BitMEX Co-Founder Buys ETHFI Before Upbit Listing

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, acquired approximately 132,730 ETHFI tokens worth about $72,800 shortly before South Korea's largest crypto exchange, Upbit, announced the listing of the token on March 19, 2025. The timing of the purchase, detected through on-chain data, has prompted discussions in the cryptocurrency community about potential insider knowledge, though no evidence of wrongdoing has been confirmed.

According to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, Hayes received the tokens from Anchorage Digital at an average price of $0.55 each, roughly five hours before Upbit's public disclosure. Upbit, which dominates the South Korean market with around 80 percent of trading volume, added ETHFI to its Korean won trading pair, a move that typically draws strong retail interest. In response, ETHFI's price surged nearly 18 percent from $0.54 to $0.64 within minutes of the announcement, before retracing most gains amid a broader market correction, settling around $0.54, down about 2 percent over the following day.

ETHFI serves as the governance token for ether.fi, a liquid restaking protocol on the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to stake...