SharpLink Gaming (SBET) got shellacked, losing a whopping 70% in after-hours trading Thursday. The New Jersey-based, Nasdaq-listed company’s stock market decline came on the heels of an SEC filing recently submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The filing, an S-3ASR registration statement, will make available for resale up to 58,699,760 shares. These shares are part of SharpLink Gaming’s previously announced private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing.
The registration statement allows more than 100 shareholders participating in the PIPE round to resell their shares. SharpLink Gaming is actively pursuing an ether treasury strategy.
Earlier this month, SharpLink Gaming raised $450 million in a PIPE round. Other notable investors such as ConsenSys, Galaxy and Pantera Capital joined the round. The explicit use of the raised funds was to purchase ETH to add to the company’s treasury.
SharpLink Gaming has further complicated things. They could’ve likely locked in another $1 billion with an at-the-market (ATM) offering to pump their ETH bags. This ATM program was first revealed in a form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 30th.
BTCS CEO Charles Allen went on to imply that SharpLink Gaming could have raised as much at $1 billion. Allen outlined his reasoning in an X post and then in an extended interview with CoinDesk.
If they played cards right, they would expect a surprise PR tomorrow with $1B of ETH purchases, which could light the match to reignite the stock - Allen
Mirroring that post-close sell-off, which was apparently triggered by the revelation of that filing, which provides the path for shareholders to unload shares. This move adds a new layer of market forces as investors try to adjust to the new reality of more shares on the market.
