Sharplink adds 491 ETH in weekly rewards as staking model gains momentum

Sharplink, the second-largest Ethereum [ETH] Digital Asset Treasury (DAT), has now earned 18,800 ETH in total rewards to date. This, after the company's most recent addition of 491 ETH to its staking rewards this week. This reinforces Sharplink's "100% ETH and 100% staked" model, which was launched back in June 2025, emphasizing yield-based compounding of value for shareholders over active trading. Sharplink vs. BitMine Instead of merely holding Ethereum, Sharplink is transforming its holdings into a yield-generating engine, gradually adding more Ethereum to its balance over time. Additionally, Sharplink has also gained a total of 868,699 ETH - Valued at $2.09 billion. This amounts to almost 0.720% of the total amount of Ethereum. Though this is not as much as BitMine Immersion technology, it is still comparable. For its part, BitMine has amassed 5,180,131 ETH, which is valued at $12.48 billion - Highlighting intense competition.  On the other hand, BitMine has staked 87.9% of its total holdings, bringing the total amount of ETH staked to 4,553,557 ETH at a value of $10.77 billion, as previously reported by AMBCrypto. As expected, the announcement had a positive impact on the stock price of $SEBT, which was trading at $7.85 in the pre-market after a hike of 3.35%. However, the year-to-date stock price hinted at a drop of over 14%. Meanwhile, ETH's price was trading at $2,407.69 at press time after a hike of over 11% in the past month.  Ethereum validators raise eyebrows  Here, it's worth noting that the number of active Ethereum validators over the past 30 days appeared to be steadily declining, particularly from the end of April to the beginning of May. After 21 April, a pronounced downward trend started and by 24 April, it had fallen from about 920K to about 914K. By late April and early May, the decline picked up speed, dropping below 900K by 3 May and ending at close to 898K on 6 May. This suggested that more validators were quitting the network than joining it. Nevertheless, as of now, this is a controlled unwind rather than a collapse. However, the bit to observe is the steep decline in late April. Should it persist, it might indicate a more significant change in staking patterns than just temporary withdrawals. Final Summary Sharplink's staking spree follows the "100% ETH and 100% staked" model launched in June 2025. Though Sharplink trails behind BitMine, the second-largest ETH DAT is giving tough competition to BitMine.