ETHZilla (ETHZ) Shares Plunge Almost 30% as Dilution Fears Overshadow $349M Ether (ETH) Treasury

Shares of ETHZilla (ETHZ), previously often known as biotech agency 180 Life Science, fell practically 30% Friday after the corporate disclosed that shareholders filed to supply as much as 74.8 million convertible shares.

The providing sparked issues about dilution, a course of the place present shareholders’ stakes lose worth as extra inventory enters the market. For traders, it means their possession slice shrinks, even when the corporate’s general worth doesn’t change.

After the issuance of recent shares, the excellent shares of the corporate will rise by about 46% to 239.3 million from 164.4 million, in keeping with the submitting. The corporate will not obtain any proceeds from the shareholders promoting their transformed shares.

ETHZilla rebranded earlier this month right into a crypto treasury firm and disclosed that it holds 82,186 ether, value about $349 million at present costs, alongside $238 million in money equivalents. The ether was acquired at a median worth of $3,806.71 per token. Information of the pivot and the scale of the holdings despatched shares surging on Aug. 11, lifting the inventory 80% year-to-date earlier than Friday’s sharp reversal.

The strategic shift has additionally drawn heavyweight backers.

Peter Thiel, who has publicly supported Ethereum, holds a 7.5% stake in ETHZ via his Founders Fund. The fund additionally owns 9.1% of Bitmine Immersion Applied sciences, which just lately raised $250 million to construct its personal ether reserves. Thiel’s involvement highlights a broader guess by influential traders that Ethereum may anchor the following technology of economic infrastructure.

Ether itself has regained momentum in 2025 after lagging behind different altcoins final yr. The token is up 38% year-to-date, outpacing bitcoin’s 24% rise and the CoinDesk 20 Index’s 17% achieve. For context, bitcoin climbed 121% in 2024 whereas ether added simply 31%. The turnaround coincides with regulatory readability within the U.S. that has prompted Wall Road establishments to undertake Ethereum as a base layer for launching new monetary services.

Regardless of the surge in worth and curiosity from traders, ETHZ shares moved towards the broader development on Friday. The Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow had been all increased after remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whereas ether itself gained 9% prior to now 24 hours.

The selloff underscores the strain between ETHZ’s promise as a big publicly traded ether treasury and investor unease about near-term dilution. Whereas the corporate’s stability sheet places it among the many largest ether holders within the company world, shareholders are weighing whether or not that promise can outweigh the dangers of being minimize into smaller items.