Peter Thiel acquires 7.5% stake in ETHZilla, driving stock up 207%

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has acquired a 7.5% stake in ETHZilla, marking his second investment into an Ethereum treasury company in recent weeks.

Summary

• Thiel and related entities purchased a 7.5% stake in ETHZilla (formerly, 180 Life Sciences)
• ETHZilla’s stock jumped 207%, closing at $10.24 from $3.34 after the investment news.
• This follows Thiel’s recent 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies last month.

Peter Thiel, a PayPal and Palantir co-founder, has made a significant investment in ETHZilla, a company formerly known as 180 Life Sciences that recently pivoted from biotech research to Ethereum (ETH) treasury management.

According to a recent SEC filing, Thiel and related entities acquired a 7.5% stake in ETHZilla, which currently holds 82,186 ETH, valued at approximately $349 million, with an additional $238 million in cash equivalents. The company plans to hold the Ethereum long-term and stake it through Electric Capital’s proprietary network strategies to generate yield for shareholders.

Following news of the investment, the company’s stock surged nearly 207%, closing at $10.24 compared to $3.34 close on Monday, as initially reported by Yahoo! Finance.

Thiel doubles down on Ethereum with BitMine and ETHZilla

The stake in ETHZilla marks Thiel’s second major crypto-focused investment in recent weeks. In mid-July, Thiel acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies, a company that initially focused on Bitcoin mining but has since pivoted to building an Ethereum-centric treasury.

BitMine, now led by Fundstrat founder Tom Lee, more than doubled its ETH holdings from a $250 million private placement just days before Thiel’s investment.