Index investors will soon get indirect exposure to Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) through two companies joining the Russell indexes that use the cryptocurrencies in their treasury strategies.
Sharplink and Forward Industries said Tuesday that they are set to join the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes following FTSE Russell's annual rebalancing, effective upon the U.S. market opening on June 29.
Sharplink, which has held steady as the second-largest public ether treasury company behind Tom Lee's Bitmine, said the inclusion expands its "institutional visibility" and could improve "access to index-tracking capital."
The company currently holds 868,699 ETH worth nearly $1.8 billion.
Forward Industries, the top public holder of Solana with roughly $585 million in SOL, sees the inclusion as a boon to its goal of "compounding SOL-per-share."
According to FTSE Russell's latest data from earlier this month, "approximately $12.2 trillion in investor assets are benchmarked" to the Russell U.S. indexes.
The additions appear to be the first for major non-bitcoin crypto treasury firms in the Russell indexes.
Strategy, which had long traded in the Russell indexes as a software company before becoming a leveraged bitcoin proxy, moved into the Russell 1000 in 2024 amid bitcoin’s rally above $100,000.
In its announcement, Sharplink pointed to Ethereum's growing role across "stablecoins, tokenization, onchain finance and the emerging agentic economy" as key drivers behind its treasury. And unlike most bitcoin treasury companies that passively hold BTC, Sharplink also stakes and deploys ETH into onchain yield strategies to help amplify returns.
That also aligns with comments from Sharplink Chairman Joseph Lubin, who recently told The Block that Ethereum is increasingly positioned to serve as infrastructure for traditional financial markets, arguing that equities, Treasurys, and ETFs could eventually migrate onchain through tokenization.
Sharplink's stock (SBET), however, has struggled to find relief and is trading near a one-year low of $6.15.
Meanwhile, Forward Industries (Nasdaq: FWDI) is trading for around $4.75, down more than 87% from the $39 highs it made last September, shortly after announcing its Solana treasury pivot.
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