Arthur Hayes Dumps ETH for $6M in Pendle, Lido, and Emerging Defy Tokens

Most of the recycled funds went into Pendle, Lido, Athena and Ether.fi within minutes of ETH sales.

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes this week sold his Ethereum (ETH) holdings and diverted millions into select DeFi tokens.

This move marks a shift in strategy from a major blue-chip asset to one that sees significant growth opportunities in decentralized finance.

Hayes reduces ETH exposure while Defi prioritizes

Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported on Dec. 31 that the BitMEX co-founder sold 1,871 ETH in the past two weeks before buying DeFi-related tokens worth nearly $4.6 million. Initial purchases included about $1.8 million in Pendle, $1.3 million in Lido Dao (LDO), $1.2 million in Etena (ENA), and around $340,000 in Ether.fi (ETHFI).

Minutes later, Lookonchain published a series of updates showing Hayes doubling down on both sites. According to the data, an additional 4.86 million ESAs worth $986,000 and 697,851 ETHFIs bought nearly $485,000, bringing the total capital to more than $6 million.

The trader had already telegraphed this change earlier in the month, arguing that the portfolio at X is rotating away from ETH and into “high-quality DeFi names”, arguing that they could do better if fiat continues to loosen liquidity.

This is not the first time Hayes has made a large-scale portfolio adjustment. It also engaged in a similar selling event in November, dumping ETH, ENA and ETHFI during the market crash. That move followed an early selloff in August, after which he jokingly promised not to take profits again.

The public's response to the investor's move is mixed. While some observers saw it as a great sign for the chosen Diffie sector, others urged caution. Junnar, a social media user, responded to the news by saying, “Don't buy here because the same person is selling his property at a loss.”

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Price action paints a mixed picture for DeFi betting

Price information is why opinions remain divided. According to CoinGecko, ETH is trading around $3,000, roughly flat on the week and up nearly 5% over the 30 days, though down 11% from a year ago. In contrast, most of the DeFi tokens Hayes bought have shown short-term improvements but remain deeply underwater over the long term.

At the time of writing, Pendle was around $2.00, up about 14% on the week but down more than 60% on the year. Lido's LDO was sitting at around $0.60, with an 11% weekly gain that did little to offset a loss of nearly 68% over the past twelve months.

Meanwhile, ESA is trading at $0.20 after sliding more than 15% and more than 75% in 30 days, while ETHFI is hovering around $0.70, less than 90% of its early 2024 level.