180 Life Sciences bets $425m on Ethereum treasury in bid to become ETHZilla

Palo Alto’s 180 Life Sciences is making a radical pivot, ditching biotech for crypto. With a $425 million private placement backed by Ethereum’s elite, the soon-to-be ETHZilla aims to build the largest corporate ETH treasury, blending DeFi yield strategies with Wall Street appeal.

According to a press release dated July 29, Nasdaq-listed biopharma firm 180 Life Sciences has entered into agreements for a $425 million private placement, with plans to convert nearly all its treasury reserves into Ethereum (ETH) and rebrand as ETHZilla.

The funding round, led by a consortium of crypto heavyweights including Electric Capital, Polychain, and founders of Lido, Eigenlayer, and Compound, is expected to close by August 1. If successful, the move would position ETHZilla among the largest corporate holders of Ethereum, marking a sharp departure from its origins in anti-inflammatory drug research.

From biotech to blockchain: The ETHZilla playbook

The pivot appears to be a calculated bet on Ethereum’s dual role as both a store of value and a yield engine. Unlike Bitcoin treasury plays, where accumulation is the endgame, ETHZilla’s strategy hinges on active participation in Ethereum’s financial ecosystem.

Per the statement, Electric Capital, the firm tapped to manage its assets, will deploy a multi-pronged approach: staking for base rewards, liquidity provisioning in DeFi markets, and private lending agreements designed to outperform passive holdings.

The roster of backers reads like a who’s who of Ethereum’s builder class: Polychain Capital, Lido co-founder Konstantin Lomashuk, Eigenlayer’s Sreeram Kannan, and Compound’s Robert Leshner are among the 60-plus institutional and crypto-native investors in the $425 million PIPE. Their involvement signals a tacit endorsement of ETHZilla’s thesis that corporate ETH holdings should actively engage with the protocols reshaping finance.

The corporate ETH arms race heats up

ETHZilla’s move aligns with a broader trend that has quietly accelerated over the past two months. Standard Chartered’s latest report reveals corporate ETH treasuries now hold 1% of circulating supply, roughly 1.26 million Ether tokens accumulated since June. According to the bank, this buying spree parallels ETH ETFs’ record inflows, highlighting how new players are pivoting aggressively to the world’s second-largest crypto asset by market cap.

Analyst Geoffrey Kendrick predicts these holdings could increase tenfold, eventually reaching 10% of supply. Firms like BitMine, which is aiming for 5% of ETH’s supply, and Consensys-backed SharpLink Gaming are already deep in the game.

For ETHZilla, the pivot remains a high-stakes experiment, where the risks are as pronounced as the rewards. Besides accumulation supremacy battles, managing on-chain yield requires navigating smart contract vulnerabilities, liquidity crunches, and regulatory gray zones, challenges even DeFi natives struggle with.

Yet if successful, the model could redefine how public companies interact with crypto: not as passive holders, but as active ecosystem participants.