Biotechs Turn to Digital Coins, Crypto to Boost Stock Prices

Struggling small biotech firms are pivoting into cryptocurrencies, rebranding as 'crypto treasuries' or stockpiling digital assets like Ether and Litecoin as a last-ditch effort to boost share prices amid stalled funding and weak drug pipelines. Bloomberg reports: Shares of 180 Life Sciences Corp., now doing business as ETHZilla, tripled after the Peter Thiel-backed company said it had accumulated Ether tokens worth over $350 million. Less than two weeks later, the stock's gains have been erased. In July, Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings soared 243% in one volatile session on plans to transform into a public crypto treasury while MEI Pharma Inc. initially doubled on plans to sell shares to fund a Litecoin treasury.

Such about-faces are a tried-and-true formula for small firms when funds are low and shares are under pressure. For drugmakers it can be a sudden shift to chase after trendy new treatment targets, still other companies rebrand with buzzwords like artificial intelligence to juice returns. Now some biotech executives are using digital coins to pump new life into flagging shares. So far in 2025, at least 10 biotechs have announced a pivot into digital assets. The announcements frequently spark frenzied, but short-lived, spikes in shares. 'If they're low on ideas, if they can't find relevance in drug development, they're going to try to justify their existence as management in another way,' according to Mike Taylor, lead portfolio manager of the Simplify Health Care ETF. 'You have a handful of companies trying to reinvent themselves into some other tangent. And, most, if not all won't work out.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.