Shares of ETHZilla surged over 13%, reaching a monthly high of $3.91. The stock price rose following the rebranding to Forum and the official abandonment of its Ethereum accumulation strategy.
Source: Google Finance.ETHZilla emerged from the rebranding of biotech company 180 Life Sciences. Initially, the firm positioned itself as a public fund for investing in digital assets, raising $565 million, with early investor Peter Thiel.
Since its initial purchases in August, the price of Ethereum has dropped 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 liquidated an additional 24,291 ETH valued at $74.5 million to pay off debts. These transactions marked a departure from its aggressive cryptocurrency accumulation strategy.
The firm is now focusing on tokenized assets (RWA). This month, it acquired a portfolio of mortgage loans worth $4.7 million. The team plans to transfer these into an L2 network based on Ethereum, expecting an annual yield of over 10%. The company also purchased two aircraft engines for tokenization through the SEC-regulated platform Liquidity.io.
Forum's management stated that the company's future capitalization will be driven by revenues from the new RWA platform, rather than cryptocurrency reserves.
As of this writing, shares are trading 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, making it the ninth-largest corporate holder of the second most capitalized cryptocurrency in the world.
Source: Strategic ETH Reserve.As a reminder, in December 2025, Harvard University's management company reported selling shares in a Bitcoin ETF and investing in an Ethereum-based exchange product.