TLDR
- Arthur Hayes bought 132,000 Ethfi tokens at $0.55 each before Upbit announced a KRW trading pair listing.
- The Upbit listing pushed Ethfi up by 18% from $0.54 to $0.64 within minutes.
- Ethfi later erased most of its gains as the broader crypto market corrected.
- Lookonchain reported that Hayes received the tokens from Anchorage Digital.
- Some market participants questioned the timing of the purchase after the listing news emerged.
Arthur Hayes acquired Ethfi tokens shortly before Upbit confirmed a new listing. On-chain data showed that he received 132,000 Ethfi at $0.55 per token. The purchase preceded a sharp 18% price jump, and therefore some traders questioned the timing.
Ethfi Purchase Preceded Upbit Listing
Lookonchain reported that Hayes received over 132,000 Ethfi tokens from Anchorage Digital. The transfer valued the tokens at $0.55 each, totaling about $72.8K.
Interesting — just 5 hours after Arthur Hayes(@CryptoHayes) bought $ETHFI, #Upbit announced its listing.https://t.co/QEgAyVQ4lz pic.twitter.com/9jorCuAHuX
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 19, 2026
Soon after the transfer, social media accounts shared news about Upbit listing Ethfi against the Korean won. The market reacted quickly, and the token price climbed from $0.54 to $0.64 within minutes.
The 18% surge followed a pattern seen in earlier Upbit listings. For example, ICP gained more than 16% after its recent listing on the same exchange.
However, Ethfi failed to hold its gains and retraced most of the increase. The broader crypto market correction also weighed on prices during the session.
Some users commented under the Lookonchain post and questioned whether Hayes had prior knowledge. However, the size of the purchase appeared small compared to his previous transactions.
Data showed that Hayes bought $72.8K worth of Ethfi in this transaction. In contrast, he sold about $2.15 million in related tokens a month earlier.
Hayes’ Previous Token Sales
In February, Hayes reduced exposure to several DeFi-linked assets after a market decline. He sold around $950,000 worth of Ethfi during that period.
He also offloaded $1 million in ENA and $1.1 million in PENDLE. The transactions occurred shortly after the market experienced a sharp pullback.
These earlier sales drew attention because they followed a broad downturn across crypto markets. Hayes did not publicly link the sales to any specific event at the time.
Last August, Hayes also sold ETH and warned that the asset could decline further. However, major altcoins later rallied and posted double-digit percentage gains.
After the rally, Hayes stated that he had to repurchase ETH at higher prices. He asked the Ethereum community for forgiveness in a public message.
The recent Ethfi purchase now adds to his active trading record over the past six months. On-chain trackers continue to monitor his wallet activity following the Upbit listing announcement.
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