While ETHZilla sold $114.5 million worth of ETH at the end of 2025, the company has now purchased two jet engines. Why such a shift?
After selling ETH, ETHZilla is now buying jet engines
Last summer, crypto treasuries—including Ethereum Treasury Companies—were frequently in the news, to the point where we witnessed a bidding war among companies, each vying to make the biggest announcement. Unsurprisingly, the hype has faded, and many of these companies, which were already struggling on the stock market, have been hit twice as hard, potentially following some profit-taking by long-term shareholders.
Among these failures is ETHZilla. With nearly 70,000 ETH still valued at just over $200 million, the company has nevertheless already sold a total of $114.5 million worth of ETH to finance share and bond buybacks.
Now, the company is making headlines with a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday regarding the acquisition of… 2 aircraft engines:
On January 17, 2026, ETHZilla Corporation, through its new subsidiary ETHZilla Aerospace LLC (the “Company”), acquired two CFM56-7B24 aircraft engines, along with all associated parts, documentation, and engine mounts, from Avean Engine Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary of Aero Engine Solutions, Inc., pursuant to the terms of an engine sale and purchase agreement dated January 12, 2026. The engines were acquired for a total of $12.2 million […]. The engines are subject to lease agreements with a major airline, as the lessee, which were assigned to the Company as part of the acquisition.
In this case, these engines are used in medium-haul commercial aircraft, such as certain Boeing 737s. Additionally, the contract includes a purchase option of $3 million per engine.
According to our colleagues at CoinDesk, engine leasing is a common practice in the aviation industry, particularly to quickly address breakdowns.
In any case, this primarily signals a new attempt by the company to turn things around, now that the hype surrounding Ethereum Treasury Companies has faded. In fact, since our December 23 article on the sale of 24,291 ETH, ETHZilla’s stock has lost another 17.8% of its value. Since its surge in August, the stock is now down 97%:
ETHZ stock price (daily data)
Before being renamed ETHZilla, the company was known as 180 Life Sciences, which operated in biotechnology before shifting its focus to gaming and entertainment. As the divestment of ETH cash reserves is finalized, we will likely see another rebranding.
