Why BlackRock’s Former Crypto Head is Betting on Ethereum

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 26, 2026 at 20:00  |  23:51  |  CoinDesk
Speakers
Joseph Shalom — CEO, SharpLink
Jennifer Sanasie — Senior Anchor & Executive Producer, CoinDesk

Summary

SharpLink CEO and former BlackRock digital assets strategy head Joseph Chalom joins CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie to discuss crypto market outlook, Ethereum's institutional adoption, and SharpLink's treasury strategy. Chalom argues that tokenization, stablecoins, and RWA migration to Ethereum can drive a 10x increase in TVL by 2026, even if macro uncertainty delays price action. He also highlights Ethereum's advantages over Solana for institutional use, quantum-resistance plans, AI-agent tailwinds, and corporate ETH staking. He remains bullish on Ethereum and the digital asset treasury sector while cautioning that short-term trading is difficult.

  • Chalom says positive crypto news is being offset by macro/geopolitical uncertainty and OG Bitcoin selling tied partly to quantum concerns.
  • He sees speculative money rotating into gold and silver, with silver trading like a memecoin.
  • He argues Ethereum is the preferred chain for institutional tokenization, stablecoins, and RWA versus Solana.
  • He expects Ethereum TVL could 10x in 2026 and says now is the time for long-term investors to own ETH.
  • He views quantum resistance and AI-agent activity as long-term Ethereum tailwinds.
  • He outlines SharpLink's strategy: staking ETH, institutional DeFi/restaking, permanent capital, and ETH-denominated revenue.
  • He remains bullish on the digital asset treasury sector despite consolidation and NAV concerns.
Ideas
Joseph Shalom CEO, SharpLink 2:11
Bitcoin faces OG quantum selling overhang.
Bitcoin has not responded to positive crypto news because macro/geopolitical uncertainty is stealing wind, and OG holders have been selling large blocks partly due quantum-proof concerns. This is a near-term overhang to monitor, though he still advises a longer-term view.
BTC MED
Joseph Shalom CEO, SharpLink 3:12
Speculative money rotating to gold, silver.
Speculative money that would typically go to crypto is going into commodities. Gold has been the first price mover in geopolitical risk and has almost doubled in 1.5 years; silver is trading like a memecoin, with faster speculative money pushing up a lesser-quality commodity. This rotation is worth monitoring.
GLD SILVER MED
Joseph Shalom CEO, SharpLink 4:05
Ethereum is the toll road for tokenization.
Institutional tokenization is inevitable and happening on Ethereum: large institutions are moving tokenized assets, stablecoins, and RWAs onto digital rails, with Ethereum as the 'toll road' of global finance. More than 65% of stablecoins and tokenized assets are on Ethereum, 10x Solana. Although macro/geopolitical uncertainty and some OG selling are delaying price action, he says macro tells investors to invest in tokenization and stablecoins and that Ethereum is the way to get that exposure; for long-term investors, now is the time to own Ether at this price.
ETH HIGH
Joseph Shalom CEO, SharpLink 6:13
Ethereum for Wall Street, Solana for memes.
Ethereum is the secure, trusted, liquid ecosystem for high-value institutional projects and tokenized assets, holding more than 65% of stablecoins/tokenized assets and 10x Solana's share. Solana is fast and cheap but has had downtime and security weaknesses, so it will win in memecoin and possibly gaming where speed matters more than security; this is a relative preference for Ethereum for Wall Street while acknowledging Solana's niche.
SOL HIGH
Joseph Shalom CEO, SharpLink 17:36
SharpLink offers productive institutional Ethereum exposure.
SharpLink is the second-largest corporate holder of Ethereum and the most institutional, focused ETH digital asset treasury. It stakes nearly all its ETH to earn 2.5–3.5% yield, deployed $170M of ETH into DeFi/restaking with Consensus, EtherFi, and EigenCloud while keeping assets at Anchorage custody, and uses permanent capital to provide multi-year protocol locks and access to early token upside. It plans to build ETH-denominated revenue businesses; although valuations have consolidated, public markets should reward these operations over time.
SHARPLINK HIGH
Joseph Shalom CEO, SharpLink 22:20
Bullish on digital asset treasury sector.
He remains bullish on the digital asset treasury sector despite recent consolidation and concerns that many DATs could trade below NAV. The first formation phase separated good teams/incentives from bad; operators with productive ETH, permanent capital, and real ETH-denominated business operations should see public-market rewards and valuation mean reversion.
Digital asset treasury companies MED
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This CoinDesk video, published January 26, 2026, features Joseph Shalom discussing BTC, GLD, SILVER, ETH, SOL, SHARPLINK, Digital asset treasury companies. 6 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Joseph Shalom  · Tickers: BTC, GLD, SILVER, ETH, SOL, SHARPLINK, Digital asset treasury companies