Arthur Hayes rotates into beaten-down DeFi tokens amid steady Ethereum sell-off

Arthur Hayes is on a mission to reduce his Ethereum exposure and invest in other types of tokens. He has chosen to rotate into a basket of underperforming decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. This move comes in when the market is dealing with increased selling pressure and weakening investor sentiment.

Fresh data shows that Arthur Hayes deposited another 682 Ethereum (approximately worth $2 million) into Binance over the past 24 hours. This transfer adds to a series of similar moves made over the last week. Hayes has already sold a total of 1,871 ETH (approximately worth $5.5 million) and aims to continue this trend.

Hayes bets on DeFi tokens down 80% from highs

Arkham data shows that Hayes has reduced his Ether holdings by more than half since November. These sales are a part of his portfolio shift. However, USDC now accounts for more than 60% of his on-chain portfolio. It is seen as a sharp increase from earlier this year.

Funds generated from the recent sales of his ETH have already been used to buy his choice of DeFi tokens. Meanwhile, these tokens have seen a heavy dump in 2025.

Over the past week, Hayes purchased around 1.22 million ENA, the native token of Ethena. He went long on Pendle and bought 137,117 tokens of it. The governance token of EtherFi stood out to be his other choice as he added 132,730 ETHFI to his bag.

The combined value of those purchases stood under $650,000. The timing is notable as all three tokens are down between 80% and 90% from their respective highs.

ENA price is down by a huge 78% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. It is trading at an average price of $0.199 at press time. Pendle price shows a similar pattern and is down by 65% on YTD. The same is with ETHFI, it is running down by 69% in the same period.

Arthur Hayes builds $48M USDC war chest

Hayes has been open and out about the rationale behind the shift. In recent posts, he said he is rotating out of Ether and into what he described as “high-quality DeFi names.” He argued that these assets stand to outperform if global liquidity conditions ease. 

This view stands totally apart from his bullish outlook on Ethereum. He has publicly suggested that ETH could eventually trade as high as $20,000. However, Hayes also had claimed that holding 50 Ether could be life-changing by the next US presidential election.

Ethereum price has slumped by more than 25% over the last 60 days. ETH is trading at an average price of $2,933 at press time.

Arkham data shows that Hayes’ USDC balance has surged from roughly $1 million in mid-November to nearly $48 million today. Such a build-up in stablecoins is often seen as preparation to buy deeper dips. It can also be a signal of caution amid uncertain macro and crypto-specific conditions.

The global crypto market is still struggling and trading under pressure. The cumulative crypto market cap dipped marginally over the last 24 hours to stand at $2.95 trillion. Bitcoin is still trying to reclaim $88,000 mark. However, the fear and greed index is flashing “Fear” sentiment among the investors.

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