180 Life Sciences set to raise $425 million for Ethereum treasury, plans rebrand to 'ETHZilla'

180 Life Sciences, a Nasdaq-listed biotechnology company currently shifting its focus toward software-enabled gaming and entertainment, plans to adopt an Ethereum treasury strategy and rebrand to "ETHZilla Corporation."

To support the move, the company has entered into a $425 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) agreement with over 60 participants, including Electric Capital, Polychain Capital, GSR, Konstantin Lomashuk (co-founder of Lido and p2p.org), Sreeram Kannan (founder of Eigenlayer), Danny Ryan, Vivek Raman and Grant Hummer (co-founders of Etherealize), Robert Leshner (founder of Compound and Superstate), and Tarun Chitra (founder of Gauntlet).

The PIPE transaction is expected to close on or around Aug. 1, subject to customary closing conditions. Net proceeds will primarily be used to acquire ETH, as well as for general corporate purposes and transaction-related expenses. The company also has approval to issue up to $150 million in debt securities in a follow-on offering.

Electric Capital will serve as ETHZilla’s external asset manager and lead the implementation of an on-chain yield strategy. The approach aims to outperform traditional ETH staking by combining staking, lending, liquidity provisioning, and bespoke private agreements.

"Our strategy at closing aims to allow investors to access exposure to a strong-yield potential ecosystem at the heart of the stablecoin and tokenized asset markets," said McAndrew Rudisill, who is expected to become chairman of the board of 180 Life Sciences at closing. Etherealize’s Raman is expected to serve as a strategic advisor.

180 Life Sciences (ticker ATNF), which currently has a market cap of around $17 million, said it aims to differentiate itself from other Ethereum treasury firms by working closely with ecosystem builders and using its ETH reserve not only to generate yield, but to support the broader Ethereum network.

"At closing, Etherealize and a consortium of leading DeFi builders will act as a DeFi Council to offer input to the company on how it may use its treasury to generate outsized yield while also benefiting the Ethereum ecosystem," the company said. "The DeFi Council team members bring extensive experience as the creators of many of the critical DeFi protocols in use today."

Clear Street LLC served as financial advisor and exclusive placement agent for the PIPE offering. Legal advisors included The Loev Law Firm and Reed Smith for the company, and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian and Paul Hastings for Electric Capital and the placement agent, respectively.

The move by 180 Life Sciences comes amid a broader surge in Ethereum-focused treasury companies . According to a recent report from Standard Chartered Bank , ETH treasury firms have already acquired 1% of all ETH in circulation — 1.26 million ETH — in just two months. The bank expects ETH treasury holdings to grow tenfold, eventually reaching 10% of all ETH in circulation. It noted that ETH treasury strategies may offer greater upside than their bitcoin counterparts, due to access to staking yields and DeFi opportunities not yet available to traditional ETFs.