Peter Thiel lost tens of millions in ETHZilla

Peter Thiel, as of December 31, has fully divested from ETHZilla, his ether (ETH) gobbling company that’s currently down 98% from its 52-week high.

Those sales finalize losses for Thiel’s investment that exceeded $200 million at the company’s brief, exuberant peak in August.

On August 4 last year, ETHZilla (under its prior Nasdaq-listed name, 180 Life Sciences) closed a $425 million private investment in public equity (PIPE).

Separately, Thiel’s funds had also invested by August 4, 2025, disclosing aggregate beneficial ownership of 11,592,241 shares. Thiel’s quantity was then worth about $40 million or 7.52% of 180 Life Sciences’ 154,032,084 shares outstanding.

Although charts show an ETHZ trading range of $27.22-$35.70 on the day before Thiel’s investment, that price reflects a one-for-10 reverse share split that occurred in October. 

In actual fact, Thiel’s 11.5 million beneficially-owned shares were trading at $2.72-$3.57 the day prior to his investment, imputing an investment of approximately $40 million based on their $3.54 closing print on August 1, 2025.

He disclosed his ownership the following trading day, as required by SEC regulations.

Within two weeks of his investment, his pre-split shares rocketed from $3.54 to $17.46 on August 13 after the former biotech company announced a host of crypto investors and an ETH acquisition strategy that was enjoying a brief mania in digital asset treasury (DAT) stocks.

Read more: Even Ethereum treasury companies are selling ETH to pay off debt

ETHZilla is down 98% from its August peak

Marked-to-market at the company’s August peak, Thiel and his funds owned over $200 million worth of stock.

Unfortunately, he hung on for months of losses.

Although Thiel trimmed his exposure from 7.5% to 5.6% by September 30, he continued to hold the vast majority of his shares — and their dwindling value.

He wouldn’t sell the entire position until the fourth quarter — after shares had lost over 85% of their August peak value.

By the time he’d sold everything, shares were down 86% from Thiel’s August 1 closing price and 97% from their August 13 peak.

As of today, shares are down 98% from their high.

Although Thiel isn’t required to disclose his average sale prices on SEC 13G schedules, approximating his losses is elementary math. 

If Thiel beneficially owned approximately $40 million as of his opening investment, he certainly lost tens of millions of dollars by the time he sold.

From their fleeting value above $200 million, he let well over $100 million — probably more than $150 million — in paper value evaporate.

Losses from his starting investment size likely exceed $30 million from August 1 to the average trading range during the periods in which he was selling.

Note: Above figures about Thiel’s investments include all of the funds through which he invested in ETHZilla (formerly 180 Life Sciences):

• FF Consumer Growth, LLC
• FF Consumer Growth II, LP
• The Founders Fund Growth Management, LLC
• The Founders Fund Growth II Management, LP
• Peter Thiel
• FF Upper Tier GP, LLC

Got a tip? Send us an email securely via Protos Leaks. For more informed news, follow us on X, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.