Arthur Hayes sells off $5.53 million worth of ETH and instead invests $4 million in DeFi tokens

Renowned trader Arthur Hayes has once again attracted market attention due to his aggressive asset allocation adjustments. The latest on-chain data shows that Arthur Hayes sold approximately $5.53 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) and concentrated his purchases on DeFi tokens totaling about $4 million, clearly signaling his phased bullish stance on the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

According to data disclosed by on-chain analysis firm Lookonchain on the X platform, Arthur Hayes has sold a total of 1,871 ETH over the past two weeks and reallocated the funds into various mainstream DeFi tokens. These include 961,113 PENDLE (approximately $1.75 million), 2.3 million LDO (about $1.29 million), 6.05 million ENA (around $1.24 million), and 491,401 ETHFI (roughly $343,000). This series of actions indicates that his investment focus is shifting from Ethereum to yield-generating and infrastructure-related DeFi assets.

In addition to directly selling ETH, Arthur Hayes has also withdrawn approximately $2.52 million from exchanges to further increase his holdings in DeFi tokens. Currently, DeFi tokens and stablecoins account for over 60% of his overall crypto portfolio, with ETH holdings decreasing significantly. Notably, PENDLE makes up as much as 48.9% of his DeFi allocation, becoming a core holding and highlighting his strong confidence in the project’s long-term value.

Arthur Hayes stated that this round of asset reallocation is mainly based on his judgment of an improving fiat liquidity environment. He believes that during the liquidity recovery phase, undervalued DeFi tokens tend to have higher resilience and potential returns. Even though tokens like PENDLE, LDO, and ETHFI have recently experienced corrections, their long-term fundamentals remain attractive.

However, Hayes’ ETH selling activity has also raised some market concerns. ETH prices are still oscillating below the critical $3,000 level, and ongoing selling pressure could further impact market sentiment. Analysts suggest that Hayes is more inclined to believe that, compared to larger-cap underlying assets, small- and mid-cap crypto assets represented by DeFi may achieve higher excess returns in a new liquidity cycle.

Overall, Hayes’ move to sell ETH and shift into DeFi tokens once again emphasizes the market’s long-term optimism about the DeFi sector and adds some uncertainty to Ethereum’s short-term price trajectory.