BlackRock’s Digital Assets Chief Jumps Ship for Ethereum Treasury Powerhouse SharpLink
Wall Street's crypto brain drain accelerates as BlackRock loses another heavyweight to Web3.
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The defection that stings
When the world's largest asset manager can't retain its top digital talent, you know where the real alpha's being minted. SharpLink just scored a coup by poaching BlackRock's digital assets lead—another brick in Ethereum's growing institutional fortress.
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Talent wars heat up
Traditional finance's 'if you can't beat 'em, hire 'em' strategy keeps backfiring. The sharpest minds keep migrating from Wall Street's legacy systems to crypto-native players building the actual infrastructure of decentralized finance.
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The punchline?
While BlackRock scrambles to retrofit blockchain onto its 20th-century fund model, the innovators who actually understand this space are busy eating their lunch. Bonus jab: At least they'll always have those 0.08% expense ratios to fall back on.
BlackRock Exec Moves to SharpLink
Corporate investors worldwide have been investing in Ethereum, with the altcoin representing an attractive alternative to BTC acquisitions.
SharpLink Gaming has participated in the trend since May, becoming a major whale despite the occasional setback.
Today, SharpLink acquired a new co-CEO: Joseph Chalom, a career BlackRock executive.
After 20 years at BlackRock and helping to lead its digital asset strategy, I’m beginning a new chapter:
I’ve joined @SharpLinkGaming as Co-CEO.
Here’s why.
At BlackRock, I helped launch:
– IBIT — world’s largest Bitcoin ETP
– ETHA — world’s largest Ethereum ETP
– BUIDL —…
Chalom has been a BlackRock veteran for 20 years, working as its Global Head of Digital Assets in addition to other related roles. He led the company’s push to establish market dominance over BTC and ETH ETFs, alongside Ethereum-based tokenized funds.
While BlackRock is a major Bitcoin whale, SharpLink represents an outlet for pure ETH maximalism.
In his statement, Chalom made it clear that this maximalism is a direct motivator for his switch from BlackRock to SharpLink.
Although BlackRock is a major ETH investor in its own right, Bitcoin-based products dominate its crypto portfolio.
SharpLink, on the other hand, is laser-focused on Ethereum, acquiring over 360,000 ETH worth approximately $1.34 billion.
The firm went on a buying spree and received fresh institutional backing earlier this month, and its ETH buys alone generated around $354 million in profit.
Now that he’s moved on from BlackRock, Chalom described a few strategies for turbocharging SharpLink’s Ethereum commitments.
Essentially, he wants to make ETH the new foundation of DeFi worldwide, “activating” it through native staking, restaking, and more. As SharpLink’s new co-CEO, he can marshal company resources to achieve this goal.
In the long run, Chalom envisions a world where stablecoins, RWAs, AI agents, and more all fit comfortably into Ethereum’s blockchain. BlackRock has had a significant influence on the ETH ecosystem, but SharpLink will prioritize it long-term.
This kind of bold, trend-setting approach might protect the company from market risks and create fresh opportunities.
