Earlier this month Bitcoin treasury firm ZOOZ Technique (Nasdaq: ZOOZ; TASE: ZOOZ) CEO Jordan Fried visited Israel for conferences with buyers. For the reason that Israeli firm modified its discipline of exercise final summer season – from kinetic vitality to investing in Bitcoin – ZOOZ’s inventory has misplaced 84% and is buying and selling at a market cap of $87 million, which is even decrease than the worth of the Bitcoin it holds, bought at a median value larger than its present value.
Nevertheless, it’s tough to overlook Fried’s nice optimism, each on Bitcoin and ZOOZ’s technique. “The volatility within the value of Bitcoin is a function, not a bug,” he tells “Globes.” “Each funding channel that institutional buyers begin to undertake initially suffers from volatility. After I began investing in Bitcoin in 2013, they advised me I used to be loopy; I used to be the ‘black sheep’ of the household, they advised me to not discuss it on Seder evening,” he laughs. “At present, BlackRock and Constancy are issuing ETFs (exchange-traded funds) on Bitcoin, and academics’ and firefighters’ pension funds are invested straight in Bitcoin.”
Basically, Fried sees Bitcoin as probably the most necessary innovations in human historical past: “Folks can ship cash to the opposite aspect of the world with none middlemen in between,” he enthuses. “Bitcoin broke the monopoly of a state foreign money, and we’re beginning to see international locations adopting it as authorized tender.”
ZOOZ Technique, previously ZOOZ Energy, held its IPO on the Tel Aviv Inventory Alternate (TASE) in 2021 as an organization creating kinetic vitality storage expertise, and was later merged with a SPAC within the US however struggled on Wall Avenue. Final summer season, after the inventory plunged, Zooz started exploring strategic choices, and the method culminated within the choice to lift funding and turn out to be a Bitcoin treasury firm. Treasury corporations deal with buying and holding digital belongings, primarily cryptocurrencies, and up to now yr the variety of these corporations has elevated and has been a outstanding development on Wall Avenue. The businesses present buyers with publicity to cryptocurrencies.
Following his grandfather: “A love story with the State of Israel”
As a part of the transfer, Fried was appointed CEO, after having based and managed blockchain ventures, and even earlier than that, he had produced an exit from a cybersecurity startup he had based. His employment settlement consists of an annual wage of $1, together with blocked shares, a few of which is able to mature topic to a rise within the share value.
Till about two years in the past, Fried had neither dreamed nor deliberate to run a public firm in Tel Aviv, however October 7 led to a serious change for him. “My story with the State of Israel is a love story,” says Fried. He recounts that his grandfather, Yossi Dagan, immigrated to Israel from Germany in 1933, joined the Irgun as an adolescent, and fought within the Conflict of Independence. Though he left Israel, his grandfather returned to assist every time battle broke out: “He at all times left all the pieces and was keen to danger his life. On October 7, I knew that if he had been nonetheless alive, he would have gotten on the aircraft. I did it in his place.”
That very same day, Fried obtained a name from a buddy asking for assist chartering a aircraft for reservists who had been stranded in Los Angeles and needed to get to Israel. He flew to Los Angeles and determined to affix the flight to Israel, “despite the fact that I solely had denims and a T-shirt on, and my passport.” Throughout a refueling cease in Europe, he was interviewed by US TV channels, “and I cried like a child. ‘Loopy’ persons are coming residence to battle. That is my grandfather’s legacy.”
Fried later labored as a part of the Israel Pals of the IDF, which raised tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} and helped – from buying tools for troopers, to meals, to treating troopers with post-traumatic stress dysfunction. “It was wonderful, however then I got here to the conclusion that I used to be 36 years previous and nonetheless did not wish to be a full-time philanthropist,” he says. That is how he started enterprise initiatives in Israel. “I am fortunate – I offered a software program firm on the age of 26, I used to be in the fitting place on the proper time. I considered how I might assist, not simply with kindness.”
Till regulatory approval, simply purchase the share
Amongst different issues, Fried has based an organization that brings overseas employees to Israel from Asian international locations, and invested in personal corporations that he’s keen to reveal are primarily within the fields of defense-tech and vitality. “All of that is during the last 24 months. Out of the blue I seemed and stated, ‘Wow, you can also make some huge cash in Israel.’ There are numerous serial entrepreneurs right here, and that is how Silicon Valley was constructed. I additionally actually just like the capital market in Israel.” Sooner or later, he hopes to immigrate to Israel: “Earlier than, I might come right here as a vacationer, in the present day I’m welcomed like a brother. That is residence.”
What’s ZOOZ’s relative benefit over different funding companies that spend money on Bitcoin?
“The benefit stems from the truth that, sadly, Israelis have regulatory difficulties shopping for Bitcoin and bringing it to a checking account in Israel. It isn’t unattainable – I attempted it myself, however Israeli banks will maintain the cash for 30-90 days till they approve it, and I do not blame them as a result of that is how US banks had been till just a few years in the past. Our resolution says: do not buy Bitcoin, anticipate Israeli banks to fill the gaps. You will get publicity to Bitcoin by Zooz inventory, and you do not even need to convert shekels to {dollars}. We expect each Israeli firm ought to take into consideration transferring a part of its steadiness sheet to Bitcoin.”
ZOOZ lately revealed a technique that features a number of elements, together with: optimizing conventional operations and lowering prices; bettering transparency; and producing returns and strategic enlargement. Fried explains, “When you concentrate on Bitcoin, you often do not take a look at all the monetary providers financial system round it. You may borrow and lend and revenue from it. There are robust gamers who might, for instance, who might borrow from ZOOZ. We’re this and wish to be extra energetic in managing the asset, not simply holding it.”
On the corporate’s authentic vitality exercise, he says that a number of choices are being thought-about: “We’ve got decreased bills within the space. Up to now, below the earlier administration, the route was in the direction of the electrical car market and that was good when the batteries had been costly, however the value has come down. We expect that we will maybe direct the exercise in the direction of the hyper-scalers (giant cloud suppliers comparable to Amazon and Microsoft).” Fried additionally doesn’t rule out the potential of spinning off the exercise right into a separate firm.
Undervaluation out there and a warning from Nasdaq
How do you clarify the low cost at which ZOOZ is buying and selling in contrast with its Bitcoin holdings?
“The market is undervaluing ZOOZ, and that is with out bearing in mind the money reserves. This week I began assembly with buyers from Israel and telling them ZOOZ’s story, and the reactions had been very constructive.”
Within the meantime, ZOOZ’s inventory has fallen beneath $1 and obtained a warning from Nasdaq for non-compliance with buying and selling guidelines. A doable technical resolution to that is to hold out a reverse cut up that might merge each few shares into one share. On the similar time, Zooz additionally has an authorised plan to purchase again as much as $50 million in shares.
In a broader perspective, Fried believes that Bitcoin is a part of a rustic’s nationwide safety. He believes that the foreign money needs to be seen within the context of the vitality required to provide it, together with wants comparable to computing, broadband and storage capabilities. In Israel, Bitcoin will not be mined on a big scale as a result of the price of vitality is excessive.
“What worries me from a geopolitical perspective, additionally within the US however particularly with regard to Israel, is that they’re behind on the vitality situation,” Fried emphasizes. “China has over 20 nuclear reactors, the US has two, and Israel has none in any respect. If there have been, the price of vitality wouldn’t be so excessive and there can be extra knowledge facilities right here (that are required for AI initiatives), and we want AI to win on a world degree. We should push for the creation of recent and cheaper vitality, and I talked about it with Israeli officers. It’s nonetheless doable to shut the hole.”
Printed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on January 28, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Writer Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
