Billionaire enterprise capitalist and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Applied sciences, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, has totally divested from ETHZilla, a digital asset treasury agency that holds Ethereum (ETH).
The event comes as digital asset treasury corporations face mounting stress amid the broader crypto market downturn.
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Peter Thiel Cuts Ties With ETHZilla Throughout Crypto Market Droop
The digital asset treasury wave gained momentum final yr, with a number of corporations adopting Technique’s (previously MicroStrategy) 2020 Bitcoin (BTC) playbook. Companies started accumulating cryptocurrencies as reserve belongings, attracting heightened investor consideration as costs climbed and fairness valuations expanded.
BeInCrypto reported in August 2025 that by means of entities comparable to The Founders Fund, Thiel managed a 7.5% stake in ETHZilla. Nevertheless, the newest SEC submitting exhibits that entities managed by Thiel reported zero possession within the firm by the top of 2025, indicating a whole exit.
“This issues as a result of Thiel is taken into account good institutional capital, and a full exit from an ETH treasury agency may sign shifting sentiment, danger discount, or a strategic rotation away from Ethereum publicity,” Crypto City Corridor posted.
The transfer comes towards the backdrop of a broader market downturn. In October, crypto markets suffered a pointy downturn, also known as the “10/10” or “Black Friday” crash. The following months prolonged the decline.
In accordance with CryptoRank knowledge, Ethereum fell 28.4% in This fall 2025, marking its first adverse fourth quarter since 2022. Though 2026 started with a quick restoration, the rebound shortly reversed.
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ETH closed January 2026 down 17.7%, and to this point in February, its worth has declined one other 18.1%. At press time, it traded at $2,017.
Treasury Technique Beneath Pressure as Ethereum Decline Hits Company Holders
The sustained worth weak spot has immediately impacted digital asset treasury corporations, lowering the worth of their crypto holdings and pressuring inventory costs. For instance, BitMine is at present sitting on unrealized losses exceeding $7 billion. Moreover, its share worth is down 25.7% year-to-date.
ETHZilla, which beforehand operated as 180 Life Sciences earlier than pivoting towards an Ethereum treasury technique and rebranding, has confronted related headwinds. At its peak, the corporate held greater than 100,000 ETH.
As market circumstances deteriorated in October, the corporate moved shortly to trim its publicity. Towards the top of that month, ETHZilla offloaded roughly $40 million in Ether, directing the proceeds towards share buybacks.
A second spherical of gross sales adopted in December, totaling about $74.5 million. The funds have been allotted to repay senior secured convertible debt. CoinGecko knowledge exhibits the corporate now holds 69,802 ETH, a considerable discount from its earlier peak place.
The corporate has since outlined one more strategic shift. In accordance with Bloomberg, ETHZilla’s wholly owned subsidiary, known as ETHZilla Aerospace, is in search of to supply tokenized publicity to fairness in leased jet engines.