ETHZilla moves into onchain housing finance with 15% Zippy acquisition

cointelegraphPublished on 2025-12-10Last updated on 2025-12-10

Abstract

ETHZilla (ETHZ) has acquired a 15% stake in digital housing lender Zippy for $5 million in cash and $16.1 million in stock, marking its second acquisition in a week as part of a broader move into real-world asset (RWA) markets. The partnership aims to integrate Zippy’s loan-origination and AI-powered systems with ETHZilla’s tokenization platform to bring manufactured-home loans onchain. As part of the deal, ETHZilla gains a board seat and a 36-month exclusivity agreement with Zippy. Despite this expansion, ETHZilla’s stock has declined roughly 10% following the announcement, continuing a downward trend seen across several Ether treasury companies amid falling ETH prices.

Former biotech company ETHZilla (ETHZ) is doubling down on its push into real-world asset markets, taking a 15% stake in digital housing lender Zippy to bring manufactured-home loans onchain. The deal marks the company’s second acquisition in a week.

According to Wednesday’s announcement, ETHZilla will pay $5 million in cash and $16.1 million in stock for a 15% stake in Zippy, a US-based lender founded in 2021 that originates manufactured-home loans through a digital platform.

The companies plan to link Zippy’s loan-origination and AI-powered systems with ETHZilla’s tokenization stack for onchain distribution of manufactured-home chattel loans, including potential forward-flow sales to institutional investors.

As part of the transaction, ETHZilla will gain a board seat at Zippy and secure a 36-month exclusivity period requiring Zippy to conduct all blockchain infrastructure, digital asset issuance and tokenization through ETHZilla’s platforms.

ETHZilla, the sixth-largest Ether (ETH) treasury company according to CoinGecko data, said the investment builds on its broader push into real-world asset (RWA) markets.

Top Ethereum treasury companies. Source: CoinGecko

The announcement comes one week after ETHZilla acquired a 20% fully diluted stake in auto-finance startup Karus for $10 million in cash and stock.

ETHZilla’s stock price was down around 10% at the time of writing, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Related: Ethereum rising to $3.3K proves bottom is in: Is 100% ETH rally next?

Ether treasury stocks face steep declines

Several public companies that adopted Ether as a balance-sheet asset this year have seen sharp share-price reversals as the token price has fallen from its peak, ETHZilla among them.

ETHZilla, formerly 180 Life Sciences Corp, announced its pivot to an Ether treasury company on July 29. Its stock climbed from a $45 open that day to a $107 close by Aug. 13. However, the stock has declined roughly 91% since then, trading around $10 at this writing.

SharpLink Gaming launched an Ethereum treasury strategy in May, alongside a $425 million private placement that included Consensys as an investor and coincided with the nomination of Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin as chairman.

The company’s stock climbed more than 130% on the news to $79.21 on May 29, but has since dropped sharply to trade around $11.77 on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Bitmine Immersion, an Ether treasury company led by Fundstrat’s co-founder Tom Lee, has also struggled in recent months. Its stock hit an all-time high of $135 in July, but has since fallen to around $40 at this writing.

Source: Yahoo Finance

In August, Komodo Platform chief technology officer Kadan Stadelmann told Cointelegraph that companies adopting ETH treasury strategies face structural risks, and warned that a downturn in the market could force liquidations and amplify selling pressure on the token.

Ether has fallen since its all-time high of $4,946.05 on Aug. 24 and now trades at $3,365, according to CoinGecko data.

Magazine: Meet the onchain crypto detectives fighting crime better than the cops



Related Reads

Why Pricing Social Interactions is Doomed to Fail?

Titled "Why Putting a Price on Social Interaction Is Doomed to Fail," this article critiques attempts to monetize social networks directly through SocialFi models, arguing their inevitable failure stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of media dynamics. Using Marshall McLuhan's theory of "hot" and "cold" media, the author posits that social networks are inherently "cold" media. Their value isn't contained in individual posts but is co-created through user participation, interpretation, and fragmented, ongoing interaction (e.g., replies, shares). This ambiguity and need for user involvement are core to their function. The article asserts that SocialFi projects like Friend.tech failed because introducing real-time, tradable financial pricing (a definitive "hot" signal) into this "cold" environment doesn't add a layer—it replaces the medium's essence. The unambiguous price signal overshadows and nullifies the nuanced, participatory social signal. Users become traders, not participants, and when speculative profits vanish, the underlying social ecosystem—never genuinely cultivated—collapses entirely. This principle extends beyond crypto. The author argues platforms like Twitter have gradually "heated up" through metrics (likes, retweets counts, algorithmically defined value), shifting users from participants to performers and eroding organic engagement. The solution isn't to abandon capital but to manage its entry point. Successful models like Substack, Patreon, or Bandcamp allow capital to "condense" at specific, isolated nodes (e.g., subscriptions, one-time payments) without permeating and "heating" every social interaction. They preserve the core "cold," participatory medium while enabling monetization at designated boundaries. The NFT boom and bust serves as a stark parallel: the ancient "cold" medium of collecting (valued for story, community, gradual accumulation) was rapidly destroyed by platforms that introduced real-time floor prices, rarity scores, and trading dashboards, transforming collectors into speculators and vaporizing cultural value when prices fell. The core lesson: "Liquidity equals heat." Injecting high liquidity and definitive pricing into a "cold" participatory medium doesn't optimize it; it fundamentally alters and destroys its value-creating mechanism. The future lies not in pricing every social gesture but in finding precise, non-invasive points for capital to condense without overheating the entire ecosystem.

marsbit7m ago

Why Pricing Social Interactions is Doomed to Fail?

marsbit7m ago

Trump Media’s Crypto Bet Implodes With Massive $406M Quarterly Loss

Trump Media & Technology Group, parent company of Truth Social, reported a massive $406 million net loss in Q1 2026, sharply up from $31.7 million a year earlier. The collapse was driven primarily by $370 million in unrealized losses from digital asset investments. These include a $61 million loss on 756 million Cronos tokens and a nearly $500 million gap on 9,542 Bitcoin purchased near the 2025 market peak, though Bitcoin's recent recovery has reduced that paper loss. Adding to turmoil, CEO Devin Nunes resigned in late April. Meanwhile, the company's core media revenue was only $871,200, a minimal increase. Despite the financial losses, the company generated $18 million in operating cash flow by selling options on its pledged Bitcoin holdings. Its stock, once valued at over $97, now trades around $9, reflecting a more than 90% decline from its 2022 peak.

bitcoinist13m ago

Trump Media’s Crypto Bet Implodes With Massive $406M Quarterly Loss

bitcoinist13m ago

Bitcoin Volatility Returns as Price Tests Critical Indicator Level

Bitcoin experienced significant volatility, briefly surpassing $82,000 before falling back to around $80,000. This triggered over $400 million in liquidations within 24 hours, though the price later recovered moderately above $81,000. The key focus is Bitcoin's approach to the critical 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a major resistance level near $82,580 that has repeatedly capped price advances since November 2025. Analyst Brett suggests a sustained break above this level could signal the end of the bear market. However, failure to breach it has historically led to sharp declines, with an average drop of 30% from this rejection zone. If this pattern repeats, Bitcoin's price could potentially fall to around $56,600 from current levels. Despite the price pressure, cryptocurrency investment products saw a sixth consecutive week of inflows totaling $4.9 billion, supported by positive sentiment around US crypto legislation.

TheNewsCrypto38m ago

Bitcoin Volatility Returns as Price Tests Critical Indicator Level

TheNewsCrypto38m ago

Jensen Huang's CMU Speech: In the AI Era, Don't Just Watch, Build

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA and a first-generation immigrant, delivered the commencement address to Carnegie Mellon University's class of 2026. He shared his personal journey from a humble background to founding NVIDIA, emphasizing resilience, learning from failure, and the responsibility that comes with leadership. Huang framed the present moment as the dawn of the AI revolution, a shift he believes is more profound than previous computing waves. He described AI as fundamentally resetting computing—moving from human-written software to machines that understand, reason, and use tools. This will create a new industry for generating intelligence and transform every sector. While acknowledging AI's potential to automate tasks and displace some jobs, Huang distinguished between the *tasks* of a job and its core *purpose*. He argued AI will augment human capability, not replace humans. The real risk, he stated, is not AI itself, but people being left behind by those who effectively use AI. He presented AI as a generational opportunity for massive infrastructure investment—in chip factories, data centers, energy grids, and advanced manufacturing—that could re-industrialize nations like the U.S. and bridge the digital divide by making computing and intelligent tools accessible to all. Huang called for a balanced approach: advancing AI safely and responsibly, establishing prudent policies, ensuring broad access, and encouraging universal participation. He urged the graduates not to fear the future but to engage with optimism and ambition, reminding them of CMU's motto, "My heart is in the work." His core message was clear: this is their moment to actively build and shape the AI-powered future, not merely observe it.

marsbit1h ago

Jensen Huang's CMU Speech: In the AI Era, Don't Just Watch, Build

marsbit1h ago

The Era Has Arrived Where Human Writers Must Prove They Are Not Machines

The article describes an era where AI-generated content is flooding the market, forcing human authors to prove they are not machines. It begins with the example of dozens of AI-written, error-ridden biographies of Henry Kissinger appearing on Amazon within hours of his death, a pattern repeated for other deceased celebrities and even living experts who find fraudulent books under their names. This spam content has exploded, with monthly new book releases on platforms like Amazon reaching 300,000 by late 2025. The issue spans genres, from suspiciously high proportions of AI-written teen romance and self-help books to dangerous, AI-generated foraging guides containing lethal advice. The platforms' automated review systems, designed to catch plagiarism and banned words, are ill-equipped to detect AI-generated text that avoids these pitfalls while being nonsensical or fraudulent. The problem has infiltrated traditional publishing. A major publisher, Hachette, had to recall a bestselling horror novel after AI detection tools suggested 78% of its content was machine-generated. An acclaimed European philosophy book was later revealed to be entirely written by AI under a fake author persona. In response, authors are fighting back. At the 2026 London Book Fair, 10,000 writers published a blank book titled "Don't Steal This Book" containing only their signatures—using emptiness as a protest weapon in an age of AI overproduction. Initiatives like the "Human Author Certification" program have emerged, ironically placing the burden on humans to prove their work is not machine-made. The article warns of a vicious cycle: AI-generated low-quality books pollute the data used to train future AI models, leading to "model collapse" and an ever-worsening flood of digital waste, eroding trust in publishing and devaluing human creativity.

marsbit1h ago

The Era Has Arrived Where Human Writers Must Prove They Are Not Machines

marsbit1h ago

Trading

Spot
Futures
活动图片