Ethereum treasury firm ETHZilla $ETHZ ( ▼ 0.57% ) just did one of the weirdest pivots in crypto history: it formed a new subsidiary and bought two aircraft engines for $12.2M, according to an 8-K filing Friday.
Yes, literal engines. Not NFTs of engines.
Crypto Meets Commercial Aviation
The purchase was made through a newly formed unit called ETHZilla Aerospace LLC, which acquired two CFM56-7B24 aircraft engines plus all parts, records, and engine stands. Even more interesting, the engines are already tied to lease agreements with a major airline, and those leases were transferred to ETHZilla as part of the deal.
So this isn’t just a random collectible. It’s meant to be a yield-producing asset.
The Real Play: Putting Engines “On-Chain”
ETHZilla has been telling investors its #1 goal in 2026 is expanding into real-world asset tokenization. The company wants to roll out RWA tokens in Q1, and this engine deal is basically the “proof of concept” for the roadmap.
In other words: they’re trying to turn high-value assets like aerospace, maritime, and heavy equipment into tokenized products investors can buy and trade.
Jet Engines as the New Bitcoin?
CEO McAndrew Rudisill previously said ETHZilla would start with aerospace assets like engines and airframes because they’re high-quality, high-yielding, and part of a massive market.
The pitch is simple: stable cash-flow assets + blockchain rails = a new category of tokenized finance.
It’s either genius.
Or crypto has officially reached its “we’re buying jet engines now” era.