ETHZilla becomes Forum Markets, ends Ethereum treasury strategy

The company is ending its plan to hold large amounts of Ethereum on its balance sheet and will develop tokenized products backed by real-world assets using regulated infrastructure.

The change follows months of investor withdrawals, asset sales and a sharp drop in the stock. Shares rose 23% on Wednesday to $3.91 after the announcement but remain down about 96% from a mid-August 2025 high above $100.

In 2025, ETHZilla outlined plans to assemble a $425 million Ethereum treasury after pivoting from a biotech focus, presenting its equity as a public proxy for Ethereum. As the share price declined, the firm scaled back its crypto holdings.

Under the new focus, a wholly owned unit called ETHZilla Aerospace acquired jet engines for about $12.2 million and is offering tokenized access to equity in the leased engines through the Eurus Aero Token I on the Arbitrum layer-2 network. Earlier this month, the company detailed plans to expand into jet engine leasing and other aviation assets to bolster the balance sheet as Ethereum weakened.

Regulatory filings indicate billionaire investor Peter Thiel sold his 7.5% stake in the fourth quarter of 2025. Founders Fund, associated with Thiel, exited its position earlier this month.

Market participants note the limits of a single-asset treasury in public markets. Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at Kronos Research, described single-asset treasury strategies as “highly dependent on strong market conditions and sustained equity premiums.” In his view, “treasury-focused firms ultimately need revenue-generating businesses and broader asset exposure to remain relevant long term.”

Liu also called reliance on one crypto asset “fragile because its value is tightly linked to network activity,” which can create “a correlation trap where purchasing power weakens during ecosystem downturns.” He pointed to fragmentation across Ethereum’s main network and layer-2 chains that can reduce the asset’s premium and highlighted “the absence of a hard supply cap” as a factor that leaves long-term scarcity in question.

As Forum Markets, the company plans to prioritize tokenized real-world assets rather than maintaining an Ethereum-heavy balance sheet. The ticker change to FRMM is set to take effect on March 2.