Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes sold 1,871 Ethereum tokens worth $5.53 million over two weeks ending December 31 to purchase decentralized finance tokens trading near multi-year lows.
Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported Hayes initially bought approximately $4.6 million in DeFi assets including $1.75 million in Pendle (PENDLE), $1.29 million in Lido DAO (LDO), $1.24 million in Ethena (ENA) and $343,000 in Ether.fi (ETHFI).
Minutes later, Hayes doubled down on two positions by purchasing an additional $986,000 in Ethena and $485,000 in Ether.fi.
The total redeployed capital exceeded $6 million.
What Happened
Hayes publicly stated earlier in December he was rotating capital out of Ethereum into what he called "high-quality DeFi names" that could outperform if fiat liquidity improves.
The former exchange executive executed similar selling activity in November during market weakness, disposing of ETH, ENA and ETHFI at losses.
All four purchased tokens remain deeply underwater on annual timeframes.
Pendle traded near $2.00 on December 31, down more than 60% year-over-year despite weekly gains of 14%.
Lido's LDO sat around $0.60, down approximately 68% over twelve months.
Ethena traded near $0.20 after falling over 75% since last year while Ether.fi hovered around $0.70, down more than 90% from its early 2024 peak.
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Why It Matters
Community response to the trades divided sharply between bullish interpretation and caution about following whale positions.
Social media user Junar warned against buying: "the same guy sell his assets in loss so don't fomo buy here."
Hayes' concentrated bets on yield tokenization platforms and liquid staking protocols signal conviction that improved liquidity conditions will benefit DeFi infrastructure over layer-one assets.
Ethereum traded around $3,000 on December 31, roughly flat weekly but down 11% year-over-year.
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