ETHZilla shares rise 13 percent after rebranding to Forum Markets

The listed company ETHZilla is changing its name again and will henceforth continue as Forum Markets. It wants to focus entirely on tokenization. Investors immediately responded enthusiastically, as the share rose by 13 percent yesterday. This means that the market seems to have confidence in the new course for the time being.

Farewell to crypto treasury

The name change is accompanied by a new ticker symbol. If regulator Nasdaq agrees, it will become FRMM. With the rebranding, the company wants to distance itself from its previous strategy, in which it mainly bought and held Ethereum (ETH) as part of a crypto treasury approach.

According to chairman and CEO McAndrew Rudisill, the move is logical. “Forum represents our belief that the next generation of financial markets will be built around institutional, on-chain products backed by real assets, driven by transparency and delivered through regulated infrastructure,” said Rudisill.

Second rebrand in one year

The name change is the second rebrand in less than twelve months. The company, which originally started as a biotech company under the name 180 Life Sciences, switched to a crypto strategy in July 2025 and called itself ETHZilla.

The company then started buying Ether en masse, amid the hype around exchange companies putting cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets. Now the company is once again opting for a new identity and is fully focusing on tokenization.

The strategy around Ether initially caused a spectacular rally. In August 2025, the share peaked at $107, approximately at the same time as the Ether price touched almost $4,950. However, that optimism did not last. Due to the broad decline in the crypto market, ETHZilla also had to make significant losses. The stock has fallen more than 20 percent since the beginning of this year.

Still owns 69,802 Ethereum

In December, Rudisill announced that the company was once again changing direction. This time towards tokenization of so-called real world assets (RWA). This means that tangible assets are converted via blockchain into digital tokens that can be traded.

Forum has now purchased two commercial jet engines that are leased to a major American airline. On this basis, a token was launched earlier this month under the name Eurus Aero Token I. Investors can thus indirectly participate in the proceeds of these assets.

It is striking that Forum still owns 69,802 Ether. At a price of approximately $2,060, this represents a value of approximately $143.7 million. According to figures from EthereumTreasuries, this makes it the seventh largest listed holder of the cryptocurrency.