Arthur Hayes ETHFI Buy Upbit Listing Raises Insider Concern

• Arthur Hayes received 132,730 ETHFI before listing, raising insider trading concerns.
• ETHFI rose from $0.54 to $0.60 after Upbit announced KRW trading support.
• A month earlier, Hayes moved 2.15M ETHFI; Ether.fi TVL stands at $5.85B.

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer at Maelstrom has come under market focus after receiving 132,730 ETHFI, worth around $72,800, just hours before Upbit announced support for the token in its KRW market.

The timing drew attention because exchange listings often push a token’s price higher. As a result, some traders questioned whether Hayes knew about the listing before it was made public.

Upbit Announces KRW Listing for ETHFI

Upbit confirmed that ETHFI trading in the KRW market would begin on March 19 at 12:30, expanding the token’s access to one of the most active retail trading markets.

The exchange said deposits and withdrawals would be supported only on the Ethereum network and applied its standard launch restrictions during the initial trading window.

KRW listings are known to drive strong short-term activity, particularly in South Korea, where retail participation in altcoins remains high.

Following this listing, Lookonchain, an on-chain tracker that follows crypto wallet activity, reported that Arthur Hayes received ETHFI, which later pushed the token price up by 20%.

Hayes ETHFI Moves Spark Insider Concern

This is not the first ETHFI-related activity linked to Hayes. About a month earlier, he moved 2.15 million ETHFI at an average price of around $0.47, a transaction widely seen as a possible sale.

The latest transfer shows a smaller position added at approximately $0.55, bringing renewed attention due to its timing ahead of the listing event.

Hayes has previously allocated over $3.4 million across several DeFi tokens, including PENDLE, LDO, ENA, and ETHFI, indicating that the asset is part of a broader investment strategy.

While there is no confirmation of any wrongdoing, the timing of Hayes’ transfer has sparked debate across the crypto community.

ETHFI Price Rises After Listing News

Following the listing news ETHFI price jumped higher after the Upbit announcement. The token rose from around $0.54 and traded near $0.60 shortly after the news, climbing more than 20%.

KRW-denominated altcoin trading has seen consistent activity between 2023 and 2026. Korean market activity remained strong even after excluding large tokens such as ETH, XRP, BNB, and SOL.

South Korea continues to be one of the most active altcoin trading markets, making such listings a key catalyst for price action.