Arthur Hayes Accumulates ETHFI Hours Before Upbit Lists Token in KRW Market

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer at Maelstrom, purchased Ether.fi (ETHFI) just hours before South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, added the token to its KRW market. 

The proximity of Hayes’ transfer to the listing announcement has drawn attention from on-chain observers. However, he has maintained a position in ETHFI as part of a documented DeFi rotation strategy.

“Interesting — just 5 hours after Arthur Hayes bought ETHFI, Upbit announced its listing,” Lookonchain wrote.

According to data from Lookonchain, Arthur Hayes received 132,730 ETHFI worth $72,800 from Anchorage Digital. Notably, in January, BeInCrypto reported that the executive deployed over $3.4 million in four Decentralized Finance (DeFi) altcoins, including ETHFI.

Lookonchain added that he transferred 2.15 million ETHFI at $0.47, roughly 1 month ago, suggesting potential selling. Hayes acquired the latest position at $0.55 per token.

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Meanwhile, Upbit opened ETHFI for KRW trading at 12:30 PM today. The listing marks a significant expansion for ETHFI on the platform, which had previously supported the token in its Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) markets.

Upbit applied its standard launch restrictions, blocking buy orders for approximately five minutes and limiting sell orders priced 10% or more below the previous day’s closing price during the same window. The exchange also limited all activity to limit orders for approximately two hours after launch.

ETHFI responded to the listing announcement with a sharp move upward. The altcoin rallied over 20% to hit $0.65. 

ETHFI Price Reaction to Upbit Listing. Source: TradingView

That level marked the token’s highest price since mid-January. At press time, the price had pulled back to around $0.57.