From Crypto Treasury to RWA: ETHZilla Retreats and Relaunches as Forum Markets on Nasdaq

TLDR:

• ETHZilla rebrands as Forum Markets and begins trading under the Nasdaq ticker FRMM starting March 2, 2026.
  
• Shares collapsed roughly 96% from their August 2025 peak despite a 13.3% single-day gain on the rebrand news.
  
• Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund exited its 7.5% stake in Q4 2025 as ETHZilla’s Ethereum treasury strategy unraveled.
  
• Forum Markets shifts focus to regulated, tokenized real-world assets, moving away from single-asset crypto exposure.
  

ETHZilla is pulling back from its crypto-heavy balance sheet strategy after a dramatic share price collapse. The company announced a full rebrand to Forum Markets, with trading set to begin under the Nasdaq ticker “FRMM” on March 2.

The retreat follows months of investor exits, asset sales, and a sustained decline from last year’s highs. In place of Ethereum treasury holdings, the company is now directing its focus toward tokenized real-world assets built on regulated infrastructure.

ETHZilla Scales Back Crypto Holdings After Sharp Investor Exodus

ETHZilla built its identity around holding Ethereum directly on its balance sheet as a public company. The strategy was designed to give traditional investors exposure to Ethereum without directly purchasing the asset.

Shares soared to $107 on August 13, 2025, shortly after the company revealed plans for a $425 million Ethereum treasury. That announcement followed a pivot away from its earlier biotech business model.

The rally, however, proved short-lived as market conditions deteriorated and enthusiasm faded. The company began selling crypto assets to reduce its exposure as the stock continued sliding.

Investor confidence took a further blow when Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund exited its 7.5% stake during Q4 2025. Accounting for a 1-for-10 stock split executed in October, shares had fallen roughly 98% from their effective peak of $174.60.

The retreat from crypto exposure was gradual but deliberate. ETHZilla reduced its Ethereum holdings while exploring alternative business lines to shore up its equity performance.

One move included entering jet engine leasing through a new subsidiary called ETHZilla Aerospace. That unit tokenized equity in leased engines via the Eurus Aero Token I, deployed on the Arbitrum layer-2 network.

Shares climbed 13.3% to $3.91 on the day the rebrand was announced. Despite that recovery, the stock remains down approximately 96% from its August 2025 peak.

The single-day gain reflects cautious optimism around the company’s new direction. Whether that momentum continues under the Forum Markets name remains to be seen.

RWA Strategy Positions Forum Markets for a More Stable Model

The shift toward tokenized real-world assets marks a fundamental change in how the company plans to generate and sustain value.

Forum Markets intends to develop tokenized products backed by tangible assets using regulated infrastructure. That approach moves away from the volatility associated with holding large crypto positions on a public balance sheet. The aviation leasing venture offered an early preview of where the company is headed.

Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at Kronos Research, addressed the structural risks that drove the retreat. “Single-asset treasury strategies are highly dependent on strong market conditions and sustained equity premiums,” Liu told Decrypt.

He added that treasury-focused firms ultimately need revenue-generating businesses and broader asset exposure to remain relevant long term.

His comments reflect a broader concern within the industry about the sustainability of crypto-only balance sheet models.

Liu also pointed to specific weaknesses tied to Ethereum-focused strategies. He described the model as fragile, noting that its value is “tightly linked to network activity,” thereby creating “a correlation trap where purchasing power weakens during ecosystem downturns.”

Fragmentation across Ethereum’s base layer and its layer-2 networks further dilutes the overall narrative and premium.

He added that the model is “further undermined by the absence of a hard supply cap, leaving its long-term scarcity proposition open to question.”

Forum Markets is set to begin trading under the FRMM ticker on March 2, replacing the former ETHZ symbol on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

The rebrand draws a clear line between the company’s failed crypto treasury experiment and its new asset-backed direction.

The transition reflects a growing recognition that public companies cannot sustain themselves on crypto price appreciation alone. Building regulated, revenue-linked products appears to be the model Forum Markets is now betting on.