Former Ethereum treasury firm ETHZilla said it will rebrand as Forum Markets and adopt a new Nasdaq ticker next month, formalizing a shift away from balance-sheet crypto exposure toward tokenized real-world assets.
The move marks a departure from the company’s earlier strategy of positioning its shares as a public proxy for Ethereum, an approach that faltered as the stock fell sharply from last year’s highs and the firm reduced its crypto holdings.
ETHZilla’s shares peaked at $107 on August 13, 2025, shortly after the company announced plans to build a $425 million Ethereum treasury following a pivot from its former biotech business.
The strategy initially drew investor interest but later unraveled as the share price declined, investors exited, and the company began selling assets to scale back its exposure.
Shares rose 13.3% on Wednesday to $3.91 following the rebranding announcement, though the stock remains down about 96% from its August peak, according to Google Finance data.
Under the Forum Markets name, the company said it plans to focus on developing tokenized products backed by real-world assets, using regulated infrastructure rather than holding large crypto positions on its balance sheet.
The rebrand follows Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund exiting its position in ETHZilla earlier this month. The departure of a prominent early backer came as the stock slid sharply, and the firm’s positioning as a publicly traded proxy for ETH exposure drew increased scrutiny.
Earlier this month, the company said it would pivot into jet engine leasing and other aviation-related assets to further bolster its business model and equity performance amid a weakening Ethereum price.
“Single-asset treasury strategies are highly dependent on strong market conditions and sustained equity premiums,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at quantitative trading firm Kronos Research, told Decrypt.
“Treasury-focused firms ultimately need revenue-generating businesses and broader asset exposure to remain relevant long term,” Liu said.
Such strategies, like Forum’s previous endeavors, could be considered “fragile because its value is tightly linked to network activity,” thereby creating “a correlation trap where purchasing power weakens during ecosystem downturns,” he explained.
That vulnerability is compounded by fragmentation across Ethereum’s main network and its layer-2 chains, which Liu said dilutes its narrative and premium. This condition, he said, is “further undermined by the absence of a hard supply cap, leaving its long-term scarcity proposition open to question.”
Forum Markets is expected to begin trading under the ticker symbol “FRMM” on March 2, after previously trading under the ticker “ETHZ” on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
