companies, but it is not infallible.

The path of imitation is crowded with latecomers.

On May 28, GameStop, the video game retail giant that became famous for the retail investor battle against Wall Street, announced the purchase of 4,710 bitcoins for $512.6 million, attempting to replicate MicroStrategy’s success. However, the market reacted lukewarmly: after the announcement, GameStop’s stock price fell by 10.9%, and investors were not convinced.

On May 15, Addentax Group Corp (stock code ATXG, Chinese name 盈喜集团), a Chinese textile and apparel company, announced plans to purchase 8,000 bitcoins and Trump’s TRUMP coin through the issuance of common stock. Based on the current bitcoin price of $108,000, this purchase cost will exceed $800 million.

However, in contrast, the company’s total stock market capitalization is only about 4.5 million dollars, which means that its theoretical coin purchase cost is more than 100 times the company’s market value.

Almost at the same time, another Chinese US stock listed company Jiuzi Holdings (stock code JZXN, Chinese name 九紫控股) also joined this buying coin frenzy.

The company announced plans to purchase 1,000 coins in Bitcoin over the next year, at a cost of more than 100 million dollars.

Public information shows that Jiuzhi Holdings is a Chinese company focused on the retail of new energy vehicles, established in 2019. The company’s retail stores are mainly located in China’s third- and fourth-tier cities.

And the company’s total market value on Nasdaq is only about 50 million dollars.

The stock price is indeed rising, but the alignment between the company’s market value and the cost of buying coins is key.

For more latecomers, if the price of Bitcoin falls and they really buy in, their balance sheets will face tremendous pressure.

Buying coin strategies are not a universal wealth code. A lack of fundamental support and overly leveraged coin buying gambles may simply lead to the risk of a bubble burst.

Another way to break out

Despite the numerous risks, the buying frenzy for coins still has the potential to become the new normal.

In 2025, global inflationary pressures and expectations of dollar depreciation continue, and more and more companies are beginning to view Bitcoin and Ethereum as “inflation-resistant assets.” Japan’s Metaplanet has increased its market value through a Bitcoin treasury strategy, while more U.S. publicly traded companies are following in MicroStrategy’s footsteps at an accelerating pace.

Under the general trend, cryptocurrencies are increasingly making their presence known in the global political and economic fields.

Is this a kind of “getting out of the circle” that people in the coin circle often mention?

A comprehensive observation of the current trends shows that there are mainly two paths for cryptocurrency to break into the mainstream: the rise of stablecoins and the crypto reserves in company balance sheets.

On the surface, stablecoins provide a stable medium for payments, savings, and remittances in the crypto market, reducing volatility and promoting the widespread use of cryptocurrencies. However, their essence is an extension of the dollar hegemony.

Taking USDC as an example, its issuer Circle has close ties with the U.S. government and holds a large amount of U.S. Treasury bonds as reserve assets. This not only strengthens the status of the dollar as a global reserve currency but also further infiltrates the influence of the U.S. financial system into the global crypto market through the circulation of stablecoins.

Another way to break out is the purchase of coins by listed companies mentioned above.

Companies buying coins attract speculative funds through crypto narratives, driving up stock prices. However, apart from a few leading companies, it remains a mystery how much the fundamentals of the main business can improve for later imitators, who can only increase market valuation.

Whether stablecoins or cryptocurrencies are incorporated into the balance sheets of listed companies, cryptocurrencies appear more as a tool to extend or reinforce the existing financial framework.

Whether it’s about cutting leeks or financial innovation, it resembles looking at two sides of a coin, depending on which side of the card table you are sitting.

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