TLDR
- Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund fully exited its stake in ETHZilla (ETHZ) by end of 2025, per a recent SEC filing.
- ETHZ shares fell 3% in extended trading and are down 28% year-to-date.
- Ethereum dropped 28.4% in Q4 2025 and has continued falling in 2026, now trading around $2,017.
- ETHZilla sold roughly $114.5 million in ETH across two rounds to cover buybacks and debt repayment, cutting holdings from 100,000+ ETH to 69,802 ETH.
- The company has pivoted again, launching ETHZilla Aerospace to offer tokenized exposure to leased jet engine revenue.
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund has fully exited its position in ETHZilla (ETHZ), according to a recent SEC filing. The exit was complete by the end of 2025.
ETHZ shares dropped 3% in extended trading following the news. The stock is already down 28% so far this year.
Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, had previously controlled a 7.5% stake in ETHZilla through entities including The Founders Fund, according to a BeInCrypto report from August 2025. The latest SEC filing shows zero ownership by those entities at year-end.
The exit has drawn attention in crypto circles. “This matters because Thiel is considered smart institutional capital, and a full exit from an ETH treasury firm could signal shifting sentiment, risk reduction, or a strategic rotation away from Ethereum exposure,” Crypto Town Hall posted.
ETHZilla is one of several companies that adopted the crypto treasury playbook pioneered by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) in 2020, accumulating Ethereum as a reserve asset.
The timing of Thiel’s exit lines up with a rough stretch for Ethereum. The token fell 28.4% in Q4 2025 — its first negative fourth quarter since 2022. It then closed January 2026 down 17.7% and has dropped another 18.1% so far in February. ETH was trading at around $2,017 at time of writing.
ETHZilla Cuts ETH Holdings as Losses Mount
That sustained price weakness has hit ETHZilla hard. At its peak, the company held more than 100,000 ETH. As conditions worsened in October, the company sold roughly $40 million in Ether, using the proceeds for share buybacks.
A second round of sales followed in December — about $74.5 million worth — with funds directed toward repaying senior secured convertible debt. ETHZilla now holds 69,802 ETH, according to CoinGecko data.
The broader sector is under similar pressure. BitMine, another crypto treasury firm, is sitting on unrealized losses exceeding $7 billion and is down 25.7% year-to-date.
A New Direction: Tokenized Jet Engines
ETHZilla, which previously operated as 180 Life Sciences before its Ethereum pivot and rebrand, has now outlined another strategic shift.
Its wholly owned subsidiary, ETHZilla Aerospace, recently launched the Eurus Aero Token I. The product offers investors tokenized exposure to revenue rights from leased aircraft engines via tradable digital tokens.
ETHZilla Aerospace is seeking to expand that model by providing tokenized equity exposure to leased jet engines, according to Bloomberg.
The company currently holds 69,802 ETH and ETHZ shares are down 28% year-to-date.