‘Horse has left the barn:’ ETHZilla bets big on Ethereum’s stablecoin play

ETHZilla CEO McAndrew Rudisill has revealed he made the decision to go all in on Ethereum after seeing its potential in the nearly trillion-dollar global remittance market.

Two months later, his formerly floundering biotechnology company is now the eighth-largest public Ethereum treasury in the world.

“Ethereum is effectively a gateway for money supply globally to transmit in US dollars,” ETHZilla CEO McAndrew Rudisill told Cointelegraph.

The company began life as Life Sciences Corp, a Nasdaq-listed biotechnology firm, which rebranded as ETHZilla Corporation in July, shortly after the US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, aiming to establish rules for stablecoins. 

“There are a lot of real-world asset applications that you’re going to be able to use Ethereum for, and they are on their way right now,” he said, noting Ethereum’s function as a store of value as well. 

ETHZilla is the eighth-largest Ether (ETH) treasury company out of 69 listed and holds over 102,000 tokens.

Rudisill said the company decided to move ahead with Ether specifically because the “race is on right now,” to determine which blockchain is the best, and the “horse has left the barn,” on Ethereum.  

Since pivoting into Ether, ETHZilla Corporation has acquired over 102,000 tokens for its treasury. Source: StrategicEtherReserve

“A lot of the new networks that have been created on layer 2s are actually going to be networks that interface with what we would call traditional finance activities in the world today, whether it be structured credit, all kinds of Wall Street applications.”

ETHZilla wants “as much Ether as possible”

BitMine Immersion Technologies is the largest Ether treasury company, with 2.65 million tokens, worth over $11 billion, and has set a goal of holding 5% of the token supply.

Rudisill said ETHZilla doesn’t have a set number in mind but wants to acquire “as much Ether as possible,” and put it to “work in a variety of different L2 protocols,” to generate “substantially higher yield” than normal staking.

Source: ETHZilla

“We are taking the cash from the Ether to be deployed to buy more and effectively help further build out the L2 network, because that’s ultimately what’s going to allow Ethereum to expand,” Rudisill said.

“The reason ETHZilla exists is because we want to be that bridge between what’s going on with traditional finance and what’s going on in the digital finance world. So having a lot of Ethereum helps us to do that.” 

Ether price will rise off back of stablecoin growth

Ether is trading hands for $4,148, according to CoinGecko, and has been moving between $3,846 and $4,226 over the last seven days.

Rudisill predicts that a price of $20,000 for Ether in the next few years isn’t entirely unreasonable, because the price has been in a consolidation pattern for years and is poised to break out on the back of stablecoin growth.

“Once it breaks through $5,000, I think it’s actually going to be a function of the underlying base load on the infrastructure just being so tight that it’s going to push each level up one. And I think we’re actually there right now.”

The GENIUS Act is still awaiting final regulations before implementation, but analysts have also predicted it will be a key driver for the market.

Meanwhile, there are already $158 billion in stablecoin transactions on the Ethereum network, according to data analytics platform DefiLlama, compared to $77 billion on the second-largest network, Tron. 

More Ether companies will likely pop up  

In total, Ether treasury companies hold 5.5 million Ether — around 4.54% of the token supply. Rudisill speculates that there may be more companies taking the plunge, but is also skeptical that all will survive in the long term. 

“I think there’s going to be a wide disparity in quality, management teams, and I think there’s many that don’t really have a business model that’s built around it to sustain the business,” he said.

At the same time, Rudisill thinks more governments will start to get involved in crypto too as they battle to avoid missing the boat.

Related: Solana treasury race heats up as firms hunt staking rewards

“There’s a general acceptance that the financial infrastructure that we have in a lot of places is antiquated, and they do recognize that and if they don’t sort of get involved in what’s going on with digital assets, then they’re going to get left behind,” Rudisill said.

“And that’s why, I think you’ve seen large banks and financial institutions and people start talking about other digital assets and accepting Bitcoin as collateral, just because we’re in a transition period globally.” 

Founded in 2016 as a clinical-stage biotechnology firm, Life Sciences went public in 2020, but after its initial public offering, the stock plunged by over 99% in the last five years. 

The sharp decline was attributed mainly to a lack of revenue and mounting losses, but since ETHZilla’s Ether pivot, the stock has registered a gain of 44% for the year, with its best-performing month coming in August when it rocketed to $10.70.

Since its pivot into crypto, ETHZilla stock has registered a 44% gain year-to-date. Source: Google Finance 

Rudisill said that while it’s true many small public companies without a clear path forward either get restructured or delisted, ETHZilla is different.

“We are not just a crypto treasury play, we are building a cash-flow generating layer-2 protocol business with over $1 billion in assets,” he said.

“Our focus is on long-term technology development and real utility, not short-term financial maneuvers. The rebrand and pivot reflect a clear strategy for growth and innovation, not a reactionary move to stock performance.”

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