180 Life Sciences Rebrands as ETHZilla, Unleashes $425M Ethereum Treasury Raise

180 Life Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: ATNF) has revealed plans to transform its business strategy with a major crypto change by rebranding to “ETHZilla” and adopting Ethereum as the central asset in its treasury reserve.

The company is supported by over 60 institutional and crypto-native investors. This move establishes ETHZilla as a publicly traded company adopting Ethereum.

Private Placement and ETH Strategy

The company’s planned $425 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) will fund the initial treasury allocation. The deal, expected to close on or around August 1, includes registration rights for investors and authorizes the sale of an additional $150 million in debt securities.

Upon closing, proceeds will primarily be used to purchase ETH, fund general corporate expenses, and cover transaction costs. Electric Capital will serve as the external asset manager, tasked with building an on-chain yield generation program that goes beyond standard staking.

The strategy will include a mix of lending, liquidity provisioning, and structured agreements, seeking to optimize ETH yield while maintaining risk controls.

Crypto-Native Backing and Governance

ETHZilla’s PIPE is backed by a deep bench of prominent names from both traditional and decentralized finance. Among them are Polychain Capital, Harbour Island, GSR, Omicron Technologies, and leaders such as Konstantin Lomashuk (Lido), Sreeram Kannan (Eigenlayer), Robert Leshner (Compound), and Vivek Raman (Etherealize).

The existing management team will stay in place post-transaction. McAndrew Rudisill is set to become chairman of the board. He explains that the Ethereum network, with a market capitalization of over $450 billion, represents a foundational layer for new developments in stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Rudisill describes the initiative as a pathway for investors to gain exposure to Ethereum’s potential through a public company structure.

Partnership with Etherealize and the DeFi Council

A central part of the company’s transition involves collaboration with Etherealize, a crypto-native firm with strong Ethereum ties. Etherealize will help shape ETHZilla’s treasury deployment and provide continued strategic support.

A newly formed “DeFi Council,” composed of builders from leading DeFi protocols, will advise on how to responsibly and creatively grow the company’s ETH holdings.

SharpLink Is the Largest Public Holder of Ethereum

Currently, SharpLink Gaming is the leading public company holding Ethereum, now controlling 360,807 ETH—valued at approximately $1.33 billion—according to fresh data from analytics platform CoinGecko.

What sets SharpLink apart is not just the size of its ETH treasury, but how it’s used. The company reports that over 95% of its Ethereum is either staked or deployed through liquid staking platforms.