ETHZilla Launches Jet Engine Lease-Backed Token Amid Tokenization Shift
ETHZilla, a crypto treasury company, has a new token that is linked to jet engine rentals. The project is a change from the company’s original goal of holding Ether, putting it at the forefront of asset tokenization.
ETHZilla’s subsidiary, ETHZilla Aerospace, unveiled the Eurus Aero Token I on Thursday. The token gives people the chance to own a piece of two commercial jet engines that the company bought last month and is now leasing to a major US airline. A minimum of 10 tokens must be bought at a time, and each token costs $100.
The company says that investors who hold the investment through the lease term, which runs until 2028, will receive an 11% return. ETHZilla was once a clinical-stage biotech company called 180 Life Sciences Corp.
In July, it switched to cryptocurrency and became one of the new generation of . This most recent change is part of a larger industry trend to tokenized real assets to make them easier to purchase and trade.
Making Aviation Investments More Available
McAndrew Rudisill, the chairman and CEO of ETHZilla, the importance of the token in making high-value markets more open to everyone. “This project opens up investment opportunities and brings fractional asset ownership up to date in markets that have only been open to institutional credit and private equity in the past,” Rudisill said.
He also talked about how can be used in the aviation industry: “Offering a token backed by engines leased to one of the largest and most profitable US airlines is a strong example of how blockchain infrastructure can be used to manage aviation assets with contracted cash flows and global investment demand.”
In January, ETHZilla purchased the jet engines for $12.2 million. Part of the money came from tradeing some of the Ether it had from the previous year. This purchase is part of a planned effort to diversify beyond just purchaseing cryptocurrencies.
Change from Crypto Treasury to a Wider tokenization
In December, Rudisill said that ETHZilla is moving away from being just a crypto treasury and toward developing a business based on on-chain asset tokenization. Last year, crypto treasury companies saw significant growth and excitement, but now that the market has cooled, companies like ETHZilla are looking for new ways to make money.
ETHZilla to add tokens for additional asset types, such as home and vehicle loans, to its tokenization initiatives in the future. Industry insiders say tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are poised to grow significantly.
Some crypto leaders think will increase significantly in 2026 because people in developing countries who are having trouble accessing finance and attracting foreign investment will begin using them. Data from RWA.xyz shows that as of Friday, more than 846,808 people hold RWAs totalling more than $24 billion on the blockchain.
ETHZilla’s Ether Holdings Are Changing
ETHZilla’s cryptocurrency reserves have changed as the company has changed its strategy. A filing with the in September showed that the corporation had 102,246 Ether, which it bought for an average price of about $3,948, or $443 million at the time.
Recent estimates differ: Strategic Ether reserves show that ETHZilla holds more than 93,000 ETH, valued at over $188 million. CoinGecko, on the other hand, says the stockpile is worth roughly $136 million and has about 69,802 Ether.
Ether’s price has followed the general market, fluctuating between $1,872 and $2,130 in the last week. ETHZilla aims to connect traditional finance with blockchain through its token launch. It might set a precedent for tokenized aviation assets in a market increasingly focused on liquidity and new ideas.
