One of the five largest Ethereum treasury companies has sold a large portion of its ETH. This has sparked a new discussion about whether institutional parties are turning bearish on Ethereum or simply managing their balance sheet risks.
ETHZilla announced that it sold 24.291 ETH for approximately $74.5 million. This was part of an early repayment of its senior secured convertible notes.
ETHZilla sells Ethereum to pay off debt
The company indicated that it will use all or a large part of the proceeds to repay outstanding debts. These repayments are scheduled for New Year's Eve.
Simply put, ETHZilla sold Ether to pay off loans, not because it expects the Ethereum price to decline. Senior secured convertible notes take priority in repayment and usually must be paid in cash.
Selling liquid assets like ETH is a common way to meet such obligations.
The company has also announced it will stop its mNAV dashboard. Previously, this tracked the Ethereum holdings and net worth.
ETHZilla believes that valuation in the future should focus more on revenue and cash flow from the Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization business, and not just on crypto treasury.
This step mainly shows a strategic shift, not a surrender. ETHZilla chooses to focus on a functioning business model around RWA tokenization, and less on the story of crypto treasury.
Ethereum remains on the balance sheet, but is no longer the core of the investment thesis.
For the market, the sale mainly represents a one-time, practical selling pressure related to debt repayment. It is not a sign of a broader institutional exit from Ethereum.
Nevertheless, the company's stock price has significantly dropped after today's news.
ETHZilla's stock dropped nearly 5% after the sale news. Source: Google Finance
Ethereum recently traded around the $3,000 level. This marked a recovery from lows of around $2,900 in mid-December after the price moved sideways for weeks.
Due to broader uncertainty around risky assets, little liquidity around the end of the year, and fluctuating institutional flows, ETH continues to oscillate within a range.
In such a situation, loose treasury sales usually have little lasting effect unless it indicates a broader trend — and there seems to be none at present.
Recent purchases and sales elsewhere
Other notable examples show that institutional behavior around Ethereum remains mixed, not clear-cut.
Earlier this month, on-chain data revealed that Arthur Hayes moved millions of dollars in ETH to institutional parties and centralized platforms.
This was often interpreted as a sale, but Hayes himself indicated it was about portfolio rotation to specific DeFi positions, and not an exit from Ethereum.
BitMine Immersion Technologies, connected to Tom Lee, continued to buy more ETH in December.
The most recent purchase by BitMine was on December 22, as an addition to an increasingly larger treasury built up during price declines.
In short, ETHZilla sold due to debts and business adjustments, not because of a bearish outlook for Ethereum.
Recent activities of treasury companies show a market where rebalancing, selective buildup, and balance discipline are important — not massive institutional sell-offs.
