Former BlackRock Exec Bets Future of Finance on Ethereum
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A veteran of traditional finance believes Ethereum is poised to become the foundational infrastructure for wall Street, offering the trust, security, and liquidity institutional investors demand.
Joseph Chalom, co-CEO of Sharplink and formerly head of digital assets at BlackRock, is staking his career on the belief that Ethereum is not merely another blockchain, but the bedrock upon which the future of finance will be built. he argues that Ethereum possesses the essential qualities valued by financial institutions – trust, security, and liquidity – setting it apart from other digital asset platforms.
“Ethereum has the majority of stablecoins, tokenized assets and high-quality smart contract activity,” Chalom said in a recent interview with CoinDesk. “If you want to digitize finance,you need a chain that institutions can trust – and that’s Ethereum.”
From Aladdin to Ethereum: A Career Bridging Worlds
Chalom’s conviction stems from two decades at BlackRock, where he played a pivotal role in developing Aladdin, the firm’s renowned portfolio and risk management system. He subsequently spearheaded BlackRock’s foray into the crypto space, backing Circle, launching the highly accomplished IBIT exchange-traded fund (ETF), and investing in tokenization company Securitize. This experience fundamentally shaped his outlook on the potential of blockchain technology.
He differentiates Ethereum as a “multi-purpose” platform, capable of supporting a wide range of financial activities – including lending, trading, NFTs, and complex applications – in contrast to Bitcoin, which he characterizes as a superior “store of value.”
The ‘Productive Asset’ Advantage
A key differentiator for Ethereum, according to Chalom, is the potential for returns thru staking. Unlike Bitcoin, which typically remains idle in investment portfolios, Ether earns a roughly 3% annual return via Ethereum’s proof-of-stake mechanism. “It’s a productive asset,” Chalom explained, “And that productivity can be returned to shareholders.”
At sharplink, which currently holds over $3 billion worth of Ether, Chalom is actively working to demonstrate this potential.Nearly all of the company’s Ether holdings are staked, and through new partnerships with Consensys, Linea, and EigenLayer, Sharplink is exploring “restaking” strategies to unlock even greater returns while maintaining custody through regulated providers.
This approach, he believes, allows institutions to access DeFi-level returns without the inherent risks associated with decentralized finance. “If you’re willing to commit to term, you can be the ‘L’ in total value locked,” Chalom stated, emphasizing the opportunity to unlock safer and more attractive returns.
Scaling Challenges and the Future of Digital Asset Treasuries
While several digital asset treasury companies are accumulating Ether, Chalom anticipates that many will struggle to achieve important scale.He believes success hinges on strong trading volumes, robust balance sheets, and dedicated internal teams capable of managing staking and investment strategies.
Chalom views Sharplink not as a departure from his BlackRock career, but as a natural extension of his long-term mission: bridging the gap between traditional finance and the burgeoning crypto ecosystem. “We spent decades building tracks full of middlemen,” he said. “ethereum gives us the chance to rebuild these rails – faster, cheaper and more secure.”
he firmly believes Ethereum is not a speculative technology, but rather the foundational layer for the next generation of digitalized finance. “In time,” he concluded, “we won’t call it DeFi or TradFi. We’ll just call it finance. And Ethereum will be the underlying infrastructure.”
