The ‘MicroStrategy’ Of Ethereum Emerges: Tom Lee And Joe Lubin Raise $675M To Stack ETH

The ‘MicroStrategy’ of Ethereum has emerged, with Fundstrat’s Tom Lee and Joe Lubin making moves to advance their respective ETH treasuries. Tom Lee has emerged as the Chairman of BitMine, which will hold ETH, while Lubin is already the Chairman of SharpLink Gaming.

Tom Lee and Joe Lubin have already advanced their plans to create the ‘MicroStrategy’ of Ethereum. On Tom Lee’s end, BitMine announced a $250 million private placement to raise capital for its Ethereum strategy. The Bitcoin mining company stated that the net proceeds of the offering will be used to acquire ETH, which will become the firm’s primary reserve asset. 

BitMine plans to close this private placement on or about July 3, as it aims to become one of the largest publicly traded ETH holders with Tom Lee as the Chairman of the Board. On the other hand, SharpLink Gaming, with Joe Lubin’s help, is already the largest publicly traded Ethereum holder. 

The company earlier launched its Ethereum treasury with a $425 million ETH purchase. SharpLink Gaming recently announced that it has increased its total ETH holdings to 198,167 ($475 million), further establishing its position as the ‘MicroStrategy’ of Ethereum. Between June 23 and 30, it acquired 9,468 ETH for $22.8 million at an average price of $2,411 per ETH. 

During that same period, SharpLink Gaming also raised an additional $24.4 million through its At-The-Market (ATM) facility, selling $2.5 million shares. The company revealed that most of the proceeds will go toward further Ethereum acquisitions. As of June 30th, 100% of its ETH is staked, and the firm has earned 222 ETH in rewards since it began an ETH treasury company.

In an X post, crypto commentator Eric Conner commented on how Ethereum is getting its own MicroStrategy era thanks to Lee and Lubin’s experiments. He highlighted BitMine’s proposed KPI of ‘ETH per share,’ which mirrors Saylor’s playbook, except that ETH earns yield in this instance through staking. 

Conner further remarked that BitMine’s mining DNA lets it spin up validators and tap DeFi rails, turning a once-capital-intensive operation into a cash-flow engine secured by Ethereum. On the other hand, he noted that Joe Lubin and SharpLink Gaming’s move is bigger. SharpLink is already staking its ETH holdings and plans to explore other DeFi strategies. With this move, the crypto commentator declared that ETH becomes the reserve while yielding bankroll growth. 

Lubin also recently raised the possibility of adding leverage to SharpLink Gaming’s Ethereum strategy, which will mirror Saylor’s strategy. He stated that they may do convertible equity and issue bonds at low rates, without putting the strategy at risk.

At the time of writing, the Ethereum price is trading at around $2,444, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.