ETHZilla (ETHZ) Stock: Why Peter Thiel’s Bet Is Dumping Ethereum in 2025

Peter Thiel's latest crypto play isn't buying the Ethereum hype—it's selling it. The venture capital titan's ETHZilla (ETHZ) investment vehicle is making a contrarian bet that's raising eyebrows across both Wall Street and Crypto Twitter.

The Big Short on Smart Contracts

ETHZilla's thesis cuts through the layer-2 noise and NFT speculation. It positions itself not as another Ethereum competitor, but as a direct capital redeployment engine. The playbook is simple: capture value from Ethereum's sprawling ecosystem and funnel it into a more focused, institutional-grade asset. Think of it as a hedge fund built into a token—a concept that would make a traditional banker's head spin, if they understood it.

Beyond the Merge, Into the Fray

Forget proof-of-stake transitions and scalability roadmaps. ETHZilla's move signals a deeper skepticism. It bypasses the narrative of 'Ethereum as the world's decentralized computer' and questions the long-term economic moat. The trade implies that Ethereum's first-mover advantage in smart contracts might be its biggest liability—a bloated, expensive platform ripe for disintermediation. It's a cynical, but brutally logical, take on the 'flippening' debate.

Why This Isn't Just Another Altcoin Trade

This isn't casual profit-taking. Thiel's involvement suggests a structured, strategic exit from certain aspects of the Ethereum risk profile. It's capital seeking efficiency, chasing higher potential returns in a streamlined vehicle while the broader market remains distracted by metaverse land grabs and meme coin mania. The ultimate finance jab? It treats one of crypto's most sacred cows not as a foundational protocol, but as a tradable asset with an expiry date—a sentiment as cold as a hardware wallet's private key.

The move forces a brutal question: is the smart contract future truly decentralized, or just a new arena for concentrated capital to play by old rules?

TLDR

• ETHZilla sold 24,291 ETH worth $74.5 million at an average price of $3,068.69 per token to repay convertible debt obligations.
• The company now holds approximately 69,800 ETH on its balance sheet after the liquidation, down from over 94,000 tokens.
• ETHZilla is shifting away from its digital asset treasury strategy to focus on tokenizing real-world assets like auto loans and real estate.
• The company discontinued its mNAV dashboard, removing transparency metrics that tracked its crypto holdings against market cap.
• Peter Thiel-backed ETHZilla’s stock is down more than 65% year-to-date, with shares declining nearly 4% following the debt repayment announcement.

ETHZilla unloaded a chunk of its ethereum holdings last week. The company sold 24,291 ETH for $74.5 million to pay down its debt.

The sale happened at an average price of $3,068.69 per token. ETHZilla disclosed the transaction in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The proceeds are earmarked for redeeming outstanding senior secured convertible notes. This marks the second major sell-off in recent months for the company.

Back in October, ETHZilla liquidated $40 million worth of ETH as part of a stock repurchase plan. The pattern shows mounting pressure to manage debt as crypto prices swing.

The company now holds about 69,800 ETH on its balance sheet. That’s worth roughly $207 million at current prices.

ETHZilla started life as 180 Life Sciences Corp, a clinical-stage biotech company. The firm pivoted to an Ethereum-focused strategy in July after entering a $425 million PIPE agreement with over 60 investors.

The timing looked promising. Smaller Nasdaq companies were rushing to copy Strategy’s Bitcoin playbook, hoping to strike gold with crypto treasuries.

Strategy Shift Away from Crypto Accumulation

But ETHZilla is now backing away from that approach. The company announced it’s dropping the digital asset treasury model to chase tokenized real-world assets instead.

“In the future, the company believes its value will be driven by revenue and cash FLOW growth from our RWA tokenization business,” ETHZilla stated Monday. The new focus includes tokenizing auto loans, manufactured home loans, aerospace equipment and real estate.

The company also pulled the plug on its mNAV dashboard. The metric showed how market cap compared to crypto holdings, giving investors transparency into the treasury strategy.

“We are discontinuing the mNAV dashboard on our website effective today,” the company said. They’ll still provide periodic balance sheet updates, just not the real-time tracking.

Peter Thiel invested in ETHZilla during its crypto push. His backing sent shares soaring over 90% in August when the news broke.

Recent Acquisitions and Stock Performance

The company hasn’t given up on all deals. ETHZilla announced two acquisitions in December, grabbing a 20% stake in automotive-finance AI startup Karus and a 15% stake in digital housing lender Zippy.

Ethzilla Corp., ETHZ

The stock isn’t responding well to any of this. Shares closed down 8.7% on Monday following the ETH sale announcement.

Year-to-date, the stock has tanked more than 65%. Shares traded around $6.64, a far cry from the August highs after Thiel’s investment became public.

ETHZilla isn’t alone in trimming crypto holdings. Other digital asset treasury companies are selling to shore up their finances as prices drop.

FG Nexus liquidated 10,922 ETH in late October to fund a share buyback program. Sequans Communications sold 970 bitcoin in November to cut its convertible debt in half.

Even Strategy, the poster child for Bitcoin treasuries, raised $747.8 million by selling stock last week. The company moved quickly as Bitcoin retreated from its record high above $126,000.

Ethereum currently trades around $3,000. The token has dropped nearly 30% over the past three months, squeezing companies that bet big on accumulation strategies.

Public companies collectively hold about 6 million ETH, representing roughly 5% of the token’s circulating supply. More than 190 listed companies also hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

ETHZilla’s filing with the SEC on Friday confirmed the transaction details and updated holdings as of December 20, 2025.