Publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm ETHZilla has launched a tokenised aviation asset product after purchasing two CFM56 jet engines for roughly $12.2 million and leasing them to a major US air carrier.
The offering, structured through its wholly owned subsidiary ETHZilla Aerospace, provides accredited investors with tokenised exposure to equity in the leased engines via the Eurus Aero Token I deployed on the Arbitrum layer-2 network.
"Offering a token backed by engines leased to one of the largest and most profitable U.S. airlines serves as a strong use case in applying blockchain infrastructure to aviation assets with contracted cash flows and global investment demand,”
Said ETHZilla Chairman and CEO, McAndrew Rudisill.
The firm is issuing 30,000 tokens priced at $100 each with a minimum investment of $1,000, targeting an approximate 11% return over the lease term extending into 2028, though it cautioned actual returns may differ materially.
Monthly cash flows generated by the leased engines will be distributed on-chain to token holders, with each token secured by collateral including the engines, lease receivables, reserves and insurance proceeds.
Shares in ETHZilla rose around 5% to $3.40 on the day but remain down roughly 31% over the past month as Ethereum itself has fallen nearly 40% in 30 days to about $1,919.
The pivot into real-world asset tokenisation follows earlier efforts to bolster shareholder value, including a $250 million buyback programme and the sale of $40 million in Ethereum holdings, as competition intensifies among listed Ethereum treasury firms seeking new return streams.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $1,932.17.