DeutschUS billionaire Peter Thiel only invested in the Ethereum DAT ETHZilla in August 2025. Thiel’s Founders Fund initially held a 7.5% stake in the company. Within a few months, they distanced themselves from the US operation. Why Thiel no longer holds ETHZ stock today.
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Why billionaire Peter Thiel sold his stake in ETHZilla
US investor and billionaire Peter Thiel sold his entire stake in ETHZilla — as shown by data from the US regulatory authority SEC. While Thiel still owned 7.5% of the company’s shares through his venture capital firm Founders Fund in August, these shrank to zero by the end of 2025.
ETHZilla is one of the best-known Ethereum treasury companies — often referred to as DATs. Today, the US company holds 69,802 Ether with a market value of $135 million. Only six other publicly traded companies own even more ETH.
Thiel had only entered ETHZilla in August 2025. At that time, the concept of a corporate Ethereum reserve had become popular after the Bitcoin reserves of several companies were already considered a success story.
Until then, ETHZilla operated under the name 180 Life Sciences. They were conducting research in biotechnology for use in the medical field. ETHZilla raised a total of $565 million in July 2025. A large part of that flowed into Ethereum. They acquired around 95,000 coins.
In the following months, however, the second-largest cryptocurrency recorded losses. ETHZilla subsequently sold some Ether and restructured its business model. Before the change of plan was implemented, Founders Fund sold its shares. This fund is majority-owned by Peter Thiel.
ETHZilla dropped, Thiel got out
After ETHZilla presented its concept to the public, ETHZ stock initially saw an enormous increase in value. In August 2025, it rose to a high of $107. Previously, it was trading at around $9.00.
The decline was sudden. Today, ETHZ is trading at just $3.66. By November 2025, Founders Fund had already reduced its stake in the company to 5.6%. By December 31 of the same year, Thiel’s company finally offloaded the remaining shares.
Meanwhile, ETHZilla no longer relies solely on cryptocurrency. About a week ago, a new branch of business was announced. The company founded an aviation business with its subsidiary ETHZilla Aerospace LLC.
According to the press release, the goal is to enable tokenized investment in the aviation sector. ETHZilla describes itself as a company that focuses on the tokenization of real-world assets.
They have created the “Eurus Aero Token I, a unique tokenized instrument” that “allows investors to (…) invest in aircraft engines leased to a leading US airline.”
Thiel got involved with Ethereum very early on. The concept of the blockchain convinced the Thiel Foundation so much that it provided Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin with a Thiel Fellowship as early as 2014. The $100,000 payout allowed Buterin to drop out of his studies to focus full-time on developing Ethereum. Thiel reportedly received nothing in return for his financial injection.
