ETHZilla liquidates $74.5M in Ether to redeem convertible debt

Nate Kostar 5 minutes ago ETHZilla liquidates $74.5M in Ether to redeem convertible debt The transaction highlights growing pressure on crypto treasury companies to prioritize debt reduction as token prices remain volatile. Listen 0:00 News COINTELEGRAPH IN YOUR SOCIAL FEED Crypto treasury company ETHZilla said in a filing with US regulators that it sold part of its Ether holdings to repay outstanding convertible notes amid a broader market downturn. The company disclosed in a filing 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 about 69,800 ETH on its balance sheet as of Friday. The company said it expects to use all or a significant portion of the proceeds to redeem its outstanding senior secured convertible notes. ETHZilla rebranded from 180 Life Sciences Corp on July 29, pivoting away 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 going public in 2020. The news comes after ETHZilla announced two acquisitions in December, taking a 20% fully diluted stake in automotive-finance AI startup Karus and a 15% stake in digital housing lender Zippy . The former biotech company’s stock closed the trading session declining 8.7% on Monday and is down more than 65% year-to-date, according to Google Finance data. Source: Google Finance Related: Metaplanet clears issuance of dividend-paying shares for overseas institutions Digital asset treasuries reposition as prices drop In September, Cointelegraph reported that publicly traded companies have sharply increased their Bitcoin ( BTC ) exposure 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 Bitcoin’s circulating supply in September. Ether has gauged similar demand from investors. According to CoinGecko data , 27 public companies collectively hold about 6 million ETH, also representing about 5% of the token's circulating supply. Ether Treasury Holdings. Source: CoinGecko With Bitcoin retreating from its Oct. 6 record high of $126,000 and weakness spreading across altcoins including Ether, some digital-asset treasury companies are selling assets to strengthen their balance sheets. In late October, Ether treasury company FG Nexus began selling its coins to fund a share repurchase 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 about $3.45 per share. In November, Sequans Communications said it redeemed 50% of its outstanding convertible debt using proceeds from the sale of 970 Bitcoin. The transaction reduced total debt to $94.5 million and cut the company’s Bitcoin holdings to 2,264 BTC, down from 3,234 BTC. On Friday, Strategy, the first public company to adopt a Bitcoin treasury strategy, said it sold 4.535 million shares of Class A stock between Dec. 15 and Dec. 21, raising $747.8 million to its cash reserves as it navigates the crypto downturn. Magazine: Big questions: Would Bitcoin survive a 10-year power outage? # Altcoins # Ethereum # Bitcoin Price # MicroStrategy Add reaction