--- title: "Peter Thiel Backed ETHZilla At $107 And Got Out Now At $3: What Went Wrong?" description: "Billionaire Peter Thiel and Founders Fund exited ETHZilla (NASDAQ:ETHZ) after shares plummeted from $107 to $3, a 97% drop. The company, which pivoted from biotech to an Ethereum treasury strategy, fa" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/276245870.md" published_at: "2026-02-18T15:09:03.000Z" --- # Peter Thiel Backed ETHZilla At $107 And Got Out Now At $3: What Went Wrong? > Billionaire Peter Thiel and Founders Fund exited ETHZilla (NASDAQ:ETHZ) after shares plummeted from $107 to $3, a 97% drop. The company, which pivoted from biotech to an Ethereum treasury strategy, faced challenges as crypto markets collapsed. ETHZilla sold significant amounts of ETH to fund stock repurchases and pay down debts. Now, it is shifting focus to real-world asset tokenization, holding 69,802 ETH valued at approximately $139 million. The stock is currently consolidating between $2.50 and $5, with potential for volatility ahead. Billionaire **Peter Thiel** and Founders Fund fully exited **ETHZilla** (NASDAQ:ETHZ) after riding shares from $107 in August to $3—a 97% collapse that turned a high-profile **Ethereum** (CRYPTO: ETH) treasury play into a cautionary tale. ### The Spectacular Collapse Thiel and Founders Fund acquired a 7.5% stake in August 2025 when ETHZilla pivoted from biotech firm 180 Life Sciences to an Ethereum treasury company.  The news sent shares surging 90% in a single session to over $107. The timing couldn’t have been worse. ETHZilla launched its Ethereum treasury strategy on August 18 following a $565 million capital raise from over 60 investors including Electric Capital, Polychain Capital, and GSR.  At its peak, the company held over 100,000 ETH tokens. Then the crash hit. When crypto markets collapsed in October, ETHZilla was among the first to sell.  In late October, it dumped approximately $40 million in ETH to fund stock repurchases. In December, it sold another 24,291 ETH worth $74.5 million to pay down senior secured convertible notes. ### The Business Model Failure ETHZilla aimed to become a “premier Ethereum-focused accumulation vehicle” providing public market access to ETH while earning staking yields.  The model copied **Michael Saylor’s** **Strategy** (NASDAQ:MSTR) playbook—raise capital through stocks and bonds to buy crypto. However, the model requires rising prices. With ETH down nearly 60% from 2025 peaks, treasury companies face mounting pressure.  Unlike Strategy, which continues buying Bitcoin regardless of price, ETHZilla capitulated and sold. Now the company is pivoting again—this time to real-world asset tokenization.  In February, ETHZilla acquired 95 manufactured and modular home loans for $4.7 million to tokenize on Ethereum Layer 2. It also purchased two CFM56-7B24 aircraft engines for tokenization through Liquidity.io. ### The Current Holdings ETHZilla ranks as the sixth-largest corporate Ethereum holder with 69,802 ETH valued at approximately $139 million.  This trails far behind leader **BitMine Immersion Technologies** (NASDAQ:BMNR), which holds 4,371,497 ETH valued at $8.7 billion. The company said its future value would be “driven by revenue and cash flow growth from our RWA tokenization business”—a dramatic shift from its original Ethereum accumulation thesis. ### ETHZ Price Update ETHZ is consolidating in a tight range between $2.50 and $5. The Bollinger Bands show extreme compression—upper band at $5.64, middle at $4.10, lower at $2.57. This typically precedes significant volatility. The RSI at 33.78 sits in oversold territory, suggesting selling pressure dominates but may be exhausting.  Critical support is $2.5-$3. Breaking below triggers selling toward $2. Breaking above $4.10 signals upside. *Image: Shutterstock* ### Related Stocks - [COIN.US - Coinbase](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/COIN.US.md) - [BRRR.US - CoinShares Bitcoin ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BRRR.US.md) - [ETHZ.US - Ethzilla](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETHZ.US.md) - [EETH.US - Proshares Ether Strategy ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EETH.US.md) - [ETH.US - Grayscale Ethereum Mini Staking ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETH.US.md) - [EZET.US - Franklin Ethereum ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EZET.US.md) - [ETHW.US - Bitwise Ethereum ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ETHW.US.md) - [QETH.US - Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/QETH.US.md) - [CETH.US - 21Shares Ethereum ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CETH.US.md) - [BTF.US - Valkyrie Bitcoin and Ether Strategy ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BTF.US.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | ETHZilla rebrands to Forum Markets, shifts to tokenization strategy | ETHZilla has rebranded to Forum Markets, shifting its focus from being a publicly traded Ethereum proxy to tokenizing re | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277003238.md) | | Bitmine hits 72.3% of its 5% Ethereum ownership goal – Details | Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has achieved 72.3% of its goal to own 5% of all Ethereum (ETH), totaling approxima | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276567511.md) | | Ethereum smart accounts are finally coming 'within a year' — Vitalik Buterin | Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced that smart accounts, part of Ethereum's account abstraction, will be imple | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277334461.md) | | Vitalik Buterin lays out a two-part plan to overhaul Ethereum’s execution layer from the ground up | Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a two-part plan to overhaul the network's execution layer, emphasizing | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277371436.md) | | Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Wants Anthropic To Do The Honorable Thing And 'Eat The Consequences' In Resisting Autonomous Weapons, Surveillance | Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin urged AI company Anthropic to maintain its stance against the use of its technology | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276838076.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.