Forum Markets

What Forum Markets does

Forum Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ: FRMM) is a publicly traded institutional technology platform that securitizes real-world assets (RWAs) as compliant digital securities on Ethereum Layer 2 infrastructure (Arbitrum). The company originates and structures tokenized products across aviation, manufactured housing, and auto finance through equity stakes in asset originators including Karus (20%, AI-driven auto finance) and Zippy (15%, manufactured housing lending), and distributes them via a partnership with Liquidity.io's SEC-registered Digital Alternative Trading System. Its flagship product, Eurus Aero Token I, offers accredited investors fractional ownership in commercial jet engines leased to a leading U.S. airline through subsidiary ETHZilla Aerospace, with contractual lease terms extending into 2028 and a target return of 11%.

Forum Markets generates revenue through three streams: aircraft engine rentals (recurring lease income from jet engines acquired for ~$12.2 million), on-chain staking of digital assets, and transaction fees from structuring and distributing tokenized asset offerings. The platform architecture combines regulated broker-dealer infrastructure, qualified custody, institutional settlement, and Ethereum Layer 2 issuance rails to serve accredited and institutional investors seeking fractional access to historically illiquid private assets. Pricing is unit-based for tokenized products (e.g., $100 per token with $1,000 minimum for Eurus Aero) while institutional placements are negotiated.

The company underwent two strategic pivots within 12 months: it rebranded from 180 Life Sciences Corp. (biotech, founded 2013) to ETHZilla Corporation in August 2025 after raising $565 million to pursue an Ethereum treasury strategy, then rebranded again to Forum Markets in February-March 2026 as ETH prices declined and the treasury thesis unraveled. Forum Markets is headquartered in Palm Beach, Florida, operates with a small team (1-10 employees), and is led by a recently refreshed executive and board team including CFO John T. Saunders and SVP of Corporate Communications John D. Kristoff.

Name

Forum Markets

Legal name

Forum Markets, Incorporated

Website

https://ethzilla.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Forum Markets (NASDAQ: FRMM) is a publicly traded platform that securitizes real-world assets including aviation, manufactured housing, and auto loans as compliant digital securities on Ethereum Layer 2, serving accredited and institutional investors through regulated broker-dealer and ATS partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Asset Tokenization / Real-World Asset Securitization

NAICS

Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation (523150), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (5232), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211), Asset-Backed Securities (6189)

akta.pro primary industry

Prime Brokerage & Institutional Trading Services (FSAPADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Institutional Spot Exchanges & Broker-Dealers (FSADAAAC), Marketplace & Loan Aggregation Platforms (Borrower-Lender Matching) (FSAGAHAL)

Keywords

• Digital asset tokenization
• Real-world assets
• Securitization platform
• Ethereum Layer 2
• Institutional blockchain

Headquarters

HQ city

Menlo Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Aircraft Engine Rentals: Revenue generated from leasing commercial jet engines to leading US airlines. The company acquired jet engines for approximately $12.2 million and leases them under contractual terms extending into 2028, generating rental income.
2. Staking Activities: Revenue from blockchain staking activities related to ETH holdings. Generated $2.9 million in Q1 2026 from aircraft engine rentals and staking combined, up from zero revenue in the prior year period.
3. Real-World Asset Tokenization Services: Revenue generated through tokenizing real-world assets including manufactured home loans, auto loans, and aviation assets. The company partners with originators like Karus and Zippy to bring assets on-chain and generate fees from structuring and distribution.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Forum Markets is an institutional technology platform that securitizes real-world assets as compliant digital securities on Ethereum Layer 2. The company partners with vetted asset originators (e.g., Zippy for aircraft engine leasing through Karus) to structure, issue, and distribute regulated tokenized offerings such as the Eurus aerospace engine product, then sells units to qualified institutional and accredited investors. Core revenue is generated through token issuance, management fees embedded in unit pricing, and underlying asset cash flows (e.g., aircraft engine leasing income).

Product overview

Forum Markets is an institutional technology platform for securitizing real-world assets (RWAs) as compliant digital securities on Ethereum Layer 2 networks. The platform is built on SEC-registered trading infrastructure and regulated broker-dealer partnerships, connecting asset originators (including Karus for auto loans and Zippy for manufactured home loans) through underwriting, token issuance, and regulated market access. Core product offerings include aircraft engine leasing (generating rental revenue), Eurus Aero Token I (a tokenized aviation asset on Arbitrum), manufactured home loan tokenization via Zippy, auto loan portfolio tokenization via Karus, and on-chain staking activities — all unified under a single institutional platform architecture for broad distribution and secondary liquidity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Eurus Aero Token I: Tokenized aviation product backed by leased commercial jet engines, offering accredited investors fractional ownership with an estimated 11% return based on engine leases extending into 2028.

Products and services

• Forum Markets Platform Core institutional platform that securitizes real-world assets as compliant digital securities on Ethereum Layer 2, with end-to-end legal structuring, on-chain issuance, custody, and distribution to qualified investors.
• Eurus (ETHZilla Aerospace Token I) Tokenized aircraft engine leasing offering issued by ETHZilla Aerospace and distributed via Forum Markets, giving qualified investors fractional exposure to leasing cash flows from a pool of commercial aircraft engines.
• Karus (powered by Zippy) Aircraft engine tokenization product structured in partnership with Zippy and distributed through Forum Markets, enabling compliant digital-security exposure to underlying engine leasing economics.

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• ETHZilla AerospaceflagshipTechnology or Integration · 22 December 2025Subsidiary entity created for aviation asset tokenization, launching products like Eurus Aero Token I backed by leased jet engines. Assets managed on Ethereum Layer 2 network Arbitrum with contractual lease terms extending into 2028.
• ZippycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2025Acquired 15% stake in Zippy, a digital lender focused on manufactured housing, for $21.1 million ($5 million cash and stock) to tokenize US home loans on blockchain. Deal includes 36-month exclusivity for blockchain infrastructure and digital asset issuance. Targets $14 billion manufactured home loan market segment.
• KaruscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 December 2025Acquired 20% interest in Karus, an AI platform for auto finance decisioning, for $10 million ($3 million cash and $7 million stock). Integration enables tokenization of auto-loan assets using Karus's AI models and extensive auto-loan data network. Target listing of tokenized auto-loan portfolios expected early 2026.
• Liquidity.iocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 October 2025Strategic partnership with Liquidity.io, a regulated broker-dealer and operator of a Digital Alternative Trading System, to enhance tokenization of real-world assets and expand investor access to compliant digital securities. Forum invested $15 million for a 15% stake in Satschel, Inc. (parent of Liquidity.io) to support growth in securitizing RWAs through Ethereum Layer 2 networks.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Securitize: Securitize is the leading regulated digital-securities issuance and transfer agent platform, directly comparable to Forum's RWA tokenization business across securities infrastructure, compliance rails, and institutional distribution.
• Centrifuge: Centrifuge tokenizes real-world credit assets (invoices, receivables, lending portfolios) on-chain — directly overlapping with Forum's Karus-driven auto-loan and Zippy manufactured-housing loan tokenization roadmap.
• Ondo Finance: Ondo tokenizes yield-bearing real-world assets (especially U.S. Treasuries and money-market instruments) with institutional-grade compliance — a comparable RWA tokenization issuer competing for the same institutional capital pool.
• Figure Technologies: Figure uses blockchain infrastructure to originate and securitize real-world credit assets (HELOCs, mortgage, business loans) — directly comparable to Forum's origination-plus-tokenization model for consumer and housing credit.
• Polymath: Polymath provides a tokenization platform for regulated securities with built-in compliance, mirroring Forum's regulated-digital-securities focus across multiple asset classes.

Emerging players

• RealT: RealT fractionalizes U.S. rental real estate into tokenized shares — a comparable but narrower emerging player in the consumer-accessible RWA tokenization market that Forum's aviation and lending products address.
• Maple Finance: Maple is a tokenized on-chain credit market for institutional borrowers — overlapping with Forum's lending-asset tokenization ambitions but focused on undercollateralized institutional loans rather than consumer credit.

Broad incumbents

• WisdomTree: WisdomTree has launched regulated tokenized money-market and Treasury products on Ethereum — a traditional asset manager now competing in the same regulated RWA tokenization arena that Forum targets with its Eurus Aero and loan products.
• Galaxy Digital: Galaxy is a diversified crypto financial-services firm spanning trading, asset management, and digital-asset infrastructure — broadly comparable to Forum's combined staking, asset-leasing, and tokenization strategy as a public-market vehicle for digital-asset exposure.
• tZERO: tZERO operates a regulated alternative trading system for digital securities — the same regulated ATS architecture Forum accesses via its Liquidity.io stake, making it a comparable incumbent in the regulated digital-securities venue space.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/180lifesciences
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ethzilla

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments4 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forum Markets