Original author: Zz, ChainCatcher
Original editor: TB, ChainCatcher
On July 15, 2025, a shocking news detonated the market: SharpLink, a gaming company on the verge of delisting, announced that it would buy all of the $413 million raised in a week into Ethereum. The capital market responded most enthusiastically to this - according to data from Investing and Nasdaq, its stock price soared 528% in six months and more than 150% in a single month.
However, SharpLink’s counterattack story is just the tip of the iceberg. Almost at the same time, a broader capital alchemy was quietly taking place in different industries: a traditional consumer goods company (Upexi) easily incorporated SOL tokens into its reserves through sophisticated bond design; a crypto mining giant (Bitdeer) successfully connected with traditional capital on Wall Street; a Canadian cutting-edge technology company (BTQ) took advantage of loopholes in regulatory rules to raise tens of millions of funds from American investors.
From junk stocks on the verge of delisting to solid consumer brands, from crypto-native companies to cross-border technology upstarts. When people tried to find the driving force behind the scenes, the spotlight was not on Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan Chase, but on a medium-sized investment bank that was not prominent in the public eye before: AGP (Alliance Global Partners)
As the operator or key player in all these transactions, AGP played this model to great effect. On the SharpLink project alone, based on its commission rate, it earned commissions of more than $8 million in a week, and this was just the beginning of the massive plan with a total value of $6 billion that it led.
While Wall Street giants are building compliance bridges for institutional clients, AGP is taking a more radical approach: transforming a variety of listed companies into cryptocurrency proxy stocks in batches, sitting at the table and becoming the one who designs the rules of the game.
Batch operation of SharpLink and other US listed companies encrypted vault construction
AGP demonstrated its trading methods through four cases. Its model is not a standardized strategy, but a highly customized one: judging customer pain points and market hot spots, flexibly using tools such as ATM protocols, and designing a charging plan for each transaction that maximizes its own interests.
The most typical case is SharpLink. On May 27, 2025, SharpLink announced that it had completed a $425 million private placement financing, led by Consensys, and Ethereum founder Joseph Lubin served as chairman. According to the 8-K document, AGP served as the exclusive placement agent and earned 5-7% underwriting fees. However, the real main course is the following ATM agreement.
Here we need to explain the subtlety of the ATM protocol. Traditional stock issuance is like pouring a bucket of water into the market, which will inevitably result in a sharp drop in stock prices. The ATM protocol is completely different. It is equivalent to installing a smart faucet for the company: when the stock price is high, the investment bank will open the faucet faster and sell millions of shares in a single day; when the stock price falls, the faucet will be immediately turned off or the issuance will be slowed down to wait for a better time; the companys management can decide to suspend or restart the entire plan at any time.
Specifically, the core of the ATM agreement is the batch-based targeted issuance. Unlike traditional additional issuance, which requires a one-time determination of price and quantity, ATM allows companies to raise funds in batches under the best market conditions. Each issuance volume is controlled within 1-2% of the daily trading volume, which will hardly attract market attention. This high-selling and low-stopping strategy not only protects the stock price, but also maximizes the efficiency of financing.
From the perspective of the fee structure, according to the S-3/A document on June 14, AGP will charge three tiers for the $6 billion ATM line: 2.5% for the first $1 billion, 2.0% for the next $1 billion, and 1.75% for the subsequent amounts. Based on an average of 2.1%, AGP can earn about $126 million. This mechanism creates a bundle of interests: AGP has the motivation to maintain its stock price for continued issuance, and SharpLink obtains a long-term and stable source of financing.
In addition to SharpLink, another innovative case of AGP is Upexi . On July 17, AGP designed a $150 million convertible bond for the consumer goods company Upexi. Investors use SOL tokens as collateral to purchase bonds, enjoy an annual interest rate of 2.0%, and obtain the right to convert into stocks at $4.25. In this way, for Upexi, this is equivalent to obtaining SOL reserves at a low cost, raising funds and taking the crypto express. Crypto funds holding SOL lock in opportunities for traditional stock market increases. As the exclusive placement agent, AGP earns underwriting fees from this transaction.
It is also worth noting that on June 18, AGP participated as a co-manager in the issuance of $330 million convertible bonds by crypto mining company Bitdeer Technologies . By serving industry companies, AGP not only earns direct underwriting income, but also establishes a position in the crypto mining financing market segment.
The case of BTQ Technologies, a post-quantum cryptography company, further demonstrates AGPs regulatory arbitrage capabilities. On July 11, AGP raised 40 million Canadian dollars from American investors for the company by using Canadas LIFE exemption mechanism (a channel that allows small financing to simplify approval). In return, AGP received a 7% cash commission and a warrant equivalent to 2.5% of the financing amount. The total return brought by this cross-border regulatory arbitrage is close to 10%, far exceeding the 5-7% commission level of traditional IPO business.
AGP has a golden finger
AGPs business model is not a crude copy and paste, but like an experienced hunter, it selects the most accurate and effective weapons for different types of prey and the environment they are in. The selection of each case is closely coupled with its unique financial solution design.
SharpLink is on the verge of collapse. Its business revenue has plummeted and its stock price is low. It is a typical company that urgently needs drastic medicine to survive. For such a goal, management and shareholders are most receptive to radical plans and are willing to exchange high commissions for a glimmer of hope, which provides AGP with the largest operating and profit space.
SharpLinks transformation requires a continuous, self-reinforcing story. A one-time traditional additional issuance cannot achieve this. The flexibility of the ATM (At-The-Market) protocol allows AGP to turn financing into a series of events: announce the purchase of coins to push up the stock price, and then immediately sell the stock at a high price in the secondary market; after raising money, buy coins again, and push up the stock price again. The cycle of financing-buying coins-stock price increase can only be perfectly realized by ATMs that can be issued at any time and in any amount. It turns the company into a perpetual cash machine under the control of AGP.
Upexi is a traditional consumer goods company, not a desperate enterprise. It was chosen to prove that AGPs model can empower any robust company that desires encrypted narratives, thereby greatly broadening its business boundaries.
Traditional companies are concerned about using their cash reserves to buy highly volatile crypto assets. AGP designed a convertible bond collateralized by SOL tokens: Simply put, AGP found a group of wealthy crypto funds and asked them to use $150 million in cash to buy Upexis bonds. The trick is that these funds must also take out their own SOL tokens as additional collateral.
For Upexi, with an extra 150 million in cash in its account, it can also say to the public that we have SOL reserves, and the story of the stock price will be better, without spending a penny. For crypto funds: their calculation is earn stable interest and wait for a surge. First, take the stable annual interest rate of 2% as a guarantee, and the real goal is to wait for Upexis stock price to take off, and then use the agreed low price of $4.25 to exchange bonds for stocks, and then sell them at a high price to make a lot of money.
And what about AGP? It is the one who organized the game. Regardless of whether Upexis stock price rises or falls, as a middleman, it first puts a large amount of underwriting fees firmly into its own pocket.
Bitdeer Technologies is a giant in the crypto mining industry and has no shortage of crypto stories. AGP chose it to prove that it can not only transform outsiders, but also serve insiders and serve as a bridge connecting the crypto world and traditional Wall Street capital.
For crypto-native companies like Bitdeer, the core pain point of their financing needs is to obtain the trust endorsement of the traditional financial market. AGP participated in its convertible bond issuance as a co-manager, which is equivalent to using its reputation as a licensed investment bank to enhance Bitdeers credit, making it easier for it to obtain recognition and funds from mainstream institutional investors. This move aims to establish AGPs authoritative position in the core track of crypto infrastructure financing.
BTQ Technologies, a Canadian post-quantum cryptography company, was chosen by AGP to demonstrate its ability to navigate complex cross-border regulations, a highly sought-after professional skill.
Because it is a cumbersome process to directly let American capital invest in a small Canadian technology company. AGP precisely used the Canadian LIFE exemption mechanism as a regulatory shortcut, which can bypass the full prospectus requirements and quickly and cheaply introduce American capital to BTQ. This is essentially a sophisticated regulatory arbitrage. AGP has created excess returns and efficiency that traditional IPOs cannot match by relying on its mastery of financial rules in different countries.
Behind the Midas Touch: Wall Street’s thirst for money and radical change
In the macroeconomic environment of the post-epidemic era, traditional small and medium-sized companies are generally facing growth bottlenecks. When the traditional path to improve the main business becomes extremely difficult, they urgently need a new story that can instantly ignite market enthusiasm. Cryptocurrencies, especially Ethereum and Bitcoin, provide the most sexy and easiest-to-understand growth narrative in the capital market.
Instead of investing years in a difficult business transformation, it is better to directly announce the purchase of cryptocurrency - this radical balance sheet revolution can transform a mediocre company into a technology pioneer overnight, which is the fundamental driving force behind the rise of the coin-stock linkage model.
The core contradiction in the current market is that there is a huge time lag between the actions of regulators (such as the US SEC) and the speed of market speculation.
The SEC and other agencies have indeed repeatedly expressed serious concerns about large-scale shareholder dilution, misleading marketing, and potential market manipulation. However, these warnings remain more at the level of risk warnings and framework discussions in the first half of 2025, and have not yet been transformed into specific, enforceable regulations that can completely prohibit such operations.
There is a long process from issuing warnings to legislation and then to effective implementation. It is this regulatory vacuum period that was keenly captured by investment banks such as AGP, becoming a fleeting golden window in their eyes. Rather than committing crimes against the wind, it is better to say grabbing the last wave of dividends before the storm comes.
The strategies of market participants perfectly demonstrate that everyone is accelerating before the window of this wave closes:
As a pioneer, AGP knows that this feast has a time limit. Therefore, it is expanding its ATM protocol business at an unprecedented speed, expanding its customers from technology companies to a wider range of traditional industries such as retail, manufacturing, and biotechnology. Its logic is very clear: before the regulatory gate falls, complete as many transactions as possible and pocket the profits.
When institutions such as B. Riley Securities and TD Cowen formed special teams to enter the market, it just showed that the entire Wall Street had seen clearly that this was a special period of anything is allowed unless prohibited by law. The first-mover advantage is disappearing, and although the commission rate will decline due to competition, the certain dividend of this wave is attracting everyone.
Upgrade and Risk: “Noah’s Ark” when the storm comes?
When the crypto market enters a bear market, or when the regulatory crackdown finally comes, this carnival supported by leverage and narrative will come to an end. By then, a “perfect storm” will form when financing channels dry up, assets are significantly devalued, stock prices collapse, and class action lawsuits occur.
Simply betting on the success or failure of the current cryptocurrency-stock linkage for the future of AGP may underestimate the core capabilities of this investment bank. A review of its trading cases shows that the real golden finger of AGP is not the magic of turning stone into gold, but a set of replicable and highly flexible methodologies.
For AGP, the real Noahs Ark is not a specific asset or business, but the methodology itself. When the wave of coin-stock linkage recedes, it will almost certainly apply this approach to the next outlet, whether it is real-world asset tokenization (RWA), carbon credits, or any other new field with narrative potential and regulatory ambiguity.
Data from S 3 Partners shows that short interest in SharpLink has surged 300% in the past month, indicating that smart money has smelled danger and is quietly withdrawing before the countdown ends, betting on the eventual collapse of this carnival.
Last words
The story of AGP is a microcosm of Wall Streets search for a living space in the new era. This mid-sized investment bank has opened up a unique track surrounded by giants through market positioning and a profit model that guarantees income regardless of drought or flood.
However, the coin-stock linkage model walks on the edge of opportunity and risk, innovation and speculation. For investors, understanding who is the real winner is more important than participating in the game itself.
As the iron law of Wall Street shows: in the financial markets, the ones who can truly make money are always those who design the rules of the game.
