In brief
- Ethereum treasury company ETHZilla has announced a $250 million stock buyback program.
- The firm’s stock is down by more than 50% over the last week, evaporating most of its recent gains.
- Ethereum recently hit a new all-time high price, breaking a record that stood since 2021.
ETHZilla Corporation—a publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm formerly known as 180 Life Sciences—announced Monday that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $250 million of the company’s outstanding shares, effective immediately.
The move comes following a substantial dive for the firm’s stock price last week. ETHZilla, which trades on the Nasdaq under ETHZ, is down more than 53% on the week to a current price of $3.18, with the drop coming after a surge that tripled the stock’s value after billionaire VC Peter Thiel bought a stake in the company.
Last week’s price decline came as the company filed with the SEC on Friday to offer 74.8 million convertible shares, as part of an agreement reached on August 8. The filing fueled dilution concerns, as the total amount of outstanding shares is set to grow from 164.4 million to over 239.2 million.
ETHZ stock is down nearly 3.8% on the day following the stock buyback announcement. ETHZilla has given up most of its recent gains following last week’s price plunge, with the stock showing a less than 5% rise over the last month.
The Palm Beach, Florida-based company also disclosed it now holds 102,237 ETH at an average acquisition price of $3,948.72, valued at approximately $474 million as of this writing. The firm also has about $215 million in cash equivalents. The Ethereum tally includes 7,600 ETH acquired over the last week.
“At ETHZilla, we continue to deploy capital to accelerate our Ethereum treasury strategy with discipline and record speed,” said ETHZilla Executive Chairman McAndrew Rudisill, in a release. “As we continue to scale our ETH reserves and pursue differentiated yield opportunities, we believe an aggressive stock repurchase program at the current stock price underscores our commitment to maximizing value for shareholders.”
ETHZilla plans to stake its most recently purchased Ethereum tokens to Electric Capital’s proprietary Electric Asset Protocol to generate yield, the company said.
The stock repurchase program is scheduled to expire by June 30, 2026, or when $250 million in shares has been repurchased. The program will be funded through working capital and potential future fundraising efforts.
The price of Ethereum hit an all-time high Friday for the first time in nearly four years, and continued to rise higher on Sunday, peaking at a new record of $4,946 according to data from CoinGecko. It’s down more than 4% over the last 24 hours, however, falling to a current price of $4,604 as the broader crypto market sags.
Despite the dip, Myriad users believe that ETH will continue to rise to new peaks and cross the $5,000 milestone by the end of 2025, with 86% of users predicting such a move. (Disclaimer: Myriad Markets is a product of Decrypt’s parent company, DASTAN.)
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