EthereumFi [ETHFi] is grabbing eyeballs after a major exchange listing and a well-timed trade.
Just hours before South Korea’s Upbit announced an ETHFi listing, Arthur Hayes was seen buying the token. For context, this listing is quite significant, given South Korea’s strong retail participation and preference for altcoins.
Hayes and the insider trading allegations
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO of Maelstrom, accumulated ETHFI shortly before a key listing on South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit.
Per data from Lookonchain, Hayes received 132,730 ETHFI (approximately $72,800) from Anchorage Digital roughly five hours before the exchange confirmed the token’s addition to its KRW market.
The timing, of course, has added fuel to the insider trading narrative.
Earlier this year, he deployed over $3.4 million across multiple DeFi tokens, including ETHFI. Data also revealed that about a month prior, Hayes moved 2.15 million ETHFI at around $0.47, which could be earlier distribution activity.
The latest acquisition occurred near $0.55 per token.
It is notable that as part of standard listing controls, Upbit temporarily restricted orders. This included a brief buy freeze and limits on low-priced sell orders, while enforcing limit-only trading during the initial phase.
