The price of ETHFI surged 18% minutes after its listing on major South Korean exchange Upbit. This followed a transaction where former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes received over 132,000 ETHFI tokens valued at approximately $72,800 from Anchorage Digital just hours before the announcement. The timing prompted questions within the cryptocurrency community, though Hayes’s recent purchase was far smaller than a $2.15 million sell-off he conducted a month prior.
Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes received over 132,000 ETHFI tokens from Anchorage Digital at $0.55 per token, totaling approximately $72,800. This transaction occurred just hours before news emerged that South Korean exchange Upbit had listed ETHFI for trading.
Data from Lookonchain showed the timing prompted questions about potential insider knowledge within the community. The asset’s price exploded by almost 20% in minutes after the listing news went live, jumping from $0.54 to $0.64.
Similar listings by the Asian giant have led to immediate price pumps for the underlying asset on almost all occasions. However, ETHFI’s gains were largely erased during a broader market correction. Hayes’s current ETHFI purchase is negligible compared to his trading history.
In February, Hayes disposed of a large number of DeFi-linked tokens, including a $950,000 ETHFI selling spree. He also dumped $1 million worth of ENA and $1.1 million worth of PENDLE during the same period. Hayes even sold ETH last August, suggesting the asset’s price was likely to tumble.
The largest altcoins went on a run instead, jumping by double digits in weeks. As such, Hayes explained that he had to rebuy at higher prices and asked for forgiveness from the Ethereum community.
