Shares of ETHZilla surged over 13% to a monthly high of $3.91. The stock rose following a rebranding to Forum and an official abandonment of its Ethereum accumulation strategy.
ETHZilla emerged from the rebranding of biotech company 180 Life Sciences. Initially, the firm positioned itself as a public fund for digital asset investments. The project attracted $565 million, with Peter Thiel as one of its early investors.
Since the initial purchases in August, the price of Ethereum has fallen by 50%, despite a recent local rebound to $2000. This decline prompted ETHZilla to change its business model.
In October, the company sold $40 million worth of Ethereum to facilitate stock buybacks. In December, it sold an additional 24,291 ETH valued at $74.5 million to pay off debts. These transactions marked a shift away from aggressive cryptocurrency accumulation.
The firm is now focused on the tokenized assets sector (RWA). This month, it acquired a mortgage portfolio worth $4.7 million. The team plans to transfer these to L2 networks based on Ethereum, expecting an annual yield of over 10%. Additionally, the company purchased two aircraft engines for tokenization through a regulated SEC platform Liquidity.io.
Forum’s management stated that future company capitalization will be driven by revenues from the new RWA platform, rather than cryptocurrency reserves.
At the time of writing, the shares trade significantly below the August peak of $100. Peter Thiel and his Founders Fund have fully divested their stakes in the project.
Nonetheless, the firm still holds 93,790 ETH valued at $174.8 million. It remains the ninth-largest corporate holder of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Back in December 2025, Harvard University’s management company reported selling its shares in a Bitcoin ETF and investing in an Ethereum-based exchange product.