Crypto cash company ETHZilla said in a filing with U.S. regulators that it sold part of its Ether holdings to repay outstanding convertible notes amid a broader market slowdown.
The company revealed in a deposit with the Securities and Exchange Commission the sale of 24,291 Ether (ETH) for $74.5 million at an average price of $3,068.69 per token, leaving approximately 69,800 ETH on its balance sheet as of Friday.
The company said it plans to use all or a significant portion of the proceeds to repurchase its outstanding senior secured convertible notes.
ETHZilla renamed 180 Life Sciences Corp on July 29, moving from biotechnology to an ether-focused investment strategy. Until then, the former clinical-stage biotech had seen its shares fall more than 99.9% since its 2020 IPO.
The news comes after ETHZilla announced two acquisitions in December, taking a fully diluted 20% stake in Karus, AI startup in automotive finance and a 15% stake in digital housing lender Zippy.
Shares of the former biotech company closed the trading session down 8.7% on Monday and are down more than 65% year to date, according to Google Finance data.
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Digital asset treasuries reposition as prices fall
In September, Cointelegraph reported that publicly traded companies rose sharply. increase their Bitcoin (BTC) exhibition this year. Data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET shows that more than 190 listed companies now hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, with combined holdings exceeding 5% of the circulating supply of Bitcoin in September.
Ether assessed similar demand from investors. According to CoinGecko data27 public companies collectively hold around 6 million ETH, which also represents around 5% of the circulating token supply.
As Bitcoin retreats from its October 6 record high high from $126,000 and with weakness spreading to all altcoins, including Ether, some digital asset treasury companies are selling assets to strengthen their balance sheets.
At the end of October, treasury company Ether FG Nexus launched sale its coins to fund a share buyback program, liquidating 10,922 ETH alongside a separate debt draw to accelerate buybacks. The proceeds were used to support the repurchase of approximately 3.4 million shares at an average price of approximately $3.45 per share.
In November, Sequans Communications said he bought back 50% of his outstanding convertible debt using the proceeds from the sale of 970 Bitcoins. The transaction reduced the company’s total debt to $94.5 million and the company’s Bitcoin holdings to 2,264 BTC, from 3,234 BTC.
Strategy, the first public company to adopt a Bitcoin treasury strategy, said on Friday sold 4.535 million Class A shares between December 15 and 21, raising $747.8 million in its cash reserves as it weathers the crypto downturn.
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