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Citizens Sees SharpLink as a Breakout Ether Treasury Play With More Than 200% Upside
The bank initiated coverage of the stock with a market outperform rating and a $50 price target.
Updated Oct 16, 2025, 2:55 p.m. Published Oct 16, 2025, 2:24 p.m.
What to know:
- Citizens initiated coverage of SharpLink Gaming with a market outperform rating and a $50 price target, implying over 200% upside.
- The bank highlighted the company's strategy of actively managing its ether balance sheet to capture on-chain yields and compound NAV growth.
- Key drivers of Citizens' bullish call are ether's long-term price potential and SharpLink’s leadership team, led by Joseph Lubin and Joseph Chalom, the report said.
Citizens has initiated coverage of SharpLink Gaming (SBET) with a market outperform rating and a $50 price target, implying potential upside of more than 200%, the bank said in a Wednesday report.
The shares were 2% higher in early trading, around $15.45.
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The bank’s bullish stance rests on a positive long-term view of ether’s price trajectory, forecasting ETH above $7,000 by 2026 and potentially exceeding $20,000 by 2030.
The report argued that SharpLink has quickly emerged as one of the most ambitious ether treasury operators in the public markets. After accumulating a substantial ETH position, the company has begun deploying those assets into staking and other yield-bearing strategies designed to compound value over time.
The stock is a novel entry point for investors seeking leveraged exposure to Ethereum’s growth, analysts led by Devin Ryan wrote.
Rather than functioning as a passive vehicle holding bitcoin or ether, SharpLink aims to actively manage its ETH balance sheet, issuing equity at a premium to net asset value or buying it back when trading below NAV, and using its ETH reserves to capture on-chain yield opportunities, the analysts wrote.
Citizens describes this approach as a "flywheel" that can drive NAV per share higher as the Ethereum ecosystem expands and institutional adoption accelerates.
The bank's analysts also assigned a premium valuation to SharpLink based on the company’s leadership and strategy. This includes Joseph Lubin, a co-founder of Ethereum, as Chairman and Joseph Chalom, a former BlackRock executive, as Co-CEO, describing the team as ideally positioned to scale a treasury model that blends crypto-native expertise with institutional capital market experience.
SharpLink’s strategy positions it to become a market leader as ether matures into a global financial asset, according to Citizens. By combining operational leverage on-chain with financial discipline off-chain, the shares could offer a compelling alternative to traditional digital asset investment vehicles, and one that investors may reward with a valuation premium.
SharpLink raised $76.5 million in a direct stock offering priced above market, the company said on Thursday.
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
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