Former biotech firm ETHZilla (ETHZ) is doubling down on its push into real-world asset markets, taking a 15% stake in digital home lender Zippy to bring prefab loans on-chain. The deal marks the corporate's second acquisition in per week.
According to Wednesday's announcement, ETHZilla can pay $5 million in money and $16.1 million in stock for a 15% stake in Zippy, a U.S. lender founded in 2021 that makes manufactured home loans through a digital platform.
The firms plan to link Zippy's lending and AI-powered systems with ETHZilla's tokenization stack for on-chain distribution of prefabricated housing loans, including potential forward flow sales to institutional investors.
As a part of the transaction, ETHZilla will receive a seat on Zippy's board of directors and secure a 36-month exclusivity period, committing Zippy to conduct all blockchain infrastructure, digital asset issuance and tokenization through ETHZilla's platforms.
ETHZilla, the sixth-largest Ether (ETH) finance firm in response to data from CoinGecko, said the investment builds on its broader push into real-world asset (RWA) markets.
Top Ethereum Treasury Companies. Source: CoinGecko
The announcement comes per week after ETHZilla acquired a 20% fully diluted stake in auto financing startup Karus for $10 million in money and stock.
According to data from Yahoo Finance, ETHZilla's share price was down about 10% on the time of writing.
Ether government bonds are facing sharp declines
Several publicly traded firms that adopted Ether as a balance sheet asset this yr saw sharp price swings because the token price fell from its peak, including ETHZilla.
ETHZilla, formerly 180 Life Sciences Corp, announced its transition to an Ether treasury company on July 29. The stock rose from a gap price of $45 that day to a closing price of $107 on August 13. However, the stock has fallen about 91% since then and is trading at around $10 as of press time.
SharpLink Gaming launched an Ethereum treasury strategy in May together with a $425 million private placement by which Consensys was an investor and which coincided with the appointment of Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin as chairman.
The company's shares rose greater than 130% to $79.21 on May 29 on the news, but have fallen sharply since then, trading at about $11.77 on Wednesday, in response to Yahoo Finance data.
Bitmine Immersion, an Ether treasury company led by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, has also struggled in recent months. The stock hit an all-time high of $135 in July but has since fallen to around $40 as of press time.
In August, Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer of the Komodo platform, told Cointelegraph that firms adopting ETH treasury strategies face structural risks and warned that a downturn available in the market could force liquidations and increase selling pressure on the token.
According to CoinGecko data, Ether has fallen since its all-time high of $4,946.05 on August 24 and is now trading at $3,365.
