Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of BitMEX, has faced criticism after seemingly selling a significant portion of his holdings in the crypto project Pendle, which he heavily promoted at the recent Token2049 conference in Singapore.
According to attendees, Hayes dedicated nearly 30 minutes of his speech to promoting Pendle, a project he has publicly expressed enthusiasm for. However, shortly after the conference, he transferred over a million dollars worth of Pendle tokens to his accounts on centralized exchanges Binance and ByBit.
Many interpreted this transfer as an indication that Hayes was selling the tokens, despite the difficulty in confirming this due to the commingling of customer assets on centralized exchanges.
Reactions to Hayes’ apparent actions were swift and critical. Several individuals referenced Hayes’ iconic phrase “Yahtzee!” while others expressed disappointment and cynicism.
The crypto community’s reaction to Hayes’ sale was captured by the Twitter user Inversebrah, who simply stated, “Its business.”
Other observers pointed out the timing of Hayes’ Pendle investments and exits, noting that he may have incurred losses on his multi-month trade, even after promoting the project at a major crypto conference.
While blockchain forensic companies can track Hayes’ wallet addresses, it’s challenging to determine the full extent of his Pendle holdings and whether he has profited overall.
It’s worth noting that Hayes pled guilty to charges of willfully failing to prevent money laundering at BitMEX in 2022 and served a sentence. He is now free to conduct business.
